Another fishy morning – pardon the pan! I got up earlier than usual as I wanted to try some bottom fishing – I had a few kingfish and that crab from yesterday, so I figured I can not go wrong… When I got there, it was still a good hour before dawn, turned on my headlamp and set up two rods – one for the crab, the other for the kingfish with a two-hook rig. But when I waded into the ocean to get some water, I was sooooooooo pissed to see all the seaweed floating in the surf! Grrrrrrrr!!!!
Luckily, the grass was but a few meters from the shore, after that the ocean was clear. And with surf rods high up, it was doable. Of course, while it was dark, I knew was going to be pestered by small mucharra, so I did not use the kingfish and the crab, I stuck to squid and sand worms… Yes, yes, my bait try was a regular laboratory, a bit of everything! Sure enough, got a few muchaara, and even a small palm-size sargo on the squid… As soon as it dawned, started casting the lures but without any success, for lures would be rolled in grass during the last few meters, and it was a nuisance to keep them clean.
After it finally got light enough, I saw the sky was completely cloudy… What on Earth was going on – forecast said sunny and sunny, and this is Algarve afterall – here it gets cloudy something like 5 times a year!!!!
After wrapping up the kingfish and the crab with the binding elastic, I casted out and went back to weeding the ocean with my lures. And you guessed it – nothing happened. Another fellow sufferer arrived, and started doing the Raglou as people here usually do. He walked up the beach for a good 200m away from me and then stopped. I could not hear him, but I saw him weaving me there, so I grabbed the spinning rod and ran up the beach his way. And as yesterday, there was a small school of 30+cm spotted bass and we had a bit of fun in the shallows. I stuck to my 7cm BayRuf but the fish were much more active than yesterday – they would chase it up quite aggressively and once hooked put a fair fight for their size, some of them even jumping up theatrically… BUT, as yesterday, this lasted about 15 minutes and it was over – the bass disappeared without a trace. Still, I managed to get 4 and had another one on which threw the hook in the surf… Naturally, we persisted for about another 30 – 40 min, and eventually gave up.
I went back to my surfcasters, and recast. The crab was eaten in less than 5 min and as I did not have anymore crabs, I switch back to squid. The kingfish rig I casted quite close by, in the shallow, for this is where I would see and expect bass. And just to pass the time, I put a needlefish rig on my spin rod with almost immediate results… Of course needlefish were about and quite active. And in all the commotion my kingfish rig went off! The bait runner let some line, I ran over there, and sure enough, something was pulling on the tip, not aggressively, but continuously, as a big fish would do. All excited I struck and lo and behold – a freaking needlefish managed to swallow 2/0 hook with the kingfish😊😊😊… Oh, boy, was I disappointed!
But, something was happening, and as it was cloudy, there were no tourists, so I carried on catching the needlefish while I was waiting for something bigger. I had few more mucharra on squid… Another needlefish on the big hook rig😊… I also got 3-4 weevers… But the highlight of the day was around 10 o’clock – some 100 – 150m out, right in front of me, a whale swam by. Big, black, majestic! It came up 3 – 4 times and then disappeared. It is nice to see something like that right there on the beach!
Still, a good day out – I can not wait for tomorrow!
