I have been having problems with the company hosting the blog for a looong time! The blog was offline and no wander I was not motivated to update it. For now, it seems to work again, a bit slow, but functional, so here goes nothing.

I have also not been fishing in ages – been sick a lot, had family visiting, loads of work, etc, etc… Today, I went out on the boat from Vila Real De Santo Antonio early in the morning, while the sea was relatively calm. Conditions were far from perfect – first hour there was no Sun on account of some clouds rolling in from the Spain, and it was COLD! For June, this is really not normal weather.

Luckily, the sky cleared up quickly and fishing went on. Not any kind of epic haul – but loads of fun on light tackle. We came upon some nice big mackerel and caught quite a few. We’ve had maybe 2 hours of fishing before wind picked up and we headed back to the harbor. Still, no complaints!

Posted by Milko at 12:21 PM EDT

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We had a few rainy days, so much so that even the carnival was cancelled even though it is the carnival week😊. So, in the late afternoon yesterday, after the rain stopped, I popped by the pier in Vila Real De Santo Antonio. I was not sure rain will not start again, so I opted to stay close to the car, and travel light. Plus, I had no idea about how strong the current is in the ocean so I decided to do a short freedrift session

When I arrived it was high tide, and I started at the small beach by the restaurant, right at the beginning of the pier.

There was strong West wind, but the spot is protected and freedrift was possible.

 First cast, literally first cast, I caught the small seabass, but after that for about an hour I got swarmed by the mullet.

I decided to changed the spot - went upstream about 100m and stood on the rocks. It was a good decision for I caught quite a few fish there! I did not even need to chum! I had lots of sargo, but I released every fish that did not swallow the hook - it was really as it is supposed to be. The trick was to bounce the squid off the blocks rather than let it be carried away by the current, and after dark I fished 5m in front of my feet - where other techniques are not possible. As I said, finally a session!

Posted by Milko at 5:08 AM EST

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It has been a loooong while since I posted – mainly because I had nothing significant to report. Now, New Year’s resolution – I WILL POST!!!

I start with my trip to Holland – went there with family for Xmas holidays – had miserable time, it was raining entire 14 days, and wind was unbearable. Also, picked up a flue, which certainly did not help – but tradition is tradition, on 1^st January, I was out to kick start the year. Here is what I messaged my friends:

Soooo... last night, it stopped raining for ENTIRE 6 hours. I knew it would, as I follow forecast like the holy word!!! I bought worms just by virtue of knowing the tackle store guy from before and he did me a favour for the sake of good old times! He opened the store and gave me a pack after hours! It was like a Mission Impossible, and I was Tom Cruize!!!

FINALLY !!! I GET TO GO OUT OF THE HOUSE - I thought to myself! I put on 3 fleeces, and my trusty Ace Armor suit! Wool socks and padded boots! I AM THE MAN, THE BUTCHER OF SCHEVENINGEN!!! LITTLE FISH!!! YOUR ASS IS MINE BUAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA

Further, managed to twist my friend's arm to drive me to the harbour ( do not have a car in Holland, and taking a taxi with 3 rods, bucket and loads of worms, seemed unseemly)

The scene was set!!! I saw wijting, flatfish, cod... I know I would get them, it is MY spot afterall!!! I spent more than 10 years here, I know every stone, every patch of sand…

And as we hopped in the car around 18:00 and headed down to the harbour, I was quite excited!!! Even though wind was strong, it was South and I know the only way to fish is on the South pier, with wind in the back, deep water 5m out.

Of course... some 500m from the parking, police had closed off the harbour, helicopters and fire brigade were at the scene – due to forcasted bad weather, the traditional New Year’s beach bone fire was moved one day before☹

And so... I just went home, without even seeing the North Sea... And today... you guessed it, today rain is back with vengeance dancing 100km per hour on the endless wind...

I am BEYOND pissed - I did not fish for 10 days now!!!

Posted by Milko at 3:21 PM EST

Updated: Friday, 9 February 2024 3:23 PM EST

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Naturally, I made my way to the beach, set up 3 rods – clam and red worm, two rods with 2 hook system and one with a single hook long line. My initial instinct was to chuck it half the way to Morocco, but current was so strong that made no sense – line would be tossed out in no time. I then started increasing the weights, up to 180gr cupoid shape so it digs into the sand. That did not help either. And on top of all, there was no activity whatsoever – I mean fish did not have time to find the bait, and I ended up working hard recasting all rods every 2 – 3 minutes.

Finally, I just gave up, I casted the single hook system some 5 – 10 meters in front of my feet into shallow water and packed up one rod left the other one 20m out and went to dig for forms…When I came to check the rods a while later, there was a seabass on!

I rebaited, casted close again, just after he point where the weaves started dispersing and Almost immediately had a tiny nibble – when I struck, I was more than surprised to get a nice spotted bass.

However, soon it became so shallow that fishing became pointless. I also got a small garrick  – I have no idea how they call them in Portugal.

The following day I rushed back to the scene of the crime, but by then the ocean had calmed down, and there was no fish anywhere in sight! I casted for about 2 hours and gave it a rest… when there is nothing to eat the red worm on Praia da Alagoa, then there are no fish at all.

Posted by Milko at 5:01 PM EDT

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After my last session in Altura, Praia da Alagoa, I naturally went back to try again. However, the following day the ocean was almost calm, water was crystal blue, and I knew that does not bod well for fishing. I had 3 rods out, 1 2 hook system and two single hook long line systems and as it usually is the case, only action I saw was a single bite and a single seabream on red worm, and on top of that, it was on the 2 hook system – go figure!

Then I skipped a day, as I was not quite motivated…

Yesterday I decided to try the Gilão River in Tavira, just North of the 125 bridge – same spot where I had something pull in my feeder last time I was there.

This time I had loads of chum in the form of my old bait, so I threw in some shrimp, squid, clam, mussels… It seemed that all I could attract was mullet, as I got a few bites on red sand worm, but that was the extent of it. After it got dark, mullet stopped biting – there is lots of light there and all the fish seemed to rise to the surface and play there, while my baits were on the bottom. When I finally got a bite, it was a seabass… I knew they were around, but this 15cm bass is not what I was aiming for.

Posted by Milko at 4:47 AM EDT

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Two days ago I went to try Fuseta – just as an experiment, to see if fishing there is any different from Altura, Praia da Alagoa, which was very quiet last time I tried.

They pretty much said the same, low activity, no fish for weeks now, and they had 1 bite that day which they missed. Went back to my rods, waited, waited, waited…

Them my buddy got a bite and after a nice fight landed a seabass of around a kilo or so.

And then yesterday, I had a decent session right here on Praia da Alagoa. I went out in the morning with low tide to collect red worm and, naturally, brought my rods along😇. I did not even fish, I merely baited two rods with red sand worm, casted in and dug for worms. I would go back to check the rods every 20 -30 min. To my surprise, I pulled out a small seabream, and thought that is the one fish I will catch for the day. 20 minutes later, I got a doublet of seabream and a s triped seabream (ferrera).

After that I caught a spotted bass. And then I stopped digging and concentrated on fishing. I got 2 more seabream, a sargo and even a mullet!

Let's just hope this marks beginning of a fishing period... it could also be a fluke on account of rain... we will know soon enough😇

Posted by Milko at 1:05 AM EST

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The temperature has finally started to rise, and so I could not resist trying Paraia da Alagoa – I knew fishing was difficult, but hey, one never knows. And besides, there is none fishing on the beach, so how could we know if they are biting or not😊.

Started around 8 in the morning, intentionally wanting to be there at low tide around 9, so that I can cast further into deep water. I had 3 rods, two one hook long line systems and one double hook system. At the beginning I baited with white clam, and as there was no activity I walked back up the beach and dug up some red worm -. This time they were easy to find and they were quite big.

I went back and baited with red worm and again, there was little to no activity. I think one of my baits disappeared in half hour, and I guess it was either crab or kingfish, as the rod did not move. As I was getting ready to leave I finally got a bite – nothing spectacular, a tiny little quiwer on the tip of my rod and then the line went slack. I caught a small spotted bass of about 35 – 30 cm… Encouraged by the success I stayed another 45 min during which I stocked up on red sand worm, but I saw no further action. When I started packing around 11, I had to discard the worms from my hooks even though by this time the tide had started rising.

So Altura is still non-productive. Today I will try Fuseta, just for the sake of it…

Posted by Milko at 2:37 AM EST

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Given my last unsuccessful sessions in the surf on Praia da Alagoa, I decided to try a different spot. It is still uncharacteristically cold, so I decided to try Gilão River in Tavira. I thought about trying this for a long time, but the surf was always so much more appealing. This was a perfect opportunity to actually try the river.

I chose to fish comfortably, close to the car and so I went underneath the N125 bridge and drove 100 or so meters upstream on the macadam road. Parked there and set up.

There were loads of mullet around and I could not resist catching a few, while I had my carp rod set up on a bottom rig with white clam on. I had 3 bites on the clam, and got only one seabream – one of the bites I did not even see as I was immersed in catching mullet on the surface.

The following day a buddy of mine, having heard my report, insisted to go himself. Being a solidary man, I could not let him have a session on his own, could I???:)😊😊 And so we did exactly the same thing – one rod on clam each and another rod with bread on the surface for mullet. Tis day mullet were very shy – we barely god 10 or so between us. And clam was untouched for more than 2 hours!!! As my buddy was packing, the water started receding and I finally got a bite and a seabream. I decided to linger a bit more and rigged up my feeder with another clam.

Soon after I was alone on the bank, something grabbed the clam on the feeder and pulled the rod right into the water – I am not sure if it was a BIG mullet or a seabass, but the take was sudden, ferocious and I am almost glad I did not hook it as I would have had to swim for my rod. Still, now I am motivated to redo this session, even at night, but I need to wait for the high tide to fall at dusk.

After this I had a short boat session – and I still do not get boat fishing at all!!! First 2 casts, in the initial 5 minutes, I got a nice red seabream and a BIG stripped seabream. After this there was noting but small fry and mucharra for the next 4 hours.

Posted by Milko at 4:33 AM EST

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It is a very weird climate at the moment in Altura, and the water temperature at Praia da Alagoa is very low. Consequently, there is little to no fish in the surf, except at night when mucharra move in in untold numbers and is again ipossible to fish on account of them.

Last week Thursday and Friday, I attempted 2 sessions on high tide in the afternoon, just before dark. Result was disheartening. On Thursday I was there from 16:00 until 20:00. For the first 2,5 hours, while it was daytime, there was not so much as a nibble! When the Sun set, and just it became completely dark, I got a small spotted bass and missed another bite – one was on conquilha the other on white clam. However, when it got dark mucharra moved in and coupled with uncharacteristically low temperature of about 5 – 8 degrees Celsius, I decided it was better to have a medronho at home then freeze at the beach feeding the piranhas.

Next day I tried another session, only this time I started at 17:30 – intending to be there only at dusk. I had 2 very nice rod bending bites at the same time after sunset, but I did not get anything. Of course, as soon as mucharra started pestering me I left.

I believe I made a mistake of using short leaders and this is why I did not catch anything, the ocean was too calm for the short leader, but I was too lazy and unmotivated to change my rigs from the day before.

And yesterday I went down to the beach with my son – he wanted to try to throw the boomerang around for a bit and I took handful of white clam and one rod, just because I could😊😊😊… I had just enough time to cast 2 times before he got fed up with boomerang not coming back to him – but this was enough to catch a sargo. But this time I used a single hook long line leader of about 3m. Still, I will never know if this is the ticket or just a fluke as I have no intention of going back before next week when the temperature is supposed to go back to normal 20+ degrees…

Posted by Milko at 5:50 AM EST

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Yesterday morning I woke up quite early as I had a boat trip scheduled with a friend. However, as I woke up, I could clearly hear the ocean from my house, meaning the weaves were up and slamming against the beach. The problem was I did not go on a boat for more than 10 days, plus there was no wind to speak of; it was absolutely calm and the forecast said it will remain that way all day. So, we decided to give it a go. We went down to the Vila Real de Santo Antonio Marina, which is where my friend’s boat was anchored and boarded around 8:20. As we made our way down The Guadiana River, everything was perfect – beautiful Sunrise, smooth sailing, and high expectations. BUT, as we reached the estuary we had to slow down as the weaves were quite close to each other and the boat was rocking quite a bit. This should have been our clue to turn around, but nooooooooo – we hoped that it will be better when we exited the estuary so we pushed on to 15m deep in front of Monte Gordo. Weaves were quite high, but there was almost no current, and so it was fishable. Almost immediately, we caught a decent red seabream and a very nice cuttlefish, which is what made us only more determined to carry on. However, there were loads of traps and nets placed by the local professionals here and after getting stuck a few times we decided to go to 25m – bigger depth meant more work and the locals do not place nets and traps there unless they have a really big vessel and a strong electric motor to retrieve it.

To cut the long story short – fishing was very uneventful! We got a few more cuttlefish, and were pestered by small bream until 15:00 when we decided to pack it up. Lesson of the day – when you can hear the ocean and the weaves, hit the beach, forget the boat…

Given my recent beach experience with rough sea, I can not help but wander what did I miss !!! A rare day with big weaves and no wind…

Posted by Milko at 3:39 AM EST

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