BREAKING NEWS!!!

NEW SPONSORS HAVE JOINED THE IRT

BLUEFIN  USA

AVET  Fishing Reels

OWNER HOOKS -The Official Hook of IRT

COSTA del MAR

VanWormer Resorts

Support Sponsors:

Melton Tackle - helps to supply the line

PLEASE remember to patronize these sponsors that support you!!!!

See y'all soon!

Tight lines! 

​

www.roosterfishtournament

Type your paragraph here.

        On June 3, 2022, 28 anglers gathered for the International Roosterfish Tournament. As usual the weather was sunny & clear, though just a little cooler than normal. It is a La Nina year & fishing all over is just a little off & water temperatures are a little bit cooler. That had no effect on the excitement of the impending tournament.                                                                 All of the anglers checked in with Tournament Director Audrey Koocher. That evening at the annual IRT meeting we received our fishing shirts, hats & bags full of swag & surprises. This year we had several Freshman Anglers & all were introduced by their sponsors & given a "Hooked on Roosters" book about the tournament. Brad & Erin Kaplan introduced Greg Serandi & Deb Holt; Audrey Koocher introduced Robert Collins; Rocky & Judy Franich introduced Brad Larson; & Karen & Rodger Comstock introduced (Karen's siblings) Kenneth Harmon & Kristine Martin. IRT rules were reviewed & boats were drawn. We then adjourned to a lovely Mexican dinner in the "upstairs" restaurant at Playa del Sol. We took a little time out to take a group photo & Team Pictures of IRT 2022 in our fishing shirts.                                 Our first day of fishing was sunny & bright. After a satisfying breakfast at the Internet Café everyone was ready to go! All the boats loaded off the hotel pier at the beach & we were off to procure bait & hunt Roosterfish!!!   The seas stayed calm all day & at the end of the day 19 Roosterfish (2 Stick (Big) fish) had been caught & released. Kris Martin (Freshman angler) was in the lead with her 272-point (big) Stick Fish.                                                            That evening after a refreshing dip in the pool, we had the "Score Party" at which everyone told stories of caught &/or missed fish. We then had our Auction/Raffle. There were Rods, Reels by Avet, beautiful custom jewelry by Lori West Lester (angler's wife), custom made Roosterfish decorated & catch flag purses by Karen & numerous other things. There was a Raffle for Entry to IRT 2023, won by Deb Holt & the final Raffle ticket for a generous "Stay & Fish" package donated by the VanWormer's - won by Mike Hoffman! The auction raised money for the IGFA Roosterfish Research Program & IRT will send it to the foundation. IRT also uses our auction money to support the VanWormer resorts CPR Program (Catch, Photo & Release) for Billfish conservation in Baja. Thanks to all the anglers & sponsors that contributed to the auction/raffle.                                                            Our second day of fishing arrived bright, clear & sunny as usual. We all headed north in search of bait. Quite a few Roosterfish were caught along with some very nice Pompano (which would become "fish fingers" & sashimi at the score party! "Thank you" Chef & bartenders Lorenzo & Manuel!                     Everyone gathered in the pool at the end of the day with a cocktail in hand to see how each other's day had gone. It seemed to be a pretty good day because the scoreboard revealed that 15 Roosterfish had been caught & released & 3 were Stick Fish!! Bill Evans caught 3 more fish (a Stick fish in the group) to bring his points to 780!!!  Nice fishing anglers!!!                                   Our second night was an open dining night & some stayed at the Hotel & others went to some of the close by local restaurants. But we all were in bed fairly early because 6:00 came fast!                                                                    Surprise! Another beautiful morning! It is so fantastic watching the sun rise from the ocean, bright orange! This is it! Gotta Catch-em Day! Everyone loaded up & headed out. It seems that by the end of the day some more pompano were caught. A pelican (they don't make good buffalo wings) so we let him go! Several lady fish, trumpet fish & needle fish were also caught! (Pests!) But we had a great 33 roosterfish count! Wow! It seemed that Pez Vela (Chewy) found a pocket of Roosters & caught 19!!!                                            After a nice refreshing swim in the pool everyone gathered to see who won! Could Bill hang on or would one of the anglers step up to the lead?!? 
          Among the Boats & Captains, Pez Vela was the leading High score every day!  Day 1- 655 points; day 2- 1046 points; & day 3- a whopping 2337 points! That made Pez Vela the Champion #1 Boat with 3386 points. Second Place boat was Rosa with 1053 points & Tres Amigos was Third Place with 1038 points! Bounties were awarded for the last fish of the day for each boat & the fish raffle prizes (1 fish=1 ticket) & Avet Billfish Reel was awarded in a random draw.                                                                                        The Anglers Awards began with the Daily High Points. Angler Kris Martin (272 points) - was High Day 1; Bill Evans (526 points) - Day 2; & Gary Fletcher (910 points)- Day 3. The Third Place Team consisted of Ken Harmon, Daniel Dinger & Mike Hoffman with a total of 1028 points. Second Place Team had Gary Fletcher, Rocky Franich & Diane Fales for a total of 1424 points. Robert Collins, Karen Comstock & Bill Evans made up the First Place Team which had a total of 2470 points!!!!
      Finally, the Individual Angler Awards….. Fourth Place Angler was (Freshman) Ken Harmon with 646 points. Another Freshman angler, Gary Fletcher took Third Place Angler with 910 points. Robert Collins (another Freshman!) qualified as Second Place Angler with 1035 points. Veteran Angler & IRT CHAMPION 2022, Bill Evans had 1179 points to WIN!
       All in all, there were 67 Roosterfish caught (5 of which were Stick Fish that got bonus points). There were also lots of needle fish, trumpet fish, some yummy Pompano & 1 nasty Pelican! We had a wonderful time with all of our angler friends! The Freshmen really stepped forward & kicked butt!             "Thank you" to all of our sponsors- BlueFin, Avet, Owner Hooks, VanWormer Resorts & Costa Sunglasses. 
Tight Lines y'all & we look forward to seeing you at The 57th IRT,  June 2-6, 2023~
Check us out at www.roosterfishtournament.com - we are also on Facebook & Twitter.

June 2 -  Arrivals

June 3,4 & 5 - FISHING - (3 days) - 

June 6 - Departures 

Entry includes - 2 IRT hosted dinners, cocktail/score parties after fishing, raffle/auction participation, awards ceremony and prizes, fishing shirt , hat and bag, tournament line, fishing boats, bait and crew tips.

The host hotel is Playa del Sol, of VanWormer Resorts, in Barriles, Baja Sur, Mexico (fly into Cabo San Lucas (SJD) Int. Airport) IRT helps to arrange Transportation to the hotel & airport.

​​​(Est.1966)

www.roosterfishtournament.com

INTERNATIONAL ROOSTERFISH TOURNAMENT (IRT)

 

​