Jake Jordan's Fishing Adventures

Galapagos Fishing Report, The Marlin on Fly School; April 16, 2008

Greetings from the Galapagos:

This morning after a wonderful breakfast (bacon, eggs, coffee, fresh fruit, fresh baked breads, and pastries, and fresh squeezed fruit juice) at Casa Iguana Mar y sol, Danny and I met Braden and headed to the dock. The mates along with Captain Alan Star were waiting at the dock and we were under way at 7:00 AM.

My fifth Striped marlin of the trip to come unhooked.

            About 45 minutes later Danny Cline hooked a 170 pound Striped Marlin on fly, and did a great job catching his third Striped Marlin from four bites in 4 days of fishing. Remember now, Danny is the student at “The Marlin School,â€� Monday was the first Marlin that Danny ever cast a fly too. He is about ready to graduate with honors, oh and by the way, his last fish was on 16 pound tippet. 

            I had two more Striped Marlin tease in and attempt to bite my fly this afternoon, the first one caught the hook on the tip of its bill, and jumped several times before the hook fell off. The next bite came at about 1:30 PM and looked like I was going finally land a Marlin on fly, and then as I was very close to getting the release the hook suddenly came out and the fish swam away. We raised 22 Marlin to the teasers today, teased in 8, got 4 bites, and caught one fish. After our first four days of fly fishing for Striped Marlin here in the Galapagos, we have raised 79 Marlin, wound up getting only 9 to eat our flies, and of those we caught and released 3 Marlin, all of which weighted over 150 pounds, 2 on 20 pound tippet and the third on 16 pound tippet.

            The fishing here is awesome, for all of you who do not understand what fly fishing for marlin is all about, it is like hunting Lions or Elephants with a sling shot, or playing golf but only counting your hole in ones. This is truly a really challenging game of sport, I of course like it somewhat to say the least. Danny cline is 3 from 4 bites, while I am 0 from 5 bites, I can't wait to get back out there tomorrow, hopefully we will get more bites and my percentage will improve. In any event I love my job, wish you were here to share this awesome place, more reports to follow.

These are Big Strong Striped Marlin here in Galapagos

April 11, 2008;

            Today we left the dock at 7:00 AM to head to Rosa Blanca marlin bank, which is about an hour and a half boat ride in calm seas. As we arrived at the fishing grounds, Tonto and Enrique began to set out the teasers while I prepared our fly fishing tackle for our upcoming battles with the Galapagos Striped Marlin. Danny took the first turn, as he is the student, at 9:46 AM a 150 pound, lit-up, Galapagos, Striped Marlin came charging in chasing the teaser.   Danny made a great cast just as Tonto pulled the teaser away from that marlin a then the fly disappeared in the mouth of that marlin. Twenty-five minutes later Danny had caught, photographed, and released that great Striped Marlin, which brought his score to 4 marlin caught from 5 bites during less that five days of fly fishing for Striped Marlin.

Danny Cline and Captain Braden Escobar pose with Danny's 4th Striped Marlin on fly, just before releasing this great fish.

            Now it was my turn, after showing Danny how to not catch 5 bites I was anxious for my next shot, at 11:05 Am it happened. A big, close to 200 pound Striped Marlin came in hot on the long teaser, it teased in quickly, and then I cast my fly which landed where the teaser had been a split second earlier. This marlin ate my fly the way I had planned it, he took off and jumped several dozen times, then went deep for a while. I was applying maximum pressure (I was fishing with 16 pound tippet) when that marlin came to the surface and jumped several more times. I turned the drag knob on my Mako #9600 fly reel up to 10 pounds of drag pressure, leaned heavily on my TFO blue water heavy Billfish fly rod, and stopped that fish from sounding again. Now the marlin was just paddling on the surface as I closed the distance between me and the marlin. Finally after 23 minutes I pulled the Marlin to the boat where Enrique grabbed the bill, removed the fly, and released my first marlin from 6 bites during this trip.

            We still had half of a day left when sure enough another 170 pounder came charging in and attempted to eat Danny's well placed fly. Unfortunately, this marlin got his bill hooked out near the end of the bill, then proceeded to put on a great show with some magnificent jumps before the fly came off and the fish swam away. We raised a total of 12 Striped Marlin today, got 3 bites, and caught 2 wonderful Galapagos Striped Marlin on fly, what a great day!

Danny applying pressure on Galapagos Striped Marlin!

            During our 5 days of fly fishing here in San Cristobal, Galapagos, aboard “Blueâ€� with Captain Braden Escobar and mates Enrique and Tonto, Danny Cline and I saw 81 Striped marlin raised, we got a total of 13 of these marlin to bite our fly of which we caught and released five Striped Marlin between 150 and 190 pounds, of which two were caught on 16 pound test tippet while the other three were on 20 pound tippet.

            Braden was apologetic that we didn't see and catch more marlin, however after fly fishing for 5 days we caught 5 marlin on fly, that is awesome fishing anywhere in the world. The lodging at the Casa Iguana Mar Y Sol  B&B is the best that I have ever seen in the Galapagos, the weather is awesome, and the seafood is awesome. I plan to return next year for at least 3 “Marlin on Fly Schools,â€� if you have any interest you might want to contact me as I am sure that these trips will fill up quickly. Braden still has a couple of prime weeks this season, May and June, if you have any interest in catching a bunch of Striped Marlin in a cool place you can contact me or contact Merijo Atong at Sportsman's Addiction www.sportsmansaddiction.com .

            I will be home on April 14th, hope to talk to you at that time. I sure love this job, wish you were here! Tarpon reports from the Keys begin April 21.

Regards:

Jake