Two days ago I had a very challenging session. I started around 16 and carried on until midnight! I was sooooo persistent (read stupid) to stay long time... there is fish in the surf, and a lot of them, only they are not easy to catch. First bite and fish came only after the Sun had set. I got my first seabream of the year on red worm - tiny little thing, but so lovely…

 

After the mini seabream, I could not get a bite until the water went completely down. With receding tide I got 2 – 3 nibbles and that is all. Only around 21:00, with water very low already, I started getting regular bites - mostly mucharra ticks, but I also also 3 spotted bass. It was a very active period for I constantly had to rebait and recast, and with three rods it turned into hard physical labour! Around 23 I started cleaning the fish, and while I was doing it, a very big sargo swallowed the hook and caught itself... of course, after dark I was fishing exclusively with squid...

Yesterday, I went to the beach late – there was no use being there at daytime. Quite close to the shore, some 10m out, I got a spotted bass on red worm and small hooks – I was aiming at small sargo or something similar to pass the time, but there you have it… After it got dark, the water started receding, but unlike the previous night, there was an onslaught of mucharra – they were everywhere and would eat everything in minutes. I baited one rod with mucharra filet, just to cut down on the work and carried on with 2 rods using squid. I got another spotted bass again quite close to the shore, and loads, and loads of bites – some quite aggressive… Around 21:00 I packed it up and departed – I was too tired from the night before, plus all these mucharra did not inspire me with confidence.

The ocean has calmed down – no weave and the currents are not too strong either. High tide falls in the middle of the day and apart from a few sargo, activity is very low. This is why las two evenings I went to Vila Real de Santo Antonio pier – well, right at the beginning of it, by the restaurants… Intention is just to see some action. And of course, there was planty of it, only it is the wrong kind of fish – I have been catching conger eels and a few stray small sargo… As Always, most bites came as the tide turned from lowest and started to rise. There was a bit of excitement in reeling them in – I had total of 4 congers and 2 small sargo – but apart from the strictly necessary doze of daily casting, it did little to satisfy my everlasting need for a good catch…

 

Another interesting day at Praia da Alagoa… I started around 16:00 when the tide was at he lowest. Standard set up – 3 rods, one with sardine, one with clam one with squid… I had high hopes given the yesterdays success, but I had to wait for looooong while for the first bite. It was a small spotted bass, perhaps 25cm. It ended up in my friend’s bucket – I did not want to have to clean any fish this time around… Around dusk time I got another small one, same size… and then for a while it was quite dead. Everyone else went away and I persisted a bit – it was only when it got completely dark and the water was high enough that they started to bite – I got 2 sargo which I let go, some more small spotted bass and a few more seabass – the biggest one is just above kilo mark. But it got quite dynamic. Unfortunately, before I knew it, it was pass midnight… The ocean has calmed down considerably – I was able to fish with 120 and 100gr weights, but the fish are still around…

One of THOSE days…

Yesterday I had one of THOSE days at Praia da Alagoa! I arrived at the beach around 15:00 – around the point of low tide. As I was setting up my rods, a local fellow told me that in the morning he had landed quite a few fish, seabass, sargo, spotted bass… The ocean seemed very rough, and I could clearly see patches of sandy brown water where the weaves were breaking. It did seem as excellent fishing conditions…

I set up two rods with squid (sardine was still frozen) and one with white clam, and shortly thereafter I had a first spotted bass on the clam… it was a nice enough beginning! But then it all went silent for about 30 – 40 min… I took the opportunity to set up sardines on one rod, kept squid and clam on the other two, so I had all my bases covered.

After some 40min something slammed on the sardine rig, the rod just bent in the stand, I was afraid it would fall out and be dragged away! I ran to it and picked it up, ran into the surf and enjoyed like I did not in a looooong time. The fish was strong, aggressive, more than a few times I had to loosen the drag, watch the weaves and let the fish ride the surf out… At one point it swam across the line of the other rod, so I had to do a bit of acrobatics – all in all it was a very nice and exciting fight. Ended up with a nice seabass.

After that I was almost ready to go home – it simply could not get any better. But the smaller ones started being active as the tide started coming in, so I kept reeling them in… Another seabass, and more and more spotted bass

 

The end total was 12 fish and loads and loads of fun!

Last night high tide was around 18:50. After a somewhat stressful day, I intended to try Ria Formosa. Even got some octopus and cuttlefish to try and ward off the tiny seabream which normally plague the Ria Formosa fishermen.

But by the time I was ready to leave, it was getting too late, and as traffic calmed down, I could hear the weaves from the beach. Eventually, I popped by the Praia da Alagoa main parking and as ocean was sufficiently noisy, decided to stay at the beach. I fished with remainder of bibi I had from the boring night session, cuttlefish and squid... And to my surprise, it was not completely uneventful. I had quite a few bites, mostly small fish, but I was kept busy baiting hooks and recasting, and so I was content to stay until around 23:00. End score was 2 mucharra, one pan size spotted bass and two sargo of about 20cm. By no means a colossal catch, but after the last 4 sessions, a welcome change of pace. Oddly enough, I got all the fish quite late, when the water had already receded.

Boring night session...

Woke up at ungodly hour and headed to Praia da Alagao to be there for the high tide at night… set up three rods, 1 with sardine, one with squid and one with bibi… Stayed there for about 2,5 hrs and had 3 tiny nibbles. When I paced it up, I threw away the original bait. It was extremely calm, warm evening, slightly overcast.

A compound report about my last 2 sessions… After my success last week, I hurried down to Praia da Alagoa, right in front of the restaurant, for some more exciting action… Alas! The ocean has calmed down completely – almost no weaves and crystal-clear water.

And of course, this means that the fish are not active – at least not during day. A friend of mine and I started some 2 hours before high tide and carried on well into the afternoon after the high tide – standard setups – shrimp, clam and sardine… A perfectly wonderful day with no action whatsoever. Well, I did get a flatfish, but that does not count for it was less than palm size. It is amazing that a pregado so small can swallow 3/0 hook and entire sardine – I had trouble unhooking the poor thing.

I even had my line towed by a kayak some 200+ meters out, far beyond what is a normal casting distance – and even there I could not get a bite! It was quite depressing…

So, the following day, I though I get some small sargo in Vila Real de Santo Antonio pier. Got some bait in the local tackle store and took out my carp rod set up with 15gr sliding float out of storage… I was not the only one with this idea! However, all I can say – another 2 hours of perfect weather and NO BITES at all… Also, I did not see anyone get anything either, and there were quite a few fisherman on the pier. SO now, the only thing that remains to be checked is if they would bite at night – tonight I will have to wake up at ungodly hour to chase after hight tide and hope of some action… Fingers crossed!

After my latest success, I naturally hurried back to the beach. Conditions were pretty much the same, strong current, big weaves, only it was one hour before high tide. I set up two rods with two hook rigs, baited with sardine and again 180gr pyramid weight.

Unfortunately, this time not a nibble! Well, something packed away on one of the sardines, but it may well have been crabs.

Next to me, a friend of mine got one spotted bass and a regular seabass, both around 35cm on a shrimp.

Yesterday I started with low tide around 14:00 at Praia da Alagoa, in front of the Restaurant. Intention was to enjoy the afternoon with three rods. BUT, the weaves and the current were soooo strong that I barely managed 2 rods. As soon as I cast, the rig would drift to the right, in direction of Manta Rota, and be eventually cast out onto the beach... So frequent recasts, and lots of work. Standard 2 hook rigs – one with squid, the other one with sardine. Soon, I had had to switch to 180gr pyramid weight, and even that drifted fair bit.

While the tide was low, I had no action at all – save for the hard physical labour of recasting every 5min.

When the tide started to rise – almost at the very point of it turning – so still very low – I got my first bite on sardine and landed a fair size spotted bass.

But the rig was so heavy that I had no idea if it was on until it started splashing in the shallows. Immediately on the next cast, the rod just bent town and stayed like that for a while – I was 100% sure it was weaves or grass on the line. Then it came back to its regular position and I left it for a while. After a few minutes I wanted to recast and as soon as I lifted the rod from the its stand, I felt that there was something on the other end. With such a big weight, and such strong current, a swimming fish had to be big! And sure enough, after a few minutes of back-and-forth dance, and me walking down the beach a 100m or so as the fish followed the rightward current, I managed to get it to ride the weave onto the shallow bit. As soon as the weave retreated, the fish was beached! And what a fish it was!!!!

 

 

As the water kept rising, I had quite a few bites. As it got dark, hooks were empty all the time. But it was all small fish, and I was using 3/0 hooks with whole sardine on it. so no way I could catch a sargo or a mucharra. As the small fish started pestering me, I packed up and left around 18:00 -I had had my fun for the day.

There were also other people fishing by the other walkway, a few hundred meters in the direction of Manta Rota. A guy was walking pass me on the beach, and he told me they also caught a few spotted bass, and seabass, but in 30cm mark... also a few sargo... so there is fish in the surf.

No fish anywhere in site!

Another compound report about this entire week - was it not for the brilliant photos I made, I probably would not have bothered to do this entry, as there is nothing major to report or note!

It seems in January all the fish disappear from Altura, Praia da Alagoa - they are all GONE! the surf is empty. Several days ago, high tide was perfectly timed around 17, so I went to the Praia da Alagoa with three rods and high hopes. I could catch one hour of dusk before high tide and another hour of dark with outgoing tide - in my mind this spelled fish, and lots of them! Well... All I can say is in 3 hours with 3 rods I did not get so much as a nibble - I had to throw away the bait I had put on the hooks when I arrived and leave! Still... Nice, calm weather, and a nice, evening photo.

So, next day, in the evening, not willing to admit defeat, I went to the Praia da Vila Real de Santo Antonio – and again, the same story. Not a nibble!!!

The following day I had something to sort out in Tavira, so on my way back, I stopped by the Ria Formosa in Tavira, right across from the island ferry boarding platform. Here, there are loads and loads of small seabream. The rod would simply not stop quivering – and the hooks were stripped of bait in no time. Over there the only sensible thing to do is fish with a piece of cuttlefish, or a piece of octopus – everything else is a joke. And indeed, I am gearing up to trying that one evening, for persisting on Praia da Alagoa, makes no sense at all. Anyhow, I did manage to catch one small seabass – not even half kilo… and of course, another lovely photo

The only thing left to do is to try in Altura, Praia da Alagoa at low tide… and so I did that too. I had a great day on the beach with my son and some friends, and I kept casting, and casting… To no avail – again, not a single nibble, despite the fact that there was quite a current in the ocean, weaves were roaring, conditions were perfect for some bass… And yet again, a nice photo for the albbum