Our base was on the south-western tip of the island near Playa Blanca, so in the weeks running up to the trip I did some research on likely fishing opportunities, with Scott Hutchison's blog here being an excellent source of information. Along with the LRF gear I put in a heavier lure rod and some plugs and jigs to target the bigger pelagic species from the deep water rock marks, althought that would be entirely down to the weather and it was already looking as if it was going to be a bit windy during our stay. Caught the plane from Birmingham at 0900 hrs and by mid-afternoon we were unloading the hire cars at the Villa. Rest of the day was spent settling in, having a quick walk around the local area and then enjoying a few beers watching the sunset.
First morning we had a walk from the villa along the promenade past the lighthouse at Punta Pechiguera and on towards Playa Blanca. The view across to Fuerteventura was spectacular as was the coastline, which was being hit by a heavy swell driven by the north-easterly winds. About an hour later we arrived at the beach at Playa Flamingo, found somewhere to have a cold beer and a bite to eat and took stock of the surroundings. It was a lot more sheltered down at the beach, which is protected by two man-made breakwaters consisting of large rocks and concrete blocks. The arm of the breakwater to the right of the beach looked to be more accessible and provided access to some deep water over boulders.
Therefore left the others to do some snorkelling and picked my way over onto a reasonably flat rock. Set up a "extended" drop shot rig (see here) with a size 10 wormer hook, baited up with a Gulp! angleworm and flicked it out. Felt it down onto the bottom and started jigging it back. Had a bite straight away and was soon re-acquainted with an old friend from a previous visit to the Canaries, an ornate wrasse, which was followed up to the surface by several of his friends. After about an hour I'd had two dozen, along with a couple of Canary damselfish and a solitary diamond lizardfish. At this stage my friends Rob and Stuart snorkelled round to tell me that they'd seen barracuda, parrot fish, bream and garfish at the end of the arm that I was stood on.
However, rather than risk breaking a leg on the first day of the holiday and with the wind and swell picking up I decided to walk back towards the villa and have a look at one of the big rock pools I'd spotted below the promenade. Made my way carefully down the cliff, dropped my baited rig into the deepest section of the pool...and immediately pulled out another ornate wrasse! Had a couple more followed by a damselfish before changing tactics and tying up a simple splitshot rig to sight fish what looked to be either blennies and gobies sat amongst some boulders in another part of the pool. Turned out it was both as first cast I had a rockpool blenny that was followed by a Madeiran goby, a new species for me.
Caught half a dozen of each before some rather large waves started breaching the rocks and swamping the pool making it decidedly dodgy to hang around, so I headed back to join the others for dinner - some nice thick tuna steaks grilled on the BBQ. The next day we had an explore of the local area, firstly climbing up and around the volcano that we could see from our villa, Montana Roja, before going on to the salt pans and black sand beach at Salinas de Janubio.
From there we headed to El Golfo to see the green lagoon at Playa de Los Clicos, before heading into town for a cold beer and a plate of grilled limpets (if eating fish-flavoured rubber erasers is your kind of thing!). Suitably refreshed it was back in the cars and onto Los Hervideros to watch the massive swell smashing into the headland. The following day was as equally full on as for Rob's birthday we drove up to Timanfaya national park. The coach tour around the incredible volcanic landscape was well worth the 20 Euro entry fee and the casual way that the driver threw his vehicle around the corners within inches of viscious looking outcrops of jagged lava provided extra excitement! Suitably entertained we had lunch cooked over a hot air vent before jumping back in the cars and heading back down south to Playa Papagayo.
What we hadn't reckoned with was that access was via five kilometres of teeth-rattling dirt track. However, the stunning white sand beach backed by high cliffs certainly made up for it. Whilst the beach was quite busy with sun worshippers I spotted a track going off to the right and after scrambling down the rocks I found myself perched above a deep gully with a sandy bottom. Starting by casting a Savage Gear Psycho Sprat into the deeper water and then jigging it back parallel to the side of the gully. Third cast I had a confident take resulting in a small Atlantic lizardfish. Had a couple more of these before I let the lure stray too close to the rocks and got snagged up, losing it in the process.
Switched to Gulp! on the dropshot rig, but this only resulted in one ornate wrasse after another with just the odd damselfish to break the monotony so, after getting snagged up again and losing my rig, I headed back to the beach to see how the others were getting on. Could see shoals of mullet and the odd garfish amongst the swimmers and Rob reported seeing several types of bream near the rocks fringing the bay. However, whilst we were outside of the prohibited period for fishing off Spanish beaches, the additional rule of not fishing within 150 metres of swimmers and divers made me reluctant to chance my arm and risk the wrath of the locals. Therefore contented myself with a quick explore instead before we headed back to the ranch to continue Rob's birthday celebrations.
The following morning I was up at first light and back down on the rocks near the villa where I found an even bigger rock pool immediately below a large cave that looked like somebody's temporary dwelling judging by the clothing and other items that I could see. Casting my dropshot rig into the deepest section and slowly jigging it back it was a bite a cast. Unfortunately it was virtually all ornate wrasse again and in less than an hour I'd had 28 of the buggers, together with 3 damselfish.
Rather than use up all of my Gulp! I headed back for breakfast, although I couldn't resist sight-fishing for a couple of rockpool blennies on the way. After breakfast we headed up north again to to walk around Volcan El Cuervo, a virtually perfect volcanic cone, the smooth sides broken by a single gash where molten rock had spewed out to create to surrounding lava field. As a bonus we were treated to the sight of a Barbary falcon hanging in the wind before it stooped into the crater. After that it was on to the caves at Cuevo los Verdes, not actually caves but part of a lava tube formed by molten rock forcing its way out to the sea. After the best part of two days in the car we decided to stay local on the Friday and we all walked to Playa Flamingo again.
Rather than venture out onto the straight away I made my way onto some flat rocks at the bottom of the headland to the right of the beach. Somewhat inevitably it was the usual wrasse and damselfish that greeted me, so it wasn't long before I was picking my way along the breakwater anyway. Took the dropshot rig off and clipped on a Psycho Sprat intending to give it a proper go with the lures. The wind was coming over my right shoulder, so I was able to cast into the deeper water with ease. After half an hour of thrashing the water I'd only had one small lizardfish to show for my efforts. However, with my interest waning and the thought of a cold beer becoming more and more tempting my lure was suddenly taken with a thump by something that immediately took off at warp speed, bending my HTO Rock Rover double and making the clutch of my reel sing.
The next 5 minutes were extremely hairy and I expected the braid to snap on a rock at any time as the fish tore up and down alongside the breakwater. Thought it might be a bonito, but as it tired and came up to the surface I saw it was a small jack. I'd not bothered bringing my net, but could see that it had been nailed in the corner of the mouth by the assist hook so swung it up onto my rock at the first opportunity. With a distinctive black stripe over the eye I later identified as an almaco jack, another new species. Unhooked him and then watched him shoot off before carrying on with renewed enthusiasm. However, with just one more small lizard fish to show for my efforts I switched back to the dropshot rig. More ornate wrasse followed and I was on the point of giving up when out of the blue I had a colourful Madeiran rockfish.
By now I was really in danger of being cut off by the incoming tide, so I quickly packed up and went to join the others for a beer and a plate of fried calamari. On our last full day the consensus was to have a day chilling by the pool. However, I decided to walk along the coast to where a partially built and now abandoned hotel overlooked some large rock pools. The swell that had been bashing the coast all week had significantly reduced and and along the coast I could see a few locals spinning and floatfishing from the rock ledges below the cliffs.
When I got back to the villa I found that a few of the others had gone to check out the other local beach at Playa Dorado. A bit later my friend Jason sent me a picture of the breakwater, which looked far more accessible than the one at Playa Flamingo, so I quickly had a bite to eat, jumped in the hire car and headed over to join them. Was kicking myself that I'd not checked this spot out earlier in the week as halfway along the breakwater the rocks gave way to deep water over sand that looked ideal for putting out a bait rod. Instead I tied on a Psycho Sprat and starting casting out into the open water. Second chuck the lure was taken on the drop by what felt like a small fish, but as I wound it in closer the rod suddenly hooped over. Spent another 5 minutes frantically trying to keep the culprit from cutting me off on the rocks, but eventually saw that I'd hooked a massive Atlantic lizardfish that presumably had sought to make an easy meal of whatever had initially taken my lure.
Popped him back and carried on for a bit, but after no further interest switched over to the dropshot rig. This resulted in a few, much smaller lizardfish before I started getting small, pecking bites and the Gulp! angleworm came back looking like a string of beads. Had an idea of what was responsible and a couple of casts later this was confirmed when I swung in a Guinean pufferfish. Had another soon after, but then got snagged up and lost my rig. I'd gone through virtually all of my drop shot leads during the holiday, so took that as a reason to call it a day. We certainly enjoyed our stay on the island and I had managed to get a few, short sessions in and catch plenty of fish.
However, the wind and swell had made it impossible to to get out onto the rock marks with the lure rod and I had to content myself with dabbling with the LRF rod in the sheltered spots. The lack of variety of fish was a bit disappointing as I was hoping to add to my tally of bream species, but at last the almaco jack and Madeiran goby were new to me. Cheers Lanzarote!
