02/02/2025 - Lanzarote round up

My friend Rob hit the big "60" this month and to celebrate a group of us headed off for some winter sun on Lanzarote. 

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!

10/10/2018 - Mad for it!

This year the boys' trip abroad saw us heading off to Madeira for a change. Once again, the LRF gear and a heavier, multi-purpose outfit was packed in the "toy bag". A bit of research, including a re-read of Scott Hutchison's excellent blog, came up with a list of potential spots not far from where we going to be staying in Calheta on the south of island. It also highlighted the fact Madeira had recently brought in the requirement for a licence for shore fishing. The on-line application process was simple enough so, rather than play the ignorant tourist, just 4 Euros got me a 30 day licence for "pesca apeada" from the Madeiran Regional Directorate for Fisheries.

An early flight from Stanstead saw us installed in the villa by lunchtime. It was only a quick, 5 minute car journey from there down to the beach and the marina, so a trip to the local supermarket was combined with a few cold beers and a recce. Whilst it did not appear that fishing was allowed within the marina itself, the large concrete blocks forming the breakwaters and sea defences provided alternative options. At the far end of the beach a couple of local ladies were float-fishing with what looked like multi-hook rigs baited with bread and one of them duly pulled out a small bream, so things looked promising.

The following day we went for our first walk along one of Madeira's many freshwater channels, or levadas, to the "25 fountains" - along with every other tourist on the island it would seem! The pool below the waterfall at the end of the walk was full of small trout, which greedily attacked any spare morsel of bread from our sandwiches. To try and catch such obviously hungry fish under public scrutiny seemed a bit rude, so I waited until we were off the beaten track before going stalking with a bit of red angleworm on a small jig head. First cast into a tiny, gin-clear pool below an overflow saw a follow and a take from dark, heavily-spotted rainbow trout. I added another one a couple of casts later before the remaining fish in the pool spooked. Didn't bother them any longer as I'd achieved my goal of catching a Madeiran trout and the others were already getting bored, so it was back to the car and down to Calheta.

After a bit more shopping the LRF rod came out again and I headed to the end of one of the breakwaters. Casting a dropshot rig baited with angleworm past the concrete blocks, I was instantly rewarded by a fish, albeit a familiar one, in the shape of an ornate wrasse. I had suffered these in plague proportions in Gran Canaria, so I wasn't surprised when a few more of these followed. However, a longer cast onto the sand eventually resulted in a new species for me, a two-banded sea bream.

Unfortunately, fishing close to the blocks started to become expensive in terms of dropshot leads, so after a few more wrasse we headed back to the villa.

The following day we were up early and drove into the interior again for another walk. The route up to Madeira's "sugar loaf mountain, the Pinaculo, was along a levada cut out of the side of a basalt cliff and was at times vertigo-inducing, but the waterfalls and views along the way were spectacular. After lunch we headed back down through dense cloud to Ribeira Brava. Whilst Rob and Duncan headed off to find a coffee, Stuart and I walked through the tunnel to the working harbour on the other side of the headland.

Walking to end of the harbour wall we were soon dropping our rigs into clear, but incredibly deep water. It was soon obvious that there were loads of ornate wrasse about as shoals of them dashed out to intercept our baits as they dropped down the wall. Casting further out I managed to get a bait on the bottom, where it was snaffled by a colourful Madeiran rockfish. The angleworms we were using periodically came back chopped up like beads on a string, so I wasn't surprised to eventually land a puffer fish, albeit a new species - the Guinean puffer.

At this point we were rudely disturbed by a returning tuna boat, so I clambered down onto a flat concrete platform on the other side of the breakwater. Again, it was difficult to keep the bait away from the wrasse, but I eventually managed to catch a few Canary damselfish , another rockfish and a tiny Macronesian sharpnose puffer.

Stuart hadn't risked climbing down with his dodgy knee and I'd been baking in the sun for long enough so, after losing a few more dropshot leads, I packed up and joined the others, who were also a bit frazzled and in need of a swim. As a dip in the harbour wasn't really on we headed back along the coast to Calheta again. However, rather than join the other son the beach, I decided to head off to where we'd seen some locals fishing. Due to the rocky nature of the bottom I set up a caro rig with a 3" straight worm on a Tict jig head. After I few casts I started getting a few pulls and eventually hooked into a hard-fighting, little derbio.

Moving on to the adjacent beach I followed this up with an Atlantic lizard fish before my thirst got the better of me and I went back and joined the others for a couple of cold beers. 

The next day I was feeling distinctly worse for wear after consuming several more beers, a couple of gins and a bottle of red wine and by the time we had wended our way along the twisting coast road to Porto Moniz on the north coast, I having difficulty holding my breakfast down! After checking out the natural swimming pools we headed down to the working harbour. The predominant catch of the small fishing boats appeared to be small tuna, pole-caught and then butterflied and left out in the sun to dry, and grey triggerfish.

Peering down into the deep water of the harbour I spotted a few fish including a small barracuda and a zebra sea bream. I'd never caught one of these before so, despite my delicate condition, Stuart and I got the rods out while the others went to find a coffee shop. First drop down the side of the harbour my angleworm was taken with a thump. Thought at first it was the barracuda, but it turned out to be a decent diamond lizard fish instead. Had another next drop down into virtually the same spot. However, it was quite slow after that and, whilst we had a few puffers, rockfish, wrasse and damsels between us, it was hard going in the sun. Walked along the wall a bit and dropped down next an obvious piece of debris on the bottom to have the bait taken with a thump again, this time by a female parrot fish.

By the time the others came back I was desperate for a cold bottle of coke, so we packed up and headed home via the supermercado. Thankfully I was feeling much more perky the following day and, after a stunning walk to the source of the Levada Novo with more waterfalls and vertigo-inducing views down into the valley below, we dropped down onto the coast again at Paul Do Mar. Again, a small harbour at one end of the town provided me with another fishing opportunity while the others sat on the beach and swam. However, the harbour itself seemed to pretty featureless and barren, with just a few wrasse and damsels swimming up and down the wall. Casting over the sand in the hope of a flounder or a weever didn't result in anything, so I was soon back with the others for a swim in the natural pool under the gaze of the naked mariner.

Rather frustratingly the swimming pool was full of fish, including mullet, several species of sea bream and a big shoal of salema! 

I had one more session over the last couple of days of the holiday back down at Calheta, but only added one small lizard fish to my tally. However, we did have a little bonus when we dropped into Jardim Do Mar and found the village was having it's Saint's Day. Tucked around by the church we found a "pop up" bar serving ice cold beer, potent local liquor served in thimble-sized glasses and big plates of limpets, or lapas, with lemon and garlic butter for just a few Euros. Tasty and a bargain!

Overall, it's always tricky balancing the needs of a group, so I wasn't too disappointed that I'd not managed a few more sessions, or caught a few more species. We'd only really scratched the surface as well in terms of searching out suitable fishing spots. Plenty to go at next time as I'd certainly go again given the opportunity. Cheers Madeira!

09/06/2016 - Return to Gran Canaria, Part One

Last year's trip to Gran Canaria proved so successful that we found another excuse (this time Stuart's 60th birthday) to go again, even down to booking the same week at the same hotel! As before, I took a selection of LRF and light game gear hoping to add a few more species to my tally from last trip. Arriving Wednesday afternoon, the rest of the day was spent settling in, admiring the view over to Puerto Mogan from our balcony and having a few drinks down on the patio. 

Next day we took the short trip by hire car to Puerto Mogan and headed down to the water front. While the others got ready to go for a swim, I headed straight out onto the old section of breakwater, where there was already one other chap float fishing off the end over the rocks. 

I set up a tried-and-tested drop shot rig with a #10 Sabpolo wormer hook baited with Gulp Angle worm and dropped it down the side to be met with instant bites. Found that the usual suspects were to blame, i.e. Canary damselfish and ornate wrasse. The place seemed to be snided with them! Eventually had a couple of female European parrotfish that put a proper bend in the rod, before dropping my rig down into the shadows next to a large boulder. The next fish was a lot smaller, but was a new species - a Madeiran rockfish - swiftly followed by a slightly larger one next cast. Unfortunately, it was back to the damsels and wrasse after this until the tide dropped and the fish retreated to deeper water. 

Talked to the other fisherman after it turned out he was English as well. He was floatfishing bread and just picking up the odd damselfish, so I gave him some Angleworm to try when I left to re-join the others on the beach. Before we left we had a walk around the harbour, or "free aquarium". As well as numerous species of bream, mullet, colourful male parrotfish and the odd bass, there was a big shoal of barracuda in residence, in sizes ranging from about 8 inches up to the odd individual getting on for three feet long - unfortunately due to Spanish law all out of bounds!

The next day we ventured well off the beaten tourist track down to a "secret" beach I'd found on Google, which involved a bit of a scramble down a barranco (ravine). I'd also warned the others that it had a bit of reputation as a nudist beach, so it wasn't really a surprise when we got down to a small, enclosed, sandy beach to find a few locals already there and "au naturel"! Got the snorkel gear on for a quick recce up the left hand side of the beach and soon spotted a number of different species both in the rocks and out on the sand. Back on the beach I headed out with the fishing gear, gingerly making my way over the still wet and very slippy rocks to a point where I could fish down the drop off. Not surprisingly, the ornate wrasse and the damsels were out in force. However, I did also manage a Macronesian sharpnose pufferfish before being forced off the rocks by the incoming tide. 

Back on the beach I had a cast out over the sand and got a fish on first time - the smallest lizardfish I've ever seen! Wasn't complaining as this was another new species for me - the Atlantic lizardfish rather than its rock-dwelling cousin the diamond lizardfish. Carried on casting from the beach, inching the rig back slowly and keeping the rod tip high, feeling for bites. Had a few rattles and knocks doing this, before hooking into another fish. This one I knew straight away from Scott Hutchison's blog to be a cleaver wrasse, or pearly razor fish, with its brilliant colours and its two pairs of "fangs" with which it did its best to nip me with while I unhooked it. 

Casting over the same spot I had two more of his companions before the bait was taken on the drop by something a little more acrobatic. This turned out to be a silvery derbio, which flicked its spiny dorsal fin in and out of the slot in its back like a switchblade. Next cast it was something different yet again. However, I only had glimpse of a small flatfish before it came off! Had my suspicions about what this might have been and was a bit disappointed as it was another one of my target species. Went quiet after this, so returned to the others to soak up some rays before we had to make the scramble back up to the car. On the way past some rocks Stuart and Duncan disturbed some seriously big-looking Gran Canarian giant lizards, which belted straight down the path at me and Rob! Luckily they shot off into a hole before we had to take avoiding action. 

Had a few deserved beers back at the hotel that night and agreed with the others we'd definitely return to what was now dubbed "sex beach" by a prudish Stuart!