PACIFIC COLOMBIA & ECUADOR FISHING MAP
Fishing Hot Spots
From Juradó and Bahía Solano on the Panama border, down past Nuquí, Cabo Corrientes, Buenaventura and Tumaco, along Ecuador's coast from Esmeraldas and Manta to Salinas and the Gulf of Guayaquil, with the offshore seamounts where the marlin roam. Tap any star or dot to see what it is and what to fish there.
More map layers
Fishing & access
Marine chart layers
Parks & rules
Safety: these are planning references. Use current official charts, weather and marine alerts and proper safety equipment before heading out.
Lake guides for this map
Month-by-month patterns, fish, ramps and rules for each water:
Fishing Hot Spots by area
Rocky points, islets, bays, river mouths, banks and offshore seamounts. Tap one to fly to it on the map.
Roosterfish on the rocks, sailfish and marlin in the blue water
The Pacific coast of Colombia and Ecuador is one of the richest stretches of water in the Americas. In Chocó the jungle drops straight into deep water, so at Bahía Solano, Cabo Marzo, Nuquí and Cabo Corrientes the sailfish, marlin, yellowfin tuna and dorado are only a short run out, and the rocky points and morros hold roosterfish (pez gallo), cubera snapper, jacks and grouper.
Farther south the coast turns to mangroves and river mouths around Buenaventura, Guapi and Tumaco: that is snook (róbalo), corvina, snapper and sierra country. In Ecuador, Manta and Salinas are the big offshore ports, with striped, blue and black marlin, yellowfin tuna, dorado and wahoo; the best billfish season off Salinas is usually October to April. The rocky points of Esmeraldas, Manabí and Santa Elena hold snapper, grouper, roosterfish and jacks, and the muddy banks of the Gulf of Guayaquil are full of corvina.
Rules: national parks and sanctuaries such as Utría, Gorgona, Sanquianga, Bahía Málaga, Malpelo and Machalilla (Isla de la Plata) are closed to fishing. Ecuador's marine reserves (Galera–San Francisco, El Pelado, Bajo Copé, Cantagallo–Machalilla) allow fishing under their own rules. Colombia requires a sport fishing permit from AUNAP and Ecuador regulates sport fishing through its fisheries ministry; check with your charter or the local authority before you go. Billfish are best released.
BigJoe’s gear for Pacific Colombia & Ecuador
What BigJoe would bring to fish these waters.
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Map sources & checks
- Coverage
- Pacific Colombia & Ecuador. Mapped features come from public datasets and can be incomplete or out of date: a missing reef, ramp or wreck does not mean it is not there.
- Map data
- OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) — retrieved October 7, 2026
- World Database on Protected Areas (UNEP-WCMC & IUCN), Protected Planet — retrieved October 7, 2026 (license: Protected Planet terms)
- Hot spots
- 57 hot spots, each with its own source (tap any star to see it): OpenStreetMap mapped feature (52), Marine Regions gazetteer (4), OpenStreetMap marina or harbor (1).
- Protected areas
- 17 protected areas from the official list above, drawn in dashed red. Fishing rules inside them are set by the managing agency; check with them before you fish.
- Chart layers (Charts button)
- GEBCO ocean depth and OpenSeaMap buoys, lights and markers. GEBCO and OpenSeaMap are useful references, not official navigation charts.
- Weather & tides
- See Weather & Tides for this area: Open-Meteo weather and marine models. Tides here are estimated from a global sea-level model, not official tide tables.
- Dates
- This page last updated October 15, 2026. Each dataset keeps its own retrieval date, shown above.
⚠️ Planning reference only, not for navigation. Use current official charts, weather and marine alerts, and proper safety gear before heading out.
See something wrong or missing? Tell us and we will check it against the source.