fishing in Galapagos

[castoff]

I just got back last week from three days of fishing in the Galapagos. I took the family to the Galapagos for a 7 day excursion with Linblad and had a great time. The family went home and I went fishing on San Cristobal with Pete Santini and Captain Gus on "All Hands". I had fished with Pete in Boston for Striped Bass in Boston. We did well there and he told me about his partnership with a boat in the Galapagos. I had also heard from Paul Ivey in Venezuela about the fishing in the Galapagos a few years ago.
After the family left I flew over to San Cristobal and met Pete. He set me up in a very nice bed and breakfast. The first day we went out and raised about 9 Striped Marlin and caught 2. I was the only angler on the boat and I was pretty happy. Pete said he was disappointed in the fishing and hoped it would be better the next day. We went out the next day and had a similar day. We had about 6 bites and I caught one. Again I heard promises of better fishing and to be honest was beginning to wonder of this was a little charter captain hot air. Well let me say that boy was I wrong! My third and final day we went out to a piece of the bank that was a little further and to make a long story short we had about 40 bites ( I lost count) and I reeled 6 . The crew shook off about 4 doubles and at least one triple, as I was the only angler on the boat.
The Striped Marlin here a much larger than the ones that I have caught in Cabo. One of them was about #275 and most were in the #150 -200 range. We were trolling lures and the fish were hungry. There weren't a lot of lookers. I was told that this was a more typical day and there is usually at least one shot at a blue or a black but I didn't see any.
This was a great trip and If you are looking for a great family trip with some great fishing added on, I would go to the Galapagos.
I took a few pictures, but as a sole angler there aren't many. I'll try to post them when I get a chance.

[Squidnation]

Nice report. that was similar to our trip with a decent day, a slow day and a balls to the wall here they come a bunch at time type day. congrats on a nice trip. Did you chose to pull lures or was that the crews way of doing it? We will be back on March 31 and I am debating taking a case of med ballyhoo. Our last trip showed us that the ballyhoo they use are huge and I have heard that if you bring a case a mediums you may be able to put a hurtin on them. What are your thoughts? Did you have many sea lion bites? or dolphin/meatfish bites?

[castoff]

We were pulling lures because that is what the captain does. It was pretty effective but we did drop some fish. Another boat was fishing with ballyhoo and they were doing about the same as us. The other boat had a few more anglers and they caught 8 and I caught 6 by myself. We didn't get any other type of bites and weren't bothered by the sea lions. I know that there was some discussion about bait and switch but the really wanted to troll lures. I do like baiting fish and if I go back I may push for that.

[frankypettolina]

Good going on your trip- it is a truly amazing fishery there. i went last year and fished on the johanna mar (through Artmarina). In 5 days we caught 44 out of 100 or so bites. never had a sea lion bite, but saw a grouper that was being eaten by one.

We did much better when we switched to bait and switch than we did with the lures, but the other angler and myself are diehard bait fisherman so that may have helped.

Awesome place. Would love to get over there again.

[SKK]

Yes - the Galapagos is a truly awesome spot to fish. A couple of topics raised here that brought back memories (some fond).

Sea-Lions: In 12 years of fishing here (mostly before we setup our own operation) I've never known a sea-lion to take a lure or bait. BUT - I've lost many fish to sea-lions once hooked. They're cute critters and mostly very curious/friendly, especially the juveniles, but I can understand why the local fishermen don't love 'em the way your average tourist does. My first experience of this was about 12 years ago when fishing with my father-in-law (a local fisherman). We hooked something big - the line screamed out (100lb - this wasn't sport-fishing) and the next thing I see is a sea-lion jumping and twisting at the end of the line. The old man yells "maldito lobo!" and I'm thinking how do you de-hook a sea-lion? But it wasn't so - 5 minutes later we haul in a nice big tuna head, the sea-lion got the rest. Just last year, we had some Spanish clients popping and jigging inshore and we got a triple strike of BIG YFT. For the next 30 minutes, I hung over the side of the bridge with the clients' video-cam pressed to my face while my clients got their workout. Eventually I saw three lines crossed just beside the boat and three 60 pounders spinning slowly just below water, like a merry-go-round. Then I saw a large shape (hard to tell looking at the screen) and suddenly there was only one tuna. I thought it must have been a shark, but no - just another maldito lobo. What really hurt was that my client had bought a cheap CD disc and the video was completely blank!

On to Ballyhoo (or Choca as we call them here). Yes, these ones are almost the size of a Galapagos Barracuda (which is small as Baracuda go) but big for a bait - but the fish still go for them. Last year, we chartered with Artmarina to entertain some of their Venezualan clients. Well, they flew in with their own Choca and they were like minnows next to ours. I don't know if the fish found them any tastier - but the Frigate Birds - they just went nuts for them! Birds can be a nuisance, but these guys were totally out of line. Several times we had to pull in the lines and just troll lures only until the birds dispersed. I've got a lovely photo of a triple-frigate-strike - 2 clients and the mate all with their rods up in the air!

If you were out on Jhonomar that must have been early in the year. We bought her last April, refurbished her and renamed her Leodan. Now we get to fish any time we want and sometimes the clients buy the gas

Yes - Do come back. And give us a call when you do.

.

[gottaflylee]

Great report Castoff and sounds like a wonderful trip. Did the crew take any pictures for you, would love to see them?

[paul708]

Nice report.
thanks for posting