Sunrise on the Coast of Death

Monday morning just before sunrise Marcos and I arrived at the coast near a town called Malpica. We had decided to take advantage of the slightly calmer weather to do some spinning, a decision that’ll take a few weeks to forget. 

As I said the weather was slightly better than that we’d been having, and approaching in the next few days according to the weather reports. It seems winter has returned and returned with vengeance. This coast is the “Coast of Death” because of the treacherous seas and steep and jugged rock formations. 

We parked the car as near as possible but this was still a good 300 feet above sea level and a mile walk down to the rocks. We got changed, set up and set off down the cliff to perch ourselves on our chosen fishing spots. The first hour and a half went by fine, nothing caught except a needle fish by Marcos, fairly calm seas and although we had a head wind we could just about cast a reasonable distance. 

Then as I was clambering over the rocks to find a different spot I slipped and fell. It hurt, it hurt a lot. I slightly twisted, banged and cut my left knee and cut my left hand. I had quickly let go of my rod and reel and luckily didn’t damage either one. Once I could move I thought the best thing to do was to climb back up to the car while the adrenaline was still rushing through me allowing me to limb along. 

The adrenaline ran out about half way up and I had to be helped the rest of the way by Marcos. After the car ride home when I tried to get out I could hardly walk but managed to hobble into my flat. Later that afternoon I had no choice but to visit the emergency ward where after some X-rays I was pleased to be told I hadn’t broken anything but did tear a ligament and that I needed to keep my weight of my leg for at least a couple of weeks. 

So there we have it. What can I say except be careful out there. I guess I’m getting old! I didn’t have the camera running at the time but I leave you a video and some pics of the scenery.

(Un)Happy Fishing

Now you see me……Now you don’t!

This crab seems to be some kind of “Pea Crab”. The spring tides always unveil things that for the most part are left covered up. These little crabs were all around us. I thought you might like to see it.

Happy Fishing

Gilt Headed Bream Rig

Despite the title of this post this rig can be used for many other types of fish, in fact I often use this rig for Sea Bass with the only difference being I attach a treble hook baited with sardine or bloodworm.

The basic idea is to have a sliding sinker so the fish doesn’t pull on the sinker after taking the bait and in turn when I give the tug to get a secure hooking I tug directly down the line to the hook and not the sinker.

I use “Breakaway swivels” and thread the main line (shock leader) through the swivel then thread a rubber or other type of soft bead before tying another type of swivel to which I attach the gamete with the hook.

Breakaway swivel

From the swivel I tie about five centimetres of line to the sinker.

The idea of this is that the sinker will probably bury into the sand or mud and this keeps the swivel above and allows the line to slide easily without any problem.

I sometimes use other types of sinker

Then I thread a rubber bead and after the swivel to which the gamete is tied

The rubber bead protects the knot from abrasion

This is the swivel I use. It comes without any covering but I cover with shrink tube

This is how it should look before tying the gamete

Obviously the line has to be threaded through the guides of the rod before setting up!

Some of the hooks I recommend. In the video I'm using "Owner" hooks

Note: You should not use braided line unless you add at least 15 metres of monofilament as braided line can actually cut through the plastic of the swivel and besides this braided line doesn’t behave well to abrasion.

As I said, here I’m using a tandem hook but you can adapt this to the bait you’re using and the fish you’re targeting.

I generally use this set up when beach fishing (muddy seabed or at least a clean bottom). If there’s a chance of snagging then a different way of attaching the sinker is necessary which I’ll show you in another post.

Happy Fishing 

Early morning hunt for Gilt headed bream

Gonzalo and I got up bright and early to check if the Gilt headed bream (dentex) have arrived in our beaches. It is a little early in the season and these fish prefer hot sunny weather and warmer waters but we thought we’d try anyway.

The weather wasn't in our favour with a 24 knot wind making it a very uncomfortable experience.

There are some very good baits for this fish which include razor shell, green crab, cuttlefish, clams, cockles (in fact any shellfish), and bloodworm. On this trip we took razor shell and bloodworm. Unfortunately apart from the wind the sea snails were out in force getting to and divulging the bait in minutes, not good when bloodworm cost 1€ a piece! We tried for some time lifting the bait often trying to avoid the snails but in vain.

However, Gonzalo did manage to land one by casting very close to one as it took the bait within seconds of it being cast. It’s a very small example so nothing to write home about, but good enough to write in the blog about!

I would not be outdone so I decided to temp another species that also wander around this beach and had my success within minutes. I landed (then released) a Tub Gurnard.

The technique for this fish is a kind of spinning idea. You cast the bait, in this case razor shell but without the shell, and once the bait reaches the bottom you retrieve really slowly along the bottom, if one is around it’ll take the bait as this one did (soft lures can also be used. Preferable white).

Catch and release

The rig for Gilt headed bream is quite simple and as we plan to return in the next couple of days I’ll show you and explain the set up when I take my camera. Next time we’ll try with live green crab in an attempt to avoid the snails although they can also clean these out but it takes a little longer and as the crab is alive it’ll defend itself and fight them off. Until then Happy Fishing

(I’ll do the report on the species “Gilt Headed Bream” when I have a decent sized capture)

Chelidonichthys lucerna (Tub Gurnard)

Tub Gurnard

Library Picture

Commonly called gurnard, and in this case a Tub Gurnard which is a reddish–bluish with a spiny armoured head. They also have spines around the gills that can inject a poison cuasing some pain for a couple of days (I can vouch for this personally). Of the Triglidae family (which include Sea Robin and other commonly called scorpion fish) they have pectoral fins that have developed into finger like legs used for crawling along the sea bed. They also have two other butterfly like pectoral fins of great size with a rather beautiful blue colouring. They retract these fins when swimming but extend them while sitting on the bottom. However, they do sometimes kind of flap their fins whilst swimming almost like birds flying. It is a coastal species, prevalent in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean from Norway to Cape Blanc and is also found, though less common, in the Black Sea and southern Baltic.

One I caught and released

Their mating season is quite long from May to August and all year around Africa. They can be found in shallow water on sandy and muddy bottoms but other members of the Triglidae family can be found on rocky bottoms.

One of the many curious things about this fish is the croaking noise they can make when fished. They can do this with the use of a “drumming muscle” they can beat against their bladder.

They are quite tasty, firm meaty fish although very spiny.

Happy Fishing