This month´s results have been quite interesting and surprising as well. We have had two groups fish out of Manta and one group from Salinas. On the first days of October we hosted a group from as far as Slovakia who came to Manta to have 6 days of fishing (which in the end turned out to be 7 due to the fabulous days of fishing they had). At first we thought that it would be tough for them to see the same type of unbelievable action we say during August considering the fact that in the past, October has been the ¨Last great Manta month of the year¨, or the last month in which Manta gets great Marlin fishing. Usually we start recommending Salinas around this time of the year. However, the Marlins had a different idea for them. Aboard the group´s HATTERAS 34 ¨Isabella¨, Captained by Angel Bazan, they started out with 6 Blues and 4 Stripes released for the first 5 days, all average sizes ranging on 300 lbs for the Blues and 180lbs for the Stripes. For the next 3 days, they wanted a break on the Marlin and headed out to encircle the Island of La Plata (southwest of Manta) which holds large concentrations of Wahoo, Dorados, and Tuna at this time of the year and were lucky enough to land about a dozen catches, mostly Dorados, which were deliciously grilled in the evening by our staff. During their week-long fishing plan, a group from New Jersey visited us as well and had a day of fishing on board the group´s Bertram 31 ¨La Choca¨, captained by Sergio Bazan. Even though they did not have the same luck of our European visitors, they enjoyed and excellent day, in which they saw 3 marlin to which they made the pass but got no hits. This past weekend we were visited by a couple of anglers from Tampa, Florida. They set out to enjoy the best of the Ecuadorian Coast so they fished in Manta and Salinas, one day each, along with a drive along our ¨Sun Route¨ from Manta to Salinas which covers our entire coastline passing thought cultural towns like Valdivia and the worldwide famous surf town Montañita. Considering the results we had had with the group from Slovakia in Manta, we thought that they would also have plenty of Marlin action on their day of fishing. Once again the Isabella headed out, however, the Marlins surprised us and were not interested that day. After that, they headed out to Salinas to fish on the group´s BERTRAM 28 ¨Misijas¨ captained by Luis Moran. It was our first Salinas day for the new season and they saw one Marlin going around them and seeing the bait but got no hits, while some Whales put up a jumping show for them. We are now expecting to see the catch shift from Manta to Salinas in the next coming weeks. Water temperatures are averaging from 72 F to 73 F and the southern current stayed strong. Even though Manta has Marlin fishing all year long (as the Slovak group witnessed), and some of the largest Marlins appear in Manta at this time of the year, we are expecting to start the new Salinas season in a couple of weeks with its famous Black and Blue Marlin action. Here is when the hottest Marlin numbers always appear. Buena pesca Amigos y Buena suerte Luis Gomez Jr. BLUEMARLIN ECUADOR www.bluemarlinmanta.com