Day 5 of 15 - Galapagos Islands - Back on Track

Almaco Jack – Mike

The weather has changed and the fishing turned back on again.  My crew of Paul Michele, Shaun Ruge, and Mike “007” Pelligra went to a spot I had never fished before and we had an amazing day.  We fished a piece of bottom about a quarter mile square that has everything on it.  It was a perfect example of what can happen in the Galapagos Islands.

Jigging

Grouper – Paul Michele

We started off using  bucktails and jigs to land loads of pargo, bacaloa (a kind of snapper), the Galapagos Islands version of a porgy (super-sized of course), groupers, and huge jacks.  Paul hooked something that smoked is (40lb) drag and then dove under a ledge never to be seen again.

The bottom in most places is incrediblyy sticky and the 60z bucktails from HookUp Lures are the best choice.  Mike and Shaun both hooked Wahoo that broke them off.  Shaun stayed away from the bottom jigging and focused on targeting Wahoo and Tuna.  Though the morning bite for him was slow, his efforts were well rewarded in the afternoon.

Topwater Tuna

Yellowfin Tuna – Shaun Ruge

In the early afternoon we switched over to plugging for yellowfin tuna.  Small packs of tuna would come in and terrorize the flying fish.  A well aimed cast was all it took to draw a dramatic strike.  The bite was steady until the end of the day and the largest fish were in the 50lb class.

We have targeted more tuna in these five days than ever before and we have learned alot.  A couple of anglers are coming home with reels where the drags have been melted.  We have been field testing the Penn TRQS7 and it has now become my favorite big-water spinning reel.  It has a super-smooth drag that can stand up to anything.  Our next step will be to use it for pitch-baiting big marlin.  Click here for our recommended tuna tackle for tuna plugging.

More Marlin for Santini

Pete Santini took Paul Stevens and Alan Lapes out for marlin and they were not disappointed.  They had loads of action including three striped marlin on at the same time (for a few minutes).  They ending up bringing two to the boat and missed numerous fish.  Once again the big Iland lures were the most effective.  Now that we are on the other side of the weather change we expect the marlin bite to just keep getting better.  It should really heat up in the next few days.

Learn more about travel and fishing in the Galapagos at Sportfish Galapagos