Potential World Record Bigeye Galapagos Islands, Galapagos, Ecuador

[LuckyLady]

Galapagos Islands, Galapagos, Ecuador Fishing Report Provided by ECUAGRINGO February 13, 2011

Wanting to shake things up a bit we decide to try our luck by running 50 miles to Floreana Island onboard the Big Fish. Fishing 3 miles offshore around Post Office crew and anglers Greg, Roger and Anthony were hoping for a big blue that lurk these waters. Lots of bonita and small tuna were seen busting and after a moment a few bonita were caught and bridle rigged to swim live. Trolling them for over 2 hours only attracted the attention of sharks which are not legal to catch so it was time to go back to trolling. Trying to cover as much ground as possible the boat chugged along at 8 knots pulling all lures as the target was something big. At 2:50 pm on the mark a huge head came out of the water followed by a tremendous explosion. Anthony Berado grabbed the captain's rod and began a fight on a Shimano Tallus 50/80 stand-up rod with matching TLD 50 reel. The fight lasted 1 hour 5 minutes before the beast was subdued. A very nice big eye tuna that Pete Santini weighed and measured later at 357 pounds was brought to the boat. Pete is an IGFA certified weight master. Since the fish was caught on 50# he suggested it be submitted for a world record


While the Galapagos waters are more known for their resident population of striped marlin, you never know what you might find in this angling El Dorado. Capt. Braden Escobar and his crew on Big Fish had seen 10 days of slick-calm water, but the marlin bite had slowed down to a trickle (by Galapagos standards anyway).







The crew came across hordes of bonito busting the surface and decided to snag a few and slow-troll them as live baits. They bridled up a few tuna, and began trolling them. The crew pulled the baits around for more than two hours but only attracted the attention of sharks, which are illegal to catch in the Galapagos. So, they decided to switch back to lures and look for more action. Trying to cover as much ground as possible the boat chugged along at 8 knots pulling all lures. At 2:50 p.m. a huge head came out of the water followed by a tremendous explosion. Anthony Berado grabbed the rod and began fighting the big fish on a Shimano Tallus 50- to 80-pound stand-up rod with a matching TLD 50 reel. The fight lasted 1 hour, 5 minutes before Anthony subdued the beast. The crew boated the cow-sized bigeye and headed hone. IGFA representative Pete Santini weighed and measured the fish, which came in at 357 pounds. The catch was submitted to the IGFA as a potential 50-pound-class world record.






Interested in Fishing the Galapagos, visit www.ecuagringo.com