Doctrine · not a honey-hole list

Seasonal fundamentals

When a coast, a type of water, and a fish actually line up. If you elected Texas on the list, this page opens on Texas — Seychelles stays off the board until you ask for it. Filter by region, method or habitat, and species. The year bar is peak versus present. Limits cite TPWD and FWC — verify before you keep one.

Mexico

Mexico — two oceans, do not mix them

Yucatan is bones and sail. Baja is rooster and dorado. Neither is Texas.

Ascension Bay / Sian Ka’an is the Caribbean flat — Punta Allen, permit and bones, biosphere rules, a modeled tide. Isla Mujeres is the other Yucatan desk: winter sailfish on the current, summer mahi, a troll-and-kite day. Cross the country and you are in another fishery. East Cape is rooster in the wash and Gordo Banks when the blue water is in. La Paz is Espíritu Santo and El Bajo. CONAPESCA license. No NOAA gauge. Roosterfish does not live in the Gulf of Mexico.

April. Ascension grand-slam month. Mujeres mahi start. East Cape rooster and the first dorado.

Type

Wade

Feet on the flat. You need water you can stand in and a tide that does not strand you. Texas mid-coast grass and the Laguna spoil banks are the classic walk. Grand Bahama and the Abaco Marls are the thinking wade — pancake sand, long shots, no engine to spook the school. Do not wade a Keys oceanside bank you have not watched for a full cycle. The water leaves.

Ascension

April · peak

What is actually on

Snook

Tarpon

Bonefish

Permit

Hogfish

Yellowtail snapper

Mutton snapper

Black grouper

Cobia

Greater amberjack

Peak Present Off

Closures

No coast-wide harvest closure on the board. Still verify before you keep a fish.

Bonefish

Albula vulpes

Peak AprilMexico

Thermal window

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68–88°F · best 72–84°F

Absent in Texas. Keys: big, few, educated. Bahamas: the capital — winter singles, summer schools of 3–5 lb fish. Puerto Rico: east islands more than San Juan. Seychelles: Alphonse and Farquhar sand, not Mahé town water.

Fly. 8 wt. Gotcha, Crazy Charlie, shrimp. Long fluoro, soft landing. Bahamas will forgive more than Biscayne.

Spin. Possible with a tiny jig. The honest tool here is the fly.

Leads the brief on Ascension.

Mexico. Mexico: treat as C&R. Sian Ka’an / Ascension is biosphere water — lodge and CONAPESCA rules.

Official source

Striped marlin

Kajikia audax

Present AprilMexico

Thermal window

—

70–84°F · best 74–80°F

Eastern Pacific. East Cape and the mouth of the Cortez. Absent from Texas, Louisiana, the Keys, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and the Seychelles. Same rule as the rooster: this ocean only.

Fly. Teaser and fly. East Cape and Magdalena when the water is right. Pacific only.

Spin. Troll. Baja. Not the Gulf of Mexico. Not Texas.

Mexico. Mexico: East Cape and the mouth of the Cortez. Typically catch-and-release. Verify CONAPESCA. Not an Atlantic white.

Official source

Roosterfish

Nematistius pectoralis

Present AprilMexico

Thermal window

—

72–88°F · best 76–84°F

Eastern Pacific — Baja East Cape and La Paz, Costa Rica, Panama. Absent from Texas, Louisiana, the Keys, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and the Seychelles. Lives on this atlas only on the Mexico Pacific desks.

Fly. 10–12 wt. A big baitfish in the surf. Baja and Central America Pacific, not the Gulf.

Spin. Live mullet in the wash. Same ocean as the rooster comb — the Pacific.

Leads the brief on East Cape, La Paz.

Mexico. Mexico: verify CONAPESCA. East Cape and La Paz programs are typically catch-and-release.

Official source

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