Fellow Anglers,
The past last 8 days of fishing all over Ecuador has been the slowest marlin bite we have seen in almost a year. The bait was scarce in general and even tuna and wahoo slowed down. Sea conditions look perfect so all we can gather is that it is a bad few days of currents and low amounts of bait attracting chlorophyll. There was one destination that did show some promise and that was Cabo Blanco, Peru.
Ecuador:
San Cristobal, Galapagos Islands
Jan 6, 2017 – Ecuagringo mates Julio Rodrigues and Ronnie Yagual fishing onboard Ericka for a report covered Rosa Blanca Bank catching a couple of tuna, dorado and raising no marlin. They did no see any bait but said water conditions were calm and beautiful on the sea mounds.
Jan 17, 2017 – Again Julio and Ronnie fished the area of Punta Pitt onboard Ericka. They raised 2 striped marlin and released a nice stripey around 180#. They saw tuna feeding in the area and caught a dorado. A couple of FADs place in the last few months in the area attracted dorado but no marlin were raised.
Jan 19, 2017 – Julio and Ronnie made the far track to 70 mile banks 88 and Black Sheep. They found a good tuna bite but no marlin. They caught several big eye tunas and decided to drop deep to catch a few grouper.
Jan 20, 2017 – Julio and Ronnie onboard Jhonamar 2 fished with guest Sample Balian and his spouse the area of Punta Pitt. They did not raise any billfish and only a few small dorado were caught.
Jan 23, 2017 – Jhonamar 2 captained by Julio Rodriguez and with mate Ronnie Yagual took angler Michael Jane to 0-30 Bank and were greeted by dolphins, orcas and tuna feeding. They saw plenty of bonito and tuna on the surface. An estimated 500# plus blue marlin ate the left long and fought very hard for 45 minutes before they touched the leader and then had to deal with the fish for about two more hours before they could release it. Michael was exhausted after an arduous battle and they picked up and ran to McGowen reef to do some tuna fishing.
Manta
Jan 14, 2017 – Miura headed out 35 miles West of Manta and raised a blue marlin that did not eat and caught a nice dorado of 30#. Panga Don Tiofilo raised nothing. Panga Panita caught a striped marlin and lost another. 2 other pangas reported no action from marlin.
Jan 15 – 18, 2017 – Most pangas reported less than 2 bites per day of striped or blue marlin with beautiful water conditions.
Jan 19, 2017 – Miura reported no action from marlin and caught 2 wahoo going closer to shore near cobia cages. Panga Don Tiofilo caught 1 striped marlin and a sailfish.
Jan 20-22, 2017 – The few pangas that went out reported raising 1 or no marlin with beautiful water conditions.
Salinas
Jan 19- 2, 2017 – No significant action to report from the few boats fishing except a few dorado.
Peru:
Cabo Blanco, Peru
Jan 21, 2017 – Ecuagringo’s research panga fishing 15 miles out of Cabo Blanco had action from a swordfish they saw swimming on the surface that took a slow trolled lure. The swordfish was estimated around 500# and they fought it for 3 hours before the hook pulled. Peru has big swordfish and was once the target of commercial sword fishing. Late afternoon they raised near one of the gas platforms 2 black marlin. The smaller fish was estimated around 250# and the larger fish around 650# that was released after about 1 hour and 20 minutes. The smaller fish took a lure and spit the hook after a few jumps.
Folks this is fishing and we have been reporting for almost a year nonstop terrific marlin and tuna fishing but even the best destinations run into a rut every now and then. We will keep you posted on all the action.
Keep those reels screaming!
