Mancora, Peru Help

[Mitch P.]

I'm travelling to Mancora, Peru in February and wondered if anyone has any tips on charters in the area?

The last time I went to Peru, I went handline fishing.

This time I'm looking for something bigger. :)

Thanks for any tips or leads.

Mitch

[PanamaJack]

Firstly Mitch, Welcome to our forum!

Of course many years ago, back in the 40s and 50s, anglers were catching huge Black Marlin and Swordfish from that fabled Club at Cabo Blanco, on land owned by the (English) Lobitos Oil Company just north of Talara. And the All Tackle World record for Black Marlin still stands for a fish caught in 1953 from there by Alfred Glassell – a fish of 1560lbs.

However, in the intervening years, over-fishing of the vast Anchovy shoals (towards the bottom of the food chain) coupled with changes in the Humbolt current lead to a virtual disappearance of those magnificent game fish.

Odd reports though have appeared in the angling press of individuals setting up operations in other parts of Peru and having success with big Striped Marlin as well as the Blacks and Broadbills. (In fact Peru is one of the very few places where mention is made of day-time surface baiting for them.) Captures of large Big Eye & Yellowfin Tuna, and Makos, are also reported.

But these reports as I mentioned are always isolated and the charter operations, I suspect largely through a lack of clients, move on.

Um…that seems a long winded way of saying ‘Sorry, I really can’t help you’. But I’d certainly be interested, as possibly would be others reading this thread, in hearing of anything probably when you back of that area – charter boats available, rates and what’s being caught.

Just really a last though. Have you thought about contacting someone at IGFA Headquarters in Dania Beach, Florida. There's a young lady - Emily Collins - who maintains contact with all their International representatives. She might well have received up to-date reports from those or could put you in contact with one. Contact details for the IGFA are on their web site - http://www.igfa.org.

Every success, and please report back.
Kindest regards
Dave

[Mitch P.]

Dave,

Thanks very much for the info.

I haven't been able to uncover too much about angling opportunities in the area yet, but I'm still looking.

I'm going on a family vaca from the USA, but my wife is originally from Peru.

I'll take your advice and will try contacting the IGFA, good idea.

I'll be sure to report back how I do.

Mitch

[PanamaJack]

Hi Mitch
I don’t know whether you’ve ever viewed this web site - http://www.vivamancora.com/english/buceo.htm? Or this one - http://www.vivamancora.com/cristina/index2.html?

As well as the larger offshore game fish species it suggests that inshore you should also encounter Amberjack, Roosterfish (one of my favourite species) and Snook.

The only thing I would mention is that there is currently a building El Nino that’s affecting that Pacific coastline of Central and the top half of South America. As such you may well find that this affects the seasons that they’re suggesting, pushing fish further south earlier.

One last point that last url makes mention of Cabo Blanco and Hemmingway. Have you ever seen the version of the ‘Old Man and the Sea’ that Spencer Tracy starred in? Well the supposed Atlantic Blue Marlin the ‘old man’ hooks is in fact Glassell’s world record Black. You can actually see the fishing line in some of the footage!

Anyway a friend of Hemmingway’s – Don Merton, whom I once met in the Azores – had charter a boat for three weeks in Cabo Blanco. ‘Papa’ was desperately keen though to catch the Marlin for the film’s footage himself and cajoled Don in letting him take the charter. The end result of three weeks trolling? Nada, no fish! Then, only then he was forced to use the other footage.
Dave

[Mitch P.]

Dave,

Thanks for the links and the info.

Mitch

[Mitch P.]

I ended up getting a dorado and some nice tuna.

http://www.ctfisherman.com/Peru07/Peru-Dorado1.jpg

You can read more about my trip here:

http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php/ubb/get_topic/f/19/t/002192.html

[PanamaJack]

I ended up getting a dorado and some nice tuna.

http://www.ctfisherman.com/Peru07/Peru-Dorado1.jpg

You can read more about my trip here:

http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php/ubb/get_topic/f/19/t/002192.html

Thanks for that post Mitch and including the link, some great photographs. It was also good to see the Peruvian 'air force' (the Pelicans) are there in numbers, must be lots of bait.

And there are, as you proved, Marlin there. Certainly with those shoals of Yellowfin and Dorado around you'd normally expect to find them.

One final point, yes the small Tuna with the stripes on the belly is a Skipjack. It can be confusing. Fishermen often refer to them as 'Bonito' and I've even, in Florida, occasionally heard them referred to as 'Arctic Bonito'. They can occasionally range as far north as Cape Cod on your country's eastern seaboard.
Dave
PS Glassell's fish is huge! The IGFA's HQs at Dania Beach is well worth visiting for anyone who finds themselves in Florida.