I had another short session last night at Praia da Alagoa – I wanted to test if fish were active at night. Headed out around 17, first line in the water was at 17:27, and low tide was at 19:01. So I was just in time for the lowest mark when I could reach deep water. Used three rods, one long line single hook and two double hook systems.

Even though the ocean was a lot less calm than the day before, initially there was absolutely no activity. For about 40 minutes I tried long casts, short casts, I even tossed it 5m out into the surf. Not a peep! At dusk, some 20min after Sunset, as the light was almost gone, I got first nice bite and landed a portion size seabream. Not few minutes after, on the long line I got a spotted bass. The fish were no monsters but, the takes were hard, and both swam strong.

However, that was it for the day. I keept getting tiny nibbles on red worm, squid even on sand crab, but it was either mucharra or tiny sargo… Between 19 and 20 there was absolutely nothing! Rods stood still, baits were untouched as I stopped casting far, I did not like working hard for mucharra. Besides, it become quite cold, so packed up and left. - Amanhã é Outro Dia!

Posted by Milko at 3:37 AM EST

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Sure enough, after the last successful session, I wanted a repeat. I headed down to the beach about an hour after the high tide – the previous session, results were better on low tide as I as could more easily reach deeper water and fish seemed to stay away for some reason.

However, when I arrived, I found that he ocean had calmed down substantially – a few small weaves far apart, nothing like the roaring splash from the day before. I immediately knew it would be a difficult session, it is never good fishing when the ocean is calm. I used 3 rods with the red sand worm on all. To cut the story short – I got 2 bites in 3 hours and I did not hook anything. My buddy was fishing next to me and in full 5 hours he did not get so much as a nibble…

Now I either do a night session or wait for the ocean to get angry again…

Posted by Milko at 12:38 AM EST

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I woke up and I could hear weaves from my house. Finally the ocean is moving – it has been calm as a lake for more than 3 weeks, and coupled with low temperatures, fishing was… well, there was no fish to be had at all!!!

I decided to hit the beach. Started around 8 with 2 rods, white clam as bait. From 8 until 12, with hight tide at 9:20, I had a grand total of 4 bites😡😡😡😡. Got one palm sized sargo and a 30cm spotted bass...

But! Around 12, when the water was almost low, fishing became interesting. I started getting regular bites, and caught a few fish. It was FISHING at last!!!!

Unfortunately, at 13:20 I had to start packing - had to take my car to the garage, otherwise, I would have stayed all day or as long as bites were on…

Posted by Milko at 3:18 AM EST

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We have been having loads of rain last 7 days or so, high winds, plus I have had loads of other things to wrap up – mainly administration for this and that – so I did not quite go fishing in a long while. I did try a few days ago, just before the storm, but there was sooooo much seaweed around, fishing was not possible.

Finally, yesterday I caught a breather, and went down to the beach. Even before I went down, I checked the beach cam of Praia Da Alagoa and saw that surf waters were not clear, but rather brownish coloured – either because of the rain, or because of very strong winds and high weaves from the previous day. I was reserved in my expectations, I only hoped there is no sea weed, so I can put in a few hours. When I got there it was low tide, but the ocean seemed clean, so I set up three rods – one sardine and two squid and waited around a bit… I collected some cockles in the sand thinking I may need to offer something special to get a bite. When I went to check the baits – squids were gone… And I did not even saw the strike. First I thought it was crabs, but I soon realized it is the tiny, tiny fish which had swarmed the surf… Soon after this I started casting very, very close and decided to replaced sardine skeleton with a mucharra fillet. I put on a system with hooks size 6, and sure enough got a mucharra on the first cast. While I was busy filleting it for bait, I got an interesting surprise – a stripped seabream hooked itself on one of the small hooks – which means the water has become warm enough for seabream… If only I could get around the mucharra…

I stayed on for quite a while, the water started to rise, and rose to the maximum and still all I got is tiny nibbles by the mucharra and empty hooks. When the water started to recede, I got a small seabass, less than 30cm which I immediately released as it was barely hooked on the lip. A nother half hour later I got a mini pregado, a flatfish of enormous 10cm or so which had completely swallowed size 2 hook!!!! And that was it for this session… I hope things get better next week after the rain…

Posted by Milko at 7:15 AM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 23 March 2022 7:29 AM EDT

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After almost 10 days of not having time to go fishing, I finally got the chance to hit the beach, Praia da Alagoa, yesterday. Weather was strange to say the least – there was moderate west wind and it was cold! I had to wear my fleece hoody while at he beach. Later, when the Sun went down, I had to put on my jacket… Makes you wander where the world is going when you need a jacket in Algarve☹☹☹…

The ocean was calm, there were barely any weaves, and the water was crystal clear. I expected bad catch, so I got some razor clams and sardines, thinking that will increase my chances.

I arrived around 16:30, set up three rods, and waited… The catch was poor, to say the least. While it was daylight, I did not expect anything, but was surprised with a powerful take on razor clam – the rod bent down and just kept going as though it was a huge bass. I struck, and while retrieving the line felt the fish was not half as big as expected. For a while I hoped it was a seabream swimming towards me, but in the end, there came out a spotted bass of no more than 35cm… Again, I could only hope the catch would get better with night approaching… Unfortunately, as soon as it got dark, mucharra went wild – tiny as they are, they would eat anything within few minutes. I persisted rebaiting and recasting until around 21:00 – when the water was already quite low. Then I released the poor bass that was still alive in the bucket, packed up and left quite disappointed… Now I will wait for the tide to turn with the next phase of the Moon – fishing like this makes no sense.

Posted by Milko at 9:49 AM EST

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Yesterday was a great day for fishing at Praia da Alagoa – there was little to no wind, temperature well over 20 degrees Celsius, and the ocean was very rough…

I arrived around 12, just for the low tide, set up three rods, sardine on one and white clam on the other 2. The current was indeed strong, I was using 140gr and 180gr pyramid weights and still rigs kept drifting westward. There was also some seaweed in the water, but not so much that is was difficult to fish. With low tide I got a spotted bass on white clam and a bite on sardine – something small managed to eat half of it.

With rising tide activity was quite good, I started getting regular bites, so I switched to squid – it is easier to put on the hook, no need to mess about with binding elastic. I got 5 spotted bass and one regular seabass – none of them too big, mostly half kilo or a bit more. Still, it was very dynamic.

I had to leave early as I had some other things to sort out in the late afternoon. And around 16:15 I stopped fishing.

Posted by Milko at 6:05 AM EST

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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.

Posted by Milko at 5:43 AM EST

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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…

Posted by Milko at 9:24 AM EST

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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…

Posted by Milko at 5:43 AM EST

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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!

Posted by Milko at 6:15 AM EST

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