After such a nice session yesterday, I hurried out this morning 2 hrs before heigh tide. I brought enough squid for 5 fisherman, sardine, white clams… the works.

Of course, when I got there, in spite of very strong wind, the ocean was flat, and clear. Even with heigh tide during this part of the cycle, it was very, very shallow… Casting far was easy, as the wind was in the back. The down side is that apart from weever, there was NOTHING else to catch. I mean it was a weever bonanza. I was catching them 2 at a time, on squid, on clam, sardine – it made no difference at all. 5 minutes after casting, there they were… One of them even swallowed both my hooks of the 2-hook rig… Still, I persisted for about 3 hours. When it got too warm and sunbathers started pilling up behind me, and after I got so completely fed up with handling the poisonous weevers, I called it a day.

I now ordered a plastic fishing grips for future weever exploits…

Posted by Milko at 10:57 AM EDT

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Yesterday was unexpectedly nice fishing… The weather was calm, and temperature heigh, so I expected a flat, clear ocean with heigh tide just in the middle scale, so not optimal at all… I got just two squid, just in case, and had intended to do needlefish session with floating rig and sardine. When I got to the beach. The ocean was quite angry – strong current and big weaves making first 50 or so meters of water completely brown with sand. And sure enough, there was loads of fish about. On my first cast I got a tiny little turbot. Then the bites continued. Every cast I would get a small sargo, mucharra or empty hooks😊… So much so, that I only fished with 2 rods. At one point I got a bit pissed there were only small fish, so I fillet a mucharra and baited one rod with mucharra flash… and carried on having fun with the small stuff… Soon, I realized that casting far made no sense, and started dumping my rig mere 10m from the shore. That produced 2 spotted bass, one sized, and the other one tiny… And so it all went on until the water started going down rapidly, when all activity stopped and I cockle collectors showed up with the dragnets… Still, I had had my fun, and I left.

Posted by Milko at 10:45 AM EDT

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This morning I decided to try spinning – the wind was North, moderate strength, the ocean without weaves but quite choppy. I got to the beach as the tide was at its highest, but man was it cold. Uncharacteristically cold for this time of the year. Last time I was in 2 hoodies, winter fleece cap and two pair of sweatpants on Praia da Alagoa was sometime back in January for night session Even with all these clothes on, I could still feel the cold wind biting my shoulders.

As for fishing itself – quite uneventful – I saw loads of mullet and other small fish in the shallows, but no action… The closest I came to a fish is when a small needlefish started playing with my pencilbait. But even that one was jumping around it as though playing, rather than attacking. It would appear the spinning season is still not started in Altura. So tomorrow, back to live bait…

Posted by Milko at 4:20 AM EDT

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I did not update for a bit, I was too busy fishing😊, so this is going to be a double entry…

Two days ago, the wind was still South, a bit weaker in the morning and very strong in the afternoon. Heigh tide was around 16:00 so I decided to go for a bit of needlefish, just to rise my confidence and be active for a change. Of course, I still had 2 other rods out with, one with sardine and the other with trusty old squid. And fishing was fairly active. With low tide, there was quite a few needlefish, but also some weevers on two other rods. As the tide begun to rise, I got 2 spotted bass on squid and decided to stop with needlefish after I got about 15… By this time the wind picked up and coupled with rising tide, the current and the weaves were getting too much for needlefish anyhow. However, soon after I switched completely to big baits, a heavy dark cloud started rolling in from the North. I played it safe and left for the day just before the maximum tide

Yesterday, the wind finally changed to North after a long time. Which meant flat ocean and help while casting😊. I have had such a great time from 8 until 14, when the wind picked up and turned to South. I can say little about catch – there were only weevers and one stray spotted bas on clam. Nevertheless, it was such a treat not to have to cast against the wind, and being able to just sit back and enjoy the view of my rods – as the North wind is barely felt on the beach which is protected by sand dunes from the North… Forecast for the next few days says very strong wind, but from the North😊😊😊!!! Tomorrow morning, I will try a bit of spinning… just to mix it up a bit.

Posted by Milko at 3:37 AM EDT

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Yesterday, the ocean was all swelled up from the storm that lasted a few days. Huge weaves, and very, very strong current. I had to use 170 grams triangular lead which digs into the sand just to stay in place. Even so, while the tide was rising, even that was no use, the hooks would end up in the surf to the right of me in minutes. Naturally, there was some grass being pushed about by the current and quite a few branches…

So, I fished only one rod. And I fished with squid only. There was no need for elaborate baits like sardine, clam or the like. The good thing is that fishing was very active – shortly after you cast out, you either had to retrieve because the current had drifted your line in front of somebody else, or there was a bite. The bad news is, the ocean is still riddled with small fish, so the catch again consisted sargo and muharra. I did manage to get 3 medium-sized sargo and another one which could be classified as having been “on the big side”, for the rest it was small fish frenzy. I even got a weaver about 7cm long☹…

The only notable event is that soon after the tide had begun to rise, I got a proper bite not too far from the shore and I got a very, very nice bass! And as I brought it in, it started swimming left and right in front off my feet all the while pulling along the 170gr lead. It was a proper fish. However, after having given me a run for my money, it just spit out the hook some 5 meters in front of my feet and was swept away by the ocean…

I did not stay long, as there were heavy clouds looming over my head and it drizzled intermittently so I left just before the tide was highest. I hope today it goes better,, as it is a brilliant sunny day at Praia da Alagoa in Altura😊

Posted by Milko at 8:15 AM EDT

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Yesterday morning, the forecast was a bit bleak – extremely strong South wind as of 11 AM onwards. Having tried everything I could to get some quality fish the previous days, I decided to go for for an hour or two for needlefish in front of the house. My plan was to take advantage of the few hours of calm before the wind picks up, as I knew I would not be able to fish for a few days after that…

 When I got there, I saw a pile of discarded shells on the beach – obviously someone was dragging a net for cockles while the tide was low, and that is where this person cleaned the net and sorted the catch. I walked to the pile as I knew I could find loads of sand crabs there. And indeed, there were quite a few damaged and half dead sand crab about, so I collected a few and proceeded to set up my rods.

First, I casted a rod with the needlefish rig – popup beads near the size 5 hooks to keep the bait afloat, baited it with a piece of sardine and proceeded to set up a rod for sand crab. By the time I casted in the crab, I already got a needlefish on the other rod… But then the wind stated picking up as forecasted and the tide started getting higher at the same time which made quite big weaves. But then the rod with the crab went off, and I got a nice seabream!!! Yeyyyyyy for me! Finally, a fish! My motivation restored, after getting the second needlefish on the shore, I packed up this rig, and casted in another crab. I even unpacked my 3^rd rod and baited it with squid/clam combo on a 2 hook rig. In the next hour I got some more baits and landed 3 nice sargo, one of which as even bigger than the seabream I was so happy about. And the best thing is that the wind died off completely for about 2 hours – I guess I know now why they say “the calm before the storm”… So, I stayed quite a long time on the beach… But all good things must come to an end, the wind started picking up around 14:00 and the threatening clouds appeared over the ocean, so I hurried home for a cup of tea and my breakfast😊… Now, I can not wait for the storm to be over, usually fishing gets very good after huge weaves dig up sand, exposing cockles and worms… we will see…

Posted by Milko at 9:19 AM EDT

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Thursday morning the weather was unbelievable – no wind to speak of, nice temperature – heigh tide at 11:11 AM – what more can one want for, right???

Having been repeatedly disappointed with Paria da Alagoa fishing, I decided to go to Vila Real de Santo Antonio pier… Looks nice, doesn’t it?

Having arrived there 2 hours before heigh tide, I set up 2 rods, one with while clam and the other with razorfish and squid on a two hook rig and waited…expectations were heigh as I had heard that people are catching seabream there regularly. And indeed, there were some 15 fisherman on the pier, all with 2 or 3 rods and it seemed quite busy… The catch was again a big disappointment – I saw 5 or 6 small seabream being caught by others and I got only 3 weevers… When the wind picked up in the afternoon and it got too warm, I simply left, completely demotivated… On my way down I observed what others are doing, and there is a small matter of having the right bait, worms called casulo and americana, and obligatory use of a very long leader line, 2m or linger… even still, the catch was nothing to write home about…

Posted by Milko at 9:19 AM EDT

Updated: Saturday, 24 April 2021 5:23 AM EDT

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It is middle of the night and I am sooooo frustrated that I will write another post rather than go to bed…

Heigh tide was around 21:00 so I decided to try night fishing. I mean if they are not biting during day, they must be feeding at night, right? AND ANOTHER WROOOOOONG!

I started around 20:00 and stayed until midnight. Three rods, one close by, second at medium distance and the third half the way to Morocco! Had sand crab, sand worms, squid, clam and cockles as bait… And yet again all I got is endless tiny little mucharra, attacking everything no matter the distance! Finally, I got fed up and filleted one for bait, and the tiny mucharra picked even that one clean off!!!

At this point I am staring to wander what am I doing wrong… So, tomorrow I will visit Vila Real de Santo Antonio – I hear there is a beached whale so it should be worth the trip just to see that – but more importantly everyone is saying they are catching loads of seabream and sargo – I will stay a while without rods and observe the locals to see for myself…

Posted by Milko at 11:51 PM EDT

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Just got back from the beach and am still itching for something to catch.

I spent the better part of yesterday fishing started with low tide and persisted up until heigh tide. Result – pitiful 4 weevers – or it may have been the same one 4 times😊😊😊…

So, after such bad results, I decided to do some spinning early in the morning – heigh tide was around 7 this morning, so it was ideal. And indeed, the weather was simply great – no wind, moderate weaves on Alagoa beach, and crystal-clear water! Ideal for some spinning – right? WRONG! The surf is full of mullet, sardines and garfish but no sign of seabass, spotted bass, bluefish or any other sizable predator… So, after 2 hours of poppers, pencil poppers, spoons and even mackerel feathers – the most excitement I had is when a garfish started following my BayRuf Manic into the surf… And I did not even get that one!

Finally I gave up, pinched a piece of sardine from a buddy of mine, set up a surf rig with a pop-up bead to keep the sardine on the surface and caught 4 garfish just so I can see something moving…

They are a lot of fun, but I will need a feeder or heavy float rod to really appreciate the action… so, that may be the plan for tomorrow – cast out a sizable piece of bait and fiddle around with needlefish while I wait…

Oh, almost forgot – I was not lazy – I even tried fishing with sandworm… I got a few mucharra far away, so I switched to close by casts – and shortly after casting literally in front of my feet I got a very nice mullet – it put up quite a fight in the surf, everyone come rushing in to see the seabass and were equally disappointed when I pulled out the mullet… Oh, well…

Proofreading this, it seems I had a good morning, eh?  God I am spoiled, but I am still itching for some bass action!!!!

Posted by Milko at 7:45 AM EDT

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My last outing was a mixed feeling kind of thing. The weather was simply great! I went out around 11 in the morning and stayed on the beach until 20:00… I positively enjoyed myself! Three rods, as usually, strong current, and nice big weaves.

At the beginning of the session, it was low tide and I had some problems with grass floating in the surf. For a while fished with only one rod. But as soon as the tide started coming in, the ocean cleared up and I casted out 2 other rods.

Catch-wise, it was not so great – all day long was the kingdom of small fish – sargo and mucharra all the time, and all of them small, about palm-size. And while I was happy for a while to have constant action, it got really old soon – when I realized it will be so all day, I switched to big hooks on 2 rods, and baited them with fish fillets, for that was the only thing the small ones would not chop away within minutes. Unfortunately, no action on the big bait – it only confirmed there was no big fish in the surf… I persisted with squid on the 3^rd rod, and managed to get one very nice sargo, around 500gr… but it being the only sized fish all day was a bit of a downer! Surprisingly I did not get even a small bass as I usually do on squid… Oh, well! Today rain is forecasted in the afternoon, but tomorrow is another day!

Posted by Milko at 6:24 AM EDT

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