Finally started surfcasting last week in Praia da Alagoa. Since end of June, I was merely doing a few odd spinning sessions here and there early in the morning, for an hour or two without much success, and it simply was not something I wanted to write about. Plus, there was LOADS of tourists and grass, so surfcasting was pretty much a bust!
Last week I noticed that with high tide the belt of seaweed stays in the same place, which effectively meant one could fish 1 hour before heigh tide and another hour after – just what I needed😊
So, on Tuesday I tried very, very hard to get there on time but I was too late – I only got there as the tide was already receding – still, I got a small seabream, spotted bass and a small sargo – not bad I thought for the first session in 3 months.
And so, on Thursday, I set out again, this time I left house around 21:00. The high tide was just after 11, and I was in time to set up and cast out. My usual set up – 3 rods, two with double hook surf systems and one with a single long line hook, as set up for seabream… For bait I had squid, sardine and clams… This time it was a bit different, there was strong current with big weaves, which effectively meant that the seaweed belt was pushed closer to the shore – to be able to fish at all, I had to cast only very short distance, not more than 20m… If I tried going beyond that, all I would get is piles and piles of seaweed…
I stayed there for about 2 hours casting literally in the surf without much success. I got so lazy that I stopped putting the sardine or clam, I cast out all 3 rods with squid… And small hooks too, as I was expecting seabream. The water came up, and finally started receding – it is only then that I had a bite – one of the rods bent down forcefully and would not come back!!! I struck, but there was nothing on the hook… Oh, well, at least there was life in the ocean.
Shortly after, I got a small seabass – maybe half kilo, and was starting to get excited about the prospects of a catch!
Well, you know how passionate fishermen go to the water waiting for the moment they would strike and the time would stand still??? When all would become irrelevant save for the excitement of a big fish pulling from the other side… One of my rods just started quivering, not bending, just quivering back and forth – I ran to it and struck! The rig just stopped in place for just a split second, as though I hit a rock, and then it started moving forcefully away… My drag was wound up tight, as I did not expect a fish of this size, but I was out on the beach and I had space to run into the ocean, while loosening the drag. Thinking back, it is amazing how quickly I adopted and reacted – all modesty aside, not many people would be able to do this! Anyhow, the main line I had on the spool was 0,20 – with something like 4 kilo breaking strain, so there was no forcing this fish out. And so started our dance on the beach – even with the low power drag, more than a few times I had to follow the fish into the surf as it tried to swim away riding an outgoing weave – back and forth, back and forth we went for a good while. It took me, what it seemed to me, forever to close the distance of these 20-30m, all the while I was stressed about whether the main line will hold, or if the darn size 4 hook would fall out… I got quite a lot of fish in my life but I still could not tell what this was – I honestly expected a 10 kilo seabass – one of the trophies you see in fishing magazines…
When finally I was able to strand it on the beach, using a big weave to literally push it out – I saw this magnificent white shine and there it was - my first CORVINA!!!!
After that I even got a decent spotted bass of about a kilo, but next to corvina it really looks like a teadpole😊… All I can say is: ME HAPPY!
