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)