The marlin fishing has been picking up in general all over Ecuador latetly. Salinas is showing mcuh improvement with a good number of striped marlin, raising double digits most days for the last two weeks. Galapagos also showing some signs of improvement with a boat raising over 100 striped marlin in 3 days a week ago. Manta has been slower than normal this October as the blues that showed up the last 5 years have not arrived in as large numbers yet.
Galapagos Islands
San Cristobal
Waters remain 71-72 F in most places fished. Most of the action has been on 0-30 aka Braden’s Bank. A tremendous amount of birds, flying fish, tuna and marlin have been hitting this bank on and off the last 2 weeks. Water has been cobalt blue most days and winds have been relatively strong.
Oct 11, 2011– Captain Yury Gutierrez onboard the Patricia had a walk on charter. They made the 28 mile run from Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz to fish 0-30 Bank. Yury spoke of fish fining, feeding and jumping on the surface. Thousands of booby birds diving and tuna in the mix. They raised 38 stripeys had 18 bites and released 8 fish on lures. Yury mentioned he wanted to cover ground and did not have bait so chose to fish lures this day. The stripeys averaged 180 to 200#.
Oct 12, 2011– The water conditions remained pretty much the same and the seas were nicer on the ride out. Pretty much a repeat of the day before and they raised 42 stripes had 12 bites and released 4 on lures. Captain Gutierrez said the fish were finicky and did not tease or bite well on this day. He said it was frustrating watching so many fish fading in and out of the spread with no bites.
Oct 13, 2011– The final day of the Patricia’s group. They arrived late on the bank as clients had a little too much fun the night before! Yury reported raising 28 stripeys, 15 bites and releasing 8 fish on lures. Most of our charters fish baits but this was not one of our charters and captains are free to use whatever method they can rely on at the time.
Oct 18, 2011– The Big Fish captain by Fernando Yepez went out to do some research fishing along with Ronnie Yagual. They headed to 0-30 Bank. Yepez reported thousands of boobies, many frigates and seagulls. There was a tremendous amount of activity on the surface from tuna. The morning was slow for marlin and they fished mainly teaser with pitch baits ready.
There were constant attacks on the teaser by tuna 10 to 50# and lots of them so they pulled the fished only teasers. By around 2 pm Ronnie had his first stripey of the day! The marlin was estimated around 250#, a very nice size for a stripey. Putting out a couple of feathers they caught 9 tuna in less than hour. Water was 71.4 F and winds were blowing making seas about 4 foot chops. They had a group of 3 more stripeys come into the spread but just faded out without bites.
Oct 20, 2011– The Big Fish returned to 0-30 Bank to try their luck. Winds had laid down a bit in the morning and water conditions were very nice with temp around 72 F. There were less birds in general but more bait deeper down as seen on the monitor. The action started about an hour after arriving on the bank. Lots of tuna, sharks, sea lions and life on the bank. The Big Fish raised 13 striped marlin with 7 bites and released 5 on pitch baits. They also had double digits on small tunas caught and released.
Folks as you have read the fish are showing up in decent number in Salinas and Galapagos. Don’t hesitate to book your trip now. We still have some availability for remaining 2011 and the 2012 season.
