Galapagos Late pic report

[Robja]

That Guayaquil photo looks familiar. You must have stayed close to the airport. We spent a couple of nights going and coming. There is a nice 4 star hotel in the financial district(100 bucks a nite or less) There is a place called Malecon 2000 on the river that has some nice resturants and it is safe. Fenced in with plenty of guards. If you go back there is a lighthouse on the river that you walk up 404 steps to get to with shops and resturants along the walk.

[Squidnation]

we woke up for day 2 fishing to a stiff stiff breeze and knew it was gonna be an ass kicker. Seas are typically no rough during the season but the fringe and offseason can bring some rougher seas. Capt Bradon suggested we ride the lee side of the island. We could see the entire island and kicker rock. Then we could troll a ledge on that side for a blue marlin and then we would also have a 10 mile closer run to the Rosa bank. Sounds like a plan to us. Our first stop was Kicker Rock. This is a tourist destination that doesn't now allow fishing. But it does allow snorkeling from dive and tour boats but not fishing boats. What an impressive spot. I think Bradon said it was about 50 fathoms around the rock and 18 fathoms in the rocks.









The resident boobie birds. Gotta luv the galapagos t-shirt - I Luv Boobies







Imagine that more sea lions



More Boobies!



As we left kicker we noticed the terrane on the island started to change. It really looked like we were staring at the moon. The flat land with what looks like little volcanos is a dormant area that housed many volcanic vents.





Well we finally got to the bank and started blue marlin fishing with 4 plugs. Unfortunetly the bite never came. Bradon suggested we head toward the fad for some dolphin so we could live bait them for a blue. a 10 mile run in some rough seas was not only uncomfortable but also told me we would get nowhere near the Rosa Bank today. The fad didn't bring us any dolphin but we could see them. They just had terminal lock jaw. We also raised a single striped marlin. We tried jigging for the dolphin but only got this wee hoo. I think it is the smallest wahoo I have ever seen.





We then decided to try for some wahoo before calling it a day. We cruised 5 miles to a rock that must have been teeming with wahoo. 30 minutes of trolling around the rock generated 30 wahoo bites. Pretty incredible. Needless to say with only two of us fishing I was not able to get too many pictures but this little rock was wide open.



I am not so sure this is a good holding place for wahoo but .........





After catching our dinner we tried for some yellowfin and bottom fish jigging but we were both ready to hit land and rest up for tomorrow. So We headed for the barn. We hugged the coast line and took some shots of the incredible island.







We took the wahoo to the Miconia and had them cook it up for us. What a feast. Reminds me of the time we took Al's 180lb yellowfin we caught in PV with Josh, the nicks and double d. What a great nite. But I had to hit the hey for tomorrow's day fishing. The last day proved to be world class. Stay tuned if you want. Thanks for checking out my galapagos thread. I can't wait to get back.

[Anders]

Awesome report, keep it coming and thanks for sharing

[Squidnation]

Woke up early for the third day of fishing and was relieved to see the wind had changed directions so it was off to the Rosa Bank for our last day of fishing.

The It didn't take long for the stripeys to cooperate. We missed a single as we were setting lines and then a double came in. Anybody that fishes with me on the trips knows we have a rule on the boat. I learned long ago that mates hating reeling in fish but love to hook them no matter that we ask them not to and let us do it. So years ago we decided to tell all the mates we fish with. If you hook it - then you reel it in. The mate decided to hook a fish for us and then went to hand off the rod. Nada to it buddy, you hook it you reel it Our other mate clearing the Squidnation Teaser.



Gary and the mate doing their best on a double that went in opposite directions. Notice we already hooked up the ball to the mates rod in case we had to dump it.



The mate getting hooked up to the ball. We could see black on the reel and were seconds from dumping before the fish decided to turn back



Gary was getting a bit low himself



Gary's fish on the wire. I think Bradon was using my camara. I am below using Gary's camera



Gary's fish turned out to be a bill less stripey



The mate's fish comes boatside







Now I am always up for learing new stuff but this one didn't make sense to me. The captain wanted to try a new rigging technique. The mates thought he was crazy. Gary and I looked at each other and said thank god he is only doing this to one bait.





We had so many birds around it was tough to keep baits and teasers unmolested by birds.



As luck would have it that stupid looking rig got hit in 5 minutes. And guess what - she came tight. Bradon was getting the last laugh on all of us.









So I guess we had to put that dumb looking thing back over. Guess what it lasted 5 minutes and got hit. I dropped back and prayed. 2 for 2 on the dumb thing - who knew!





This fish took me to the knot. I had a feeling it was a bigger fish and when it got boatside I was not disappointed.





After going 4 for 7 in the first hour we decided to go to the fly. Now I am lost to fly fishing but it was sure cool. We ended up raising 48 to the teasers - pitching to 20 fish and getting 7 legit bites. Gary caught his and I got mine to within 5 five of the tippet. It was absolutely awesome watching these fish fire in on two teaser. I don't have any shots of the fish on the fly since gary asked me to use his camera. But here are some pics of our two flies that got bites and also some teaser fish.



This homemade fly got the bulk of the bites









Tomorrow - my last day in Galapagos and some shots around the island.

[Bert Rodgers]

Unreal shots Bill.

BTW I saw a guy in the Cayman Islands rig a hoo like that W/ and islander, fishing for cudas in 10 feet of water. it worked.

Bert

[jtocean]

Great pictures Bill. Thanks for sharing!

[clt_capt]

Awesome trip Bill - Thanks for sharing

[SeaBiscuit]

Incredible pictures indeed Bill. I know why you want to go back and it's not only for the fishing.

BTW, I dare you to rig a ballyhoo this way next time you are fishing with Marty!

Cheers,
Nick

[SharkJP]

world class pics and report...i would expect nothing less from you. Thanks for getting my blood pumping a little at work!

[Anders]

keep it coming man, nice job and thanks for sharing