WWFG Fishing Reports

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 Post subject: Galapagos Marlin Report!

Galapagos Marlin Report

The weather has increased a few degrees and the water has gotten hotter. A very unusual occurrence for the month of April when things should be cooling down a bit. This rather freak weather has caused erratic behavior with the fish. I believe the hot water has caused the fish to be less aggressive than the previous months. Nevertheless some very good fishing has been on hand and most days have experience raises in double digits.

April 7th, 2009 The Sea Hands captained by Gustavo Hernandez, aka as “Gus” had a group of Europeans onboard which included a few children. They fished the first bank of 3 on Rosa Blanca. Gus reported raising 12 stripes, getting 6 bites and releasing 2.

April 8th, the Sea Hands again fished with their Europeans clients on Rosa Blanca’s first bank. They raised 19 stripes, had 11 bites and released 4.

The same day I had the pleasure to fish with my good friend and client Terry Carter from Ohio onboard the Blue. Terry is an avid fly fisherman who owns and operates one of Cincinnati’s most well known dinners, Terry´s Turf Club 4618 Eastern Ave; phone 513-533-4222, serving the best burgers and sandwiches in town. If you get a chance stop by and tell him Braden sent you. The day was sunny and the morning brought a 3 ft chop that made the ride a bit bumpy. We fished Rosa Blanca´s main bank managing to raise only 6 stripes there but could not get a bite on fly. Late in the afternoon we made our way to Rosa Blanca´s first bank where we met up with Gus on the Sea Hands. 2 more striped were raised for a total on the Blue of 8 with no bites.

April 9th, conditions remained pretty much the same as the day before. Birds were diving more on Rosa Blanca´s first bank. The Sea Hands fishing their European client with Capt Gus managed to raise 11 stripes and release 2 out of 5 bites.

The Blue, where I fished again with Terry carte for marlin of fly experienced a fun fill day with fish that were not very cooperative. We raised 23 stripes on Rosa Blanca´s first bank. Terry managed to get 2 bites, one was very solid but broke off his fly lines. It was an action packed day but no marlin was caught on fly.

April 10th, 2 days after the full moon and we returned aboard the Blue to Rosa Blanca´s first bank. Aboard the Blue with Terry Carter we set out for marlin on fly. The day was sunny, calm and the water color was a nice blue. We raised 10 stripes and had 2 very aggressive bites but were not able to lock on to a stripe on the fly. I think high water temperature continued to make it hard for the fish to cooperate on the fly. Hotter water means less oxygen.

Captain Alan Star fished the same day on the Anette with some of his regular clients. One of them was Waland Johnson who fishes every year with Alan. They experienced raising 10 stripes as well and released 3 on conventional out of 6 bites.

April 11th, Terry Carter aboard the Blue wanted to try his luck at wahoo and cubbera snapper which grow in excess of 50lbs in the Galapagos. We cruised to MacGowen reef early morning. Fishing was slow even thou another boat reported good action the previous day bottom fishing for grouper and cubberas. After a couple of hours of not much action we ran to Hancock Bank. Hancock is my favorite for wahoo and great bottom fishing. We hadn´t been trolling for 30 seconds on the spot marked by an x when we had a triple hook up of wahoo. The mates battled 2 wahoo in hopes of Terry getting a fly out to the fish following those hooked. We tried chumming as well and several wahoo followed to the boat but none would take a fly. It was frustrating as the day was flat calm and there were a lot of wahoo. In the past my personal record with clients was catching and boating 56 wahoo 30 to 50 lbs out of over 120 bites in 1 day. Terry pressed on and was rewarded with a small yellow fin caught on fly.

Alan Star headed for Rosa Blanca´s first bank on the Anette and reported raising 12 stripes and releasing 6 out of 8 bites on conventional.

April 12, was our do or die day with Terry Carter aboard the Blue. We ran straight to Rosa Blanca´s first bank after hearing Star´s report from the previous day. Fishing was a bit slow and we only managed to raise 1 stripey all morning. So we picked up and ran to Rosa Blanca´s main bank. Things were not much better so we headed for the last bank called the Honey hole. It wasn´t long before we raised 4 stripes in a quick sequence but could not get any to bite the fly. We finished the day with 5 stripes raised.

Folks, there is still time to book fishing in June and July. I expect the fishing to pick up anytime as the water cools down. There are plenty of fish seen tailing and free jumping on the banks. We know there are fish there and as soon as the water cools down another 4 or 5 degrees fishing should pick up even more. We are taking reservations for next year. Some months are booking up pretty fast so don´t wait to pick your dates and book now.

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