The inaugural Rooster Rodeo was a hoedown success. Country music, a mechanical bull and a whole lot of roosters set the tone for this new single species tournament. 40 anglers distributed over 11 teams, donned their newly acquired cowboy hats and rode out at sunrise Saturday morning with lassos and spinning rods in hand.
Pescadora with Captain Mainor, jumped out to an early lead finding some big +36 inch roosters early in the morning, scoring the team 150 points for each release. And Wahoo and Sky also found big roosters early to put them in the hunt, What’s Apping in their release videos to tournament headquarters.
Live bait was hard to come by and with jacks and needle fish stealing bait, teams started to run low by mid-day and had to rearm. Good Day and Captain Manuel, finally found the bite in the afternoon and released 5 roosters, 1 +24 in. for 100 points and 4 +36 in. for 150 points each, given them 700 points and enough for third place. Pescadora had the hot rod all day, capturing, videoing and releasing 8 roosters, all giants at 150 points each, giving them a total of 1200 points and 2nd place. And a special mention goes out to Junior Angler, Ian “tired arms” Oporta, who not only reeled in those 8 giant roosters, but also the largest rooster of the tournament at 41 inches.
But it was Bobby McGuiness and his team of cowboys on Kamila that came prepared for battle. One after another they brought small rooster after small rooster to the boat, each for a quick measure, video and release. And while little roosters releases were only 50 points each, they rode 31 releases all the way to the podium and their 1st Place Finish and a check for $1900.00.
Style was important and Offshore Lifestyle (www.offshorelifestyle.com) provided the highest quality shirts for all our participants that paired perfectly with the Rooster Rodeo Cowboy hats and keychains. And sponsors Heineken, Flor de Caña Rum and the Double Hook Sports Bar kept everybody fed and hydrated like they do for all of our Marina Pez Vela tournaments. And a special thanks to Outdoors TV Costa Rica, who covered the whole event and will be preparing a 30 minute Rooster Rodeo show to air on Costa Rica national TV (on TD+) later next month.
