December has brought some warmer water to Salinas and Manta. Temperatures have been averaging 75 to 76 F in both location. Galapagos Islands have been a different story. Water near San Cristobal and Rosa Blanca bank continues to hang around 73 F. Fishing has picked up considerably off the coast of mainland Ecuador in Salinas and Manta. Salinas has been producing some decent striped marlin fishing averaging 2 to 12 fish raised per day and a few blues. Manta has been improving its blue marlin bite with 2 to 5 raises average for the last week per day.
Ecuador
Salinas
Calm oceans with clear green water and some overcast days have been the norm for the past week. Several boat have reported good action 20 to 30 miles North of Salinas. Mainly striped marlin have been raised with some sparse blues over 400 lbs reported. Jan and Feb produced some very good marlin fishing in 2011 and the patterns seems quite similar for 2012. The La Nina had a positive effect on Salinas even though it hurt other areas such as Galapagos.
Manta
Blue water with currents pushing South appear to be bringing more bait and blue marlin into the area. Local artisanal boat who troll at over 13 knots have reported catching 5 granders in the last 2 weeks. These are not sportfishermen and these fish are killed for local markets or export to the US unfortunately. Sportfishing boats have been experiencing a decent bite North of Isla de la Plata. December 16, 17 and today 3 boats reported raising 12, 8 and 11 blues total between the fleet in three consecutive days.
Galapagos Islands
San Cristobal
Galapagos has been hit the hardest by the effects of La Nina. Most banks in the Southern areas have been slow to produce their regular striped marlin masses of the last 11 years. However Black Sheep bank 68 miles North East of the town Puerto Baquerizo Moreno has been quite productive all year long. Captain Edwin Buenano reported no striped marlin raised Dec 14 on Rosa Blanca. He did report raising 7 striped marlin on Black sheep Dec 15 of which he released 2 on lures. The tuna and wahoo fishing has picked up tremendously in the last 2 weeks.
Folks we are booking up for the 2012 season so don’t hesitate to book your fishing or hunting trip with us now. Keep those reels screaming!
