The waters in the south are warming up and areas where it was 67 F last week are now 70 to 72 F. Blue marlin have not yet shown signs of showing up but neither have the flying fish. Tuna surprisingly are appearing without flying fish. And we are finally starting to catch tuna in the 15 to 50 lbs. Striped marlin have been steady all year on the Honey Hole and double digits are the norm for the most part. Ocean conditions have improved considerably in the last month but a few windy days show up here and there. Water colors around San Cristobal have been mainly blue/green. The weather is still cool on the water but not as chilly as a week ago. The seasonal change to the hot winter will be making its presence stronger soon.
Oct 26, 2010– Big Fish headed to the Honey on Rosa Blanca for a practice run with crew only to continue testing the new circle hooks that we will be making mandatory across all our fleet. The hooks will be the norm until we come across something better. Captain Fernando Yepez took mates Ronnie Yagual and Felipe Guanga. They reported raising 16 stripeys, getting 12 bites and releasing 8 stripes. Two big eyes of 30# were caught as well. Ocean was calm and water temps were 69 to 71 most of the day. Marlin were seen busting bait on several occasions on the surface.
Oct 27, 2010– aboard the Big fish I personally went along to play angler. I decide to bring Captain Edwin Buenano along as part of the continued training with this particular new circle hook. We ventured to Braden’s Bank and the ocean was very rough and choppy. Winds must have been about 23 knots and it never calmed all day. So we opted to go down sea to Braden’s bank which had bird life and tuna activity when we arrived. Our goal were blue marlin but we did not raise any and only a few tunas averaging 15# lbs were caught so we heading in about 1 pm for oil maintenance on the lower units.
Oct 28, 2010– Back out to the Honey Hole I sent the crew for another practice day. As much as I wanted to go I needed to catch up on office work. Captain Yepez reported 3 to 5 foots chops but a much more reasonable sea. Water was 70 F for the most part on the Honey Hole. He reported raising 14 stripeys, 9 bites and 6 releases on the circle hooks. Fish were very aggressive and water was much clearer.
Folks the fishing continues to be pretty solid and although numbers are not record highs it is still nonstop fun. Don’t afraid to book as space is running out as we start to get really busy now. More reports to follow soon.
