Yesterday I had a double session. Early in the morning I rushed out to try spinning. However, the tide was low and it was extremely shallow. Still, that did not stop me, I persisted with poppers and pencil poppers for about an hour, and did not get a thing!!!

Well, I thought, I better try clam, just to make sure. And so I did, and I still did not get so much as a peep☹. SO, finally I broke out my floating bead rig and put on some sardine to catch at least a needlefish… You guessed it – NADA! It is as though the ocean was empty.

And so, I went back in the evening around 19 – again with low tide, minimum having been around 21. As I was setting up my rods, I was AMAZED at the quantity of fish in the surf – I tell you, it was like a fish pond, everywhere you look there is a fish on the surface, and close to the shore, no matter the low tide. When a big weave would come by, it would lift them above the ocean level and you could clearly see and endless school of fish for a brief moment. I still do not know if it was mullet or spotted bass or something else, but I did get 5 small bass around 30 cm in the shallows, some 5 to 10 meters away from where I was standing… So, naturally, I will try to do another session this evening.

Posted by Milko at 6:30 AM EDT

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A very uneventful evening… I wanted to try shallow surf again last evening, the same thing I had done the previous session – cast 5 meters into the surf and catch some spotted bass. However, I got there too late! Not only had the Sun already set, but it was getting dark fast. On my first cast I got a spotted bass. But as soon as it got dark completely it all stopped. Unlike the previous evening, there was little to no action – not even mucharra! I did have one rod out with mucharra fillet, but nothing touched it for the whole 5 hours I stayed there. And even weirder was that there was no action with the rising tide – it was as though fish either were not there at all, or would not bite… Who knows?

Today, I will try to finally be at the beach around 19, so I can set up on time and wait for the Sunset. Hope to do better…

Posted by Milko at 6:30 AM EDT

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After yesterday’s weever madness, I decided to oil up my reels – it was heigh time. And naturally, after having done so, I simply had to go test if I had done a good job😊

Besides, the weather was just too good to stay at home. Calm and very warm. I got to the beach while it was still daylight. By the time I set up 2 rods it was already dusk, I had to use the headlamp to bait the last hook. As soon as I casted, and dreading endless mucharra, I casted very close by, right in the breaking weave, some 10 meters out, I immediately got a ferocious strike and reed up a spotted bass. Recasted with same bait and got another! And another small one which I released, and I though, oh boy, here we go! But then it got completely dark and loads upon loads of small sargo and mucharra stormed the surf and while fishing was extremely active, it as not very fruitful. Admittedly, I was too lazy to set up the third rod with mucharra fillet and try to get something more substantial, but hey… I kept hoping bass will come back😊.

Around 1:00 AM, when the water started to go down, I was too tired to carry on… I may try again this evening if the wind is low.

Posted by Milko at 5:43 AM EDT

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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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