June was hot for stripe marlins

Also included in this edition of Ecuagringo’s Galapagos Marlin Report is a little history of the fishery on each island.

The fish are bitting in the Galapagos Islands so what are you waiting for?  Both San Cristobal Island and Santa Cruz Island are reporting lots of raises and bites of striped marlin.  Galapagos is a true year round fishery.  The blue marlin bite this year has been the slowest on record due to the cold waters brought by La Niña phenomenon. However, striped marlin love the colder waters as long as the sardines are present.

The Galapagos are perhaps your best shot at consistent year round high volume striped marlin fishing.  In the Galapagos there are two island destinations to mainly target striped marlin.  While blue marlin are common in the Galapagos during warmer waters, Isabela Island has been found to produce the most giant blue marlin so far.  When planning a trip to the Galapagos ask one of our staff members to guide you on what your best options and times of the year are for multiple species.

Santa Cruz Island

Famous island for being the most visited in the Galapagos and with a larger population than the rest it was also where Ecuagringo started the first charters ever done in the Galapagos back in 1998.  0-30 Bank which is about a 27 mile run and structure North of Santa Fe Island put the Galapagos eventually on the international fishing map.

For the last 5 years reports from 0-30 Bank onboard Patricia (our flagship boat out of Santa Cruz Island) have been solid averaging 5 to 40 striped marlin raises per day. June 2022 has been incredible fishing out of 0-30 Bank. Patricia skippered by Captain Yury Gutierrez Jr. has averaged 15 to 45 striped marlin raised per day.  Other boats in the area have reported the same activity for the last 2 weeks. Water has remained 72/73 F for most of June.

San Cristobal Island

Ecuagringo has been fishing San Cristobal Island hard since early 2000. In 2006 we started with now retired legendary boats “Blue” and eventually “Big Fish”.  Today we offer several 36 ft sportfishers with a larger boat on its way for 2023.  Our main boat “Mantarraya”, operated by our good friend Luis Ojeda and captained by Jonathan Del Rosario is now filling the gap of another legendary boat “On The Hook”. Late Captain and long time friend “Gus” Hernandez led many Ecuagringo guests to catch and release thousands of striped marlin and helped put Isabela Island on the map for grander blue marlin.

June 2022 captain Jonathan onboard Mantarraya fishing with a few groups from Ecuador and Ecuagringo friends has reported 20 to 45 raises average per day out of Española Island 33 miles South of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno harbor.

Isabela Island

Perhaps the little known giant blue marlin fishery out of Isabela Island is one of the best kept secrets in the Equatorial Pacific.  Ecuagringo had led excursions to fish around Isabela since 1999 to investigate what was there.  Some of the largest blue and black marlin encountered in the Galapagos were out of Isabela Island waters and nearby Floreana Island.  Isabela has deep drops that go from 1000 to 3000 feet and the stagger off to 6000, 9000 and over 10,000 feet in some areas.  The upwellings can make the waters rich in nutrients attracting baitfish, squid, bonito and tuna.

Black and blue marlin over 1000 pounds have been weighed by local tuna fishermen caught on handlines.  Swordfish over 1000 pounds have been landed as well.  In 2019 Ecuagringo set out to put our mark finally with regular charters out of Isabela Island each year.  The results were really big fish 1000, 12000, 1300 and over 1500 pounds estimated caught, released and many lost.  When we started our first charters we were outgunned using 80# tackle.  Now are boats carry 130# custom Chaos Rods and Alutecnos reels for the most part when trolling lures and 80# gear to pitch to smaller fish.

Isabela is a true grander destination and we recommend at least 5 days of fishing but most guest book 7 or 10 days for more shots.  This year was the slowest on record due to La Niña event which kept the water too cold for blue marlin during the first half of the year.  This has been a very powerful and unusual La Niña so we hope things will be back to normal in the 2023 season.

The post June has been red hot for striped marlin! appeared first on Ecuagringo.

By: Ecuagringo
Title: June has been red hot for striped marlin!
Sourced From: www.ecuagringo.com/fishing-report/june-has-been-red-hot-for-striped-marlin/
Published Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2022 19:32:31 +0000