EQUADOR: Galapagos, Manta and Salinas Marlin Report

Winds continue to blow strongly making fishing quite rough. As October progresses we should see the winds begin subside much more. By November the winds should be much nicer and the rides out to the fishing grounds much more pleasant. Water has remained 72 -73 F for the most part around Rosa Blanca and cooler closer to the island. Marlin have been scarce with a few tailers reported seen mainly between san Cristobal and Santa Cruz. Most boats are doing their yearly maintenance waiting for winds to calm down. The Big Fish has been out a few times this month with little luck with striped marlin but has been doing well jigging for groupers up to 30lbs near the island. The wahoo bite has been slow as well as the tuna. This has been a strange year and it appears the influence of La Niña has rerouted important bait masses such as sardines and squid to stay further North than usual. As the season begins to change we should see the fishing pick up enormously.

Salinas.

Salinas has been pretty strong this entire month of October with striped marlin. Double digit raises on most days have made Salinas the place to be this October. Don Chuma (28 Bertram) has reported raising over 40 striped marlin and seen another 40 tailing in 3 days of fishing October 10-12, 2011. Winds have had some days choppy and others pleasant. On average seas have been bearable and temperature has remained around 74. Some dorado and tuna have been caught in large numbers around debris.

Manta.

While Manta has been under the expectations of the last 5 years the fishing was quite reliable until about 10 days ago when it slowed almost to a halt. Most days were experiencing 2 to 5 raises of marlin and sailfish each day. Last week boats averaged 2 or less raises per day of stripes and blues.

For more info: info@ecuagringo.com