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 Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 Post subject: Galapagos Marin Report |
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Hello Anglers:
My apologies for taking so long to write the latest report. Yes I have slacked off a bit on my writings but it was for a good cause. Fishing hard for the last 5 weeks, exhaustion from searching for fish, navigating and being on an island are no excuse but what else can I say. I love my job!
Since my last report in April there have been a strange series of events in the waters of Galapagos. For the first time in 9 years water remained over 80 F all the way to late May. Unusually hot water and almost a month of green water during late April and the first half of May could have been the cause for some slow days. Nevertheless we had some very good fishing on most days and some terrible catching on a number of days. The following is and account to the best of my knowledge as well as story telling abilities of what went on. I swear on my fisherman´s honor that most of the lies told here are true!
April 23, 09 we had the pleasure onboard the Blue of fishing for the first time with 2 of the best underwater photographers in the world! Tony Ludivico and Bill Boyce along with Lisa Peregrino fished on the Blue. It was a flat calm ocean as we raced to Rosa Blanca Banks. Water was a strange clear green. It was not long before we raised a double of stripes with baits and Lisa caught her first striped marlin about 140#. Bill and Tony were focused on getting pictures and while we raised 7 stripes that day the focus was not to catch them on rod and reel but rather to photograph them underwater.
April 24, 09 was pretty much a repeat of the previous day. Tony and Bill were after pictures . Onboard the Blue we still managed to raise 7 stripes get 5 bites on baits and release 1 fish.
April 25, 09 we rode the Blue to Hancok bank to check out the wahoo action. Bill and Tony wanted to photograph wahoo. Well they got much more than wahoo once we spotted a whale shark basking near the bank. Bill and Tony suited up and we lost the shark out of site. After about and hour of fishing and catching a few nice 30 to 40lb wahoo Bill yelled to me to find the whale shark. In my mind I thought easier said than done but when I looked up about 400 yards in front of me the whale shark materialized like magic. We caught up with the whale shark and the boys dove in. Lots of great pictures and our mate Julio rode the shark’s dorsal fin for a few good laughs and shots.
April 28, 09 we returned to Rosa Blanca with Bill and Tony on the Blue after spending a few days doing some photography elsewhere and not fishing. The water was very green and conditions just did not seem very fishy. We started and ended with a 100% day with 1 raise, 1 bite and 1 release before leaving elsewhere to find better water. No such luck that day.
May 3, 09 The Blue navigated to Santa Cruz to pick up Ted Will´s group to fish on the Sea Hands as well and the Leo Dan (ex Johnamar). All boats went to Braden´s bank. The 3 boats had very good tuna activity catching a few tunas in the 30 to 70 lb range. The only boat reporting a marlin raised was the Leo Dan with Captain Edwin mentioning seeing a estimated 400lb blue chasing a teaser in the Leo Dan´s spread.
May 4, 09 all 3 boats went to Rosa Blanca banks to fish a nice day and find some blue green water. The Blue raised 6 stripes with 4 bites and no releases. Leo Dan raised 9 stripes and had 3 releases on lures and the Sea hands reported raising 3 stripes and no releases.
May 5, 09 with 2 boats running to Rosa Blanca on a windy choppy day, the seas played out at 2 to 3 ft chops. Will´s group separated and a group of 3 guys went on the Undertaker in replacement of the Sea Hands which had to repair a faulty hydraulic system. The Undertaker went tuna fishing on Mc Gowen reef. While the tuna fishing was red hot the marlin only less than fair by Galapagos standards. The Blue raised 6 stripes, had 3 bites and landed a stripey estimate at 200#. The Leo Dan raised 5 stripes and released 2 out 4 bites.
May 6, 09 brought us the first blue water we had seen in several weeks. Changes were noticeable and although fishing was slow for the most part it was the beginning of some change it seemed. Onboard the Blue we raised 1 stripey. The Sea Hands raised none and the Leo Dan raised 3 and no boats caught any.
May 10, 09 our next group of British anglers Tom Kime and Steve Collis fish with me aboard the Blue. We were going to challenge the marlin on fly. The fishing had been slow but in Galapagos things can change from one moment to the next and that is what we were hoping for. The day was rough and windy but water was dark blue. It was only a matter of time until the fish arrived somewhere on Rosa Blanca. There are 3 major mounts and a few smaller ones in an area that is probable 20 square miles making fishing hard on a day that fish are not concentrating. On the blue we managed to raise 2 stripes that did not tease to fly range. The Sea hands did not raise any marlin this day. At the end of the day the Blue ran to bouie where Tom and Steve were able to catch 11 dorado under 6 lbs on fly.
May 11, 09 we switched anglers with the Sea Hands so onboard the Blue Steve Collis and Huw Davey. The day on the Blue started by going to the Bouie in 2000 ft of water to catch a few dorado on fly before heading after marlin. On Rosa Blanca´s main bank we managed to raised 5 stripes and tease a few to get 2 very solid bites. Steve caught his first stripe ever on fly, a nice fish about 140#. Huw had a solid bite as well but unfortunately his line got caught up in the backing and the fish snapped off. A crude reminder of having to check your line if a store spools it.
May 12, 09 Steve Collis and Tim Lee fished with me on the Blue. We returned to Rosa Blanca to chase stripeys on fly. We managed to raise 5 fish and had no bites.
May 13, 09 Tom Kime and Tim Lee fished with onboard the Blue. Beautiful Blue water and some chop showed us a day of 4 marlin raised on Rosa Blanca and no bites on fly.
May 14, 09 again Tom Kime and Tim Lee on the Blue fished the Rosa Blanca main bank. We spotted two balls of bait with sharks, see lions, birds and marlin feeding on it. ) stripeys were raised with 2 bites and 1 release for Tim Lee who caught his first striped marlin on fly, about 150#.
May 16, 09 I had the pleasure of fishing with two anglers from Seattle. Dave and Nancy Mitchell are one of the most interesting and funny husband and wife teams I have worked with. The Blue was down due to a fuel pump so we fished aboard the Sea Hands. We ran to Rosa Blanca´s main bank. The ocean was calm and water was a dark blue. We had half a moon waning. We raised 2 fish early on Rosa Blanca´s main bank before going to the honey hole another 4 to 5 miles further East. After spotting a marlin feeding and busting bait on the surface it was not long before we started raising them around the Honey Hole. Dave Mitchell was able to hook and catch his first Galapagos Striped marlin on 20# tippet. Nancy had a few shots and bites but could not get a good hook set due to difficult bites.
May 17, 09 with the Blue back in commission we had Gary Padlesky and Nacy Kendel from Canada joined Dave and Nancy for more fly fishing. We ran the Blue straight to the Honey Hole to cash in on the excitement of the previous day. It didn´t take long to see the birds diving and the marlin busting bait. It was a warming feeling to know the fish were here. We managed to raise 22 stripes on 2 teasers and get a bite for Gary and have Dave break one off in mid fight.
May 18, 09 would be no disappointment as Dave, Nancy and Gary rode the Blue with me to Rosa Blanca´s Honey Hole. As soon as we arrived we started raising fish. The day went fast with plenty of action and hungry fish. We raised 35 stripes and had 8 bites with 1 release by Gary of a 140# stripey, his first ever! It was an incredible day by all means. With 8 bites form striped marlin on fly! You´ve heard the saying “it is all about the bite!”.
May 19, 09 returning to the Honey Hole with Gary, Nancy and Dave onboard the Blue we found many fish feeding and tailing. Trouble was raising them in our spread. The Sea hands fished next to us with bait and lures and frustrated the hell out of us by hooking up quite often. It was one of those days that were not our turn. Trying every trick in the book and changing teaser many times as well as using up to 3 teasers did not do the trick. We raised 4 very unwilling stripes while we watched the Sea hands release 5 or 6 on conventional. It was still rewarding to see that many fish tailing and feeding. Nevertheless frustrating as hell!
May 20, 09 Nancy, Dave, Gary returned with me on the Blue after a comic vote of confidence. Surely the previous day´s results would haunt me but it was new day. Water was blue and the fish were present. I decided to let the past day stay in the past and it was time to raise fish! It wasn´t long before were back in business raising stripes. Gary and Nancy each got a good bite from stripes out of 12 raises. We did release any on fly this day but evermore the reason to return. It was a fun 5 days of fly fishing with some of the nicest people in fly fishing onboard the Blue. It was worth nothing that we spotted over 50 tailers during the day that would not bite.
May 21, 09 fishing writer Gary Caputti (US) and Squid Nation owner and founder Bill Pino (US) and guest Niamh Murtagh from Ireland fished with me on the Blue. Fishing on the Honey Hole onboard the Blue we saw many birds diving as well as fish busting bait. The bite was hot until 2 pm and died off with 13 fish raised 7 bites and 3 releases. Niamh would catch and model beautifully with a 120# stripe she caught on her own. Very nice work for our lady angler´s first marlin on 40lb test. Bill made good work of 2 stripes on 40lb test.
May 22, 09 we decided with Gary Caputti and Bill to go after Blue marlin off of San Cristobal´s North drop. The ocean was the roughest I had seen all year with waves 8 to 10. Water was dark blue. We worked our way to the 2000 ft Bouie and raised a striped marlin near the Bouie and caught a few dorado as well as a very small wahoo. Next we sped off to a rock named Rosa Blanca Rock. The wahoo bites came in 2 and 3 rods at a time. After catching a few we tried some bottom fishing with jigs and little luck.
May 23, 09 was time to return to the Honey Hole on Rosa Blanca. I think everyone was glad to take the Blue back there. The first order for the day was to catch a few fish on standup so we raised 12 stripes on baits and got 7 bite and released 4. Next Gary needed to try for a marlin on fly so we reduced everything to 2 teasers. The fish were very thick and we raised 43 stripes on the teasers the rest of the day. Gary got 4 bites on fly and released a beautiful stripey around 140# on 20lb tippet. Well now Bill Pino would be damned if he didn´t get a shot so he tried for the first time in his life to get a marlin on fly and came very close. A solid bite had us just 5 feet from the release! The total numbers for the day were 55 stripes raised with 4 released on conventional and 1 released on fly. Lots of boobies diving and a good size pod of fish remained for 4 hours feeding on the surface giving us continuous action.
May 24, 09 Henry Nelson and his son Lars Nelson came down to try their luck on the Blue. Beautiful blue water on the Honey Hole and fish feeding on the surface as well as any birds diving would be a tell tale of things to come. 23 raises and 14 bites on bait lead to quite a few fish lost and 7 released for our anglers from North Carolina. Henry caught 4 stripes and Lars caught 3. Both father and son had never caught striped marlin before.
May 25, 09 would be an identical repeat for the most part for Henry and Lars. The water was choppy with seas 4 to 6 ft. Onboard the Blue we raised 23 stripes had 14 bites and for one reason or another had a good share of fish spit the hook. Lars caught 2, one fish over 170# and hank released 1. 3 fish were released.
May 26, 09 our last day with the Nelson´s. Onboard the Blue we had a nice ride as the oceans calmed and it turned out to be a beautiful day. Marlin feeding and lots of life on the Honey Hole were a nice site. We raised 12 fish had 9 bites and released 1. Don´t laugh this is fishing and yes it happens especially with our giant ballyhoo baits!!
Folks I cannot stress enough that if you want to fish the Galapagos it is necessary to get in touch with us right away. We are starting to book up heavily for the 2010 season. The Blue is already 60% booked between January and June 2010 so if you wait you may be left out. Our newest addition to our own fleet the Big Fish will be available late January 2010 and booking can be made now.
Keep those reels hissing!!! |
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