The winds have died down a bit and the ocean is much more bearable. Calm to 5 foot seas were the norm on most days. The wind chill is about 65 and jackets are a must on the boat. The water temperature on the East side of San Cristobal and generally in the South of the islands is 66 to 67 F. North of Cristobal it is averaging 72to 74 F. The lack of flying fish may be the cause of tunas of all pacific species absent. The only fish biting were striped marlin and there was no shortage of them in the South. We used a wide gap circle hook in size 11/0 that has worked out very well with the stripeys.
Oct 16, 2010– Peter Gelfand and Robert Carrillo boarded the Big Fish and head to Rosa Blanca Bank. Captain Edwin Buenano took over the Big Fish while Captain Fernando Yepez was on vacation. The water was blue/green and the ocean was a nice ride to the bank. We started fishing the entrance and made our way to the Honey eventually when we raised the first stripey around 11:38 am. The afternoon bit heated up and Robert Carrillo caught his first stripey around 190#. The fish were big with Peter Gelfand releasing one around 220#. The total for the day were 15 fish raised, 11 bites and 7 releases.
Oct 17-19, 2010– We took a long range trip to the northern islands to look for blue marlin. The water was 72 to 74 f and no bait. Only one flying fish was seen in 3 days and the blue marlin, tuna and wahoo were absent. Water was a beautiful blue and the seas were calm during the whole trip. So we cut our research short and returned to San Cristobal.
Oct 20, 2010– The water was calm going out and the day was overcast. The wind picked up as the day went on. Water temp remained 66 to 68 all day. The fish were much more finicky and we raised 8 with 4 bites and 2 releases on the circle hooks. Peter and Robert each released their stripeys. The honey Hole was the only place to be.
Oct 21, 2010– The sun finally decided to come out to play. We headed to the Honey Hole about a 46 mile run at 20 knots due to choppy conditions. Once on the Honey Hole it was only a matter of minutes before the first stripey came to a teaser and ate the bait rigged with a circle hook. The ocean was a blue green in color and water temp started the morning out at 66.6 F and reached almost 68 F by the end of the day. The fish were very aggressive in the morning and at one point we had 5 fish in the spread and another 4 or 5 around the boat that we could see. We raised 15 had 10 bites and released 5 all on circle hooks.
Folks the fishing continues to be quite good and it looks like we are not far from completing a full year with a fair number of stripeys caught every single month!
