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)

Woof Woof

Thursday evening I decided to go Surf Casting with Gonzalo and his brother Guillerno. As you might be able to tell from the pictures the sea was dead calm again, not too great for fishing, a little movement is always better especially if targeting sea bass and sea bream, but it made for another comfortable and pleasant night. The wind was blowing from the north-east which generally makes the water crystal clear and is accompanied by quite a chill factor, hence being wrapped up in the pictures.

We fished into the night without any sign of any fish at all, but around 2 a.m. I got the one and only hit of the night on the sardine. I was unsure what it was as I reeled it in but very sure it wasn’t a sea bass or sea bream. Even as it appeared on the shoreline I couldn’t make it out. If I’d been in an estuary or a beach I was unfamiliar with I would have said it was a conger eel by the way it wriggled on the sand although the fight was nothing like a conger nor was the colour. I was thrilled to see it was a dogfish. It was about 60-65 cm long and weighed under a kg. I’d never caught one before and think they are one of the most beautiful fish in these seas. It came loose the moment I landed it but the poor thing just didn’t have the energy to swim away. I had the picture taken very quickly so as to be able to return it as soon as possible, which is why I neither measured nor weighed it. It actually took a good 20 minutes to bring it back to life by making sure the water flowed through its’ gills (being sharks they’ll drown or suffocate if held still). I’m pleased to say it did revive and eventually swan away with strength.

This creature is the closest you can get, rays aside, to caching a shark from the coast, I’m pleased to say.

How I baited the hook with the sardine:

Small Light Weight Treble

It's better to thread the line through the baiting needle before you skewer the sardine as you can clog the needle making this difficult

I used a baiting needle (blunt, I don’t like pointed needles) to skewer the sardine and threaded the line through the middle of the needle (the head towards the treble). Then tied it with lycra thread to keep it secure. I sometimes use another small hook tied behind the sardine and hook the tail to keep the sardine nicely laid out but generally with rough seas or fillets of large sardine. On this occasion it wasn’t necessary.

Happy Fishing

Back Online

After computer problems that could only be solved with the purchase of a new laptop I can finally update this blog. However, unfortunately the weather wasn’t on the angler’s side with 10 metre waves and strong wind. The only small window we had here in north-western Spain came when I was busy and couldn’t find the time to wet my lures. So not much to update but just to let you all know I’m still here I’ll post a couple of things.

First I’ll tell you about a night, a very, very cold night spent Surf Casting with Gonzalo. We went to Santa Cristina beach again because of the weather and this beach is one of the only ones in this “Coast of Death” that’ll allow some comfortable and safe fishing.

We arrived at about 4:30 am with high tide. This time the only catch was this small Pagellus acarne (Sparidae family which include Sea bream or Porgies) and this time it was Gonzalo who caught it to even the (pitiful) score.

Pagellus acarne (catch & release)

However, as the day broke with the tide half way down just as we were about to pack up and leave I noticed something very unusual. It ended up being a Scallop! We started looking and found several so the night wasn’t wasted. We collected many more than I’m willing to show as although we didn’t go digging for them, even if you find them by chance it’s against the law to collect, but what the hell. How many times do you stumble across scallops sitting at the water’s edge. After making a phone call to find out if they would be safe to eat we collected a good meals worth and quickly left the area before the authorities caught on to the situation.

Happy Fishing

A Relaxed Evening on the Beach

With very rough seas it was far too dangerous to go out spinning in search of Sea bass so Gonzalo, Mirelle and myself decided to do a little surf casting. The beach is called "Santa Cristina" and is 10 mins away from home. Having breakers and being the mouth of an estuary it's calm waters makes it very popular in summer for families but at this time of year we practically had the place to ourselves. No wind and very mild weather gave for a very easy and relaxed afternoon.

We took one rod each and had some catching up to do as Gonzalo and Mirelle live in Vigo, which is in the south of the region bordering with Portugal, and it had been some time since I'd seen them.

A couple of beers and snacks with more than a few laughs. The only catch of the evening was a small Sea-bream caught by yours truly, of course, that was returned to it's friends unharmed. The beach has some excellent Gilt headed bream in summer and the occasional mega sea bass. A couple of years ago an 11 kg example was caught with blood worm but on this particular occasion it wasn't to be.

Happy Fishing