The trip
Some fishing trips start with a pile of research. This one started with a tip from a co-worker of Tristan Terorotua's who grew up in Puerto López, a small town on the Pacific coast of Ecuador. There was little information and even fewer pictures, which was exactly the appeal. Tristan and his friend PJ flew from Fort Lauderdale to Guayaquil and drove three and a half hours through the mountains to the coast.
The target was the broomtail grouper, and the grounds were around Isla de la Plata, about an hour's run from Puerto López in a 25-foot panga.
Day one: rain, current and a first lesson
They fished the first afternoon in the middle of a storm. Wind and a fast current made staying vertical tough: even in 100 feet of water, it took 250 to 300 g jigs to get any fishable time near the bottom. Spotted rose snapper and Pacific creole fish came over the rail in numbers.
Then came the thump they had traveled for, and Tristan wasn't ready. The fish dug straight into the rocks and was gone. It became the lesson of the trip: with broomtail, you have to be on it from the moment it eats.
On a rock pile a little later, both anglers hooked up at once, and two of the fish were threadfin sea bass, gray, odd-looking and topped with a huge, rooster-like dorsal fin. Before sunset Tristan landed a fish that had been on his jig bucket list for years, a corvina, and that night it was on the table, cooked Ecuadorian style.
Day two: the WYLD, flipped
Day two broke glass calm. With less current they could scale down, and Tristan went to the WYLD 220g. The first broomtail wasn't big, but it was the fish they had come for, and PJ soon followed with a nicer one of his own.
After lunch they ran out to 400 feet, where the current called for 360 g jigs. Every drop produced something: a snowy grouper, southern rock bass and damsel bass, a cousin of the longtail bass anglers know from the Gulf.
The last stop of the day was a rock pile on the way home, for the sunset bite. Tristan started on an orange 220 g WYLD tied the traditional way, from the top, and it was fishing a little slower than he wanted. So he kept the profile, switched to a pink one and flipped it over, tying it from the bottom instead. That moves the center of gravity down and lets you work the jig with a faster cadence.
First drop: a 45 lb broomtail. Next drop, another. For the next half hour every drop was a fish, and the boat put 10 broomtails over the rail. Tristan called it the best jig bite he has ever been part of:
The greatest jig bite I've ever had the pleasure of being a part of.
The best fish came to the captain, who had been jigging from the stern. It made a long run straight back to the rocks and holed up. He backed the boat over it to get the line vertical and waited it out; after about ten minutes it came out, and PJ fought it the rest of the way up. A 65 lb broomtail grouper.
Day three: one more round
With a flight to catch, the last morning was a quick six-hour trip. The pink WYLD got bit on the first drop again, and PJ added a 50 lb broomtail. When the current picked up, Tristan switched to a slimmer jig and kept catching. Out deep, PJ hooked what he was sure was a grouper in 450 feet; it turned out to be a southern rock bass about ten times the size of the ones from the day before.
What to know about broomtail grouper
The broomtail grouper, also called mangrove grouper, lives along the Pacific coast of the Americas, from California to Peru. Young fish grow up inshore around mangrove estuaries; adults move offshore to rocky reefs and hard bottom. The name comes from the tail: the rays stick out past the edge of the fin and give it a ragged, broom-like look.
It's a big fish, able to top 100 lb and reach about five feet. And it fights like a grouper: once hooked, it heads straight for structure, so you have to turn it fast. As Tristan found out on day one, if you stall, you lose it.
What worked for us: the 220 g WYLD in calm water, 250 to 360 g jigs when the current ran, and the WYLD flipped over when the fish wanted a faster jig. You'll find the full range in our WYLD collection.
Before you go
Fishing rules and licenses in Ecuador are different from those at home. Check the current requirements with your captain and the local authorities before you book.
