Any help for fishing Spain?

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Mr.Slickfish
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2008/05/27 21:39:42 (permalink)

Any help for fishing Spain?

Gentlemen,
   At the end of june I will be taking a vacation to the south western coast of Spain and will be doing a little fishing in the Mederterrian Ocean. I will be fishing from shore and  I have never fished salt water before. I have medium heavy rods, with deep spooled reels,  i am shipping over along with some good 15lb test line, is this line heavy enough? I would also appreciate some ideas on live bait and lures. I am not targeting any paticular species, i am taking an 11 yr old boy from there with me. I am just hoping to show the kid a good time, hopefully get into something heavy. I am shipping the usual assortment of large spinner baits ,rapalas and spoons..but any suggestions would be welcomed at this point. Thank you.....Mr.Slickfish
post edited by Mr.Slickfish - 2008/05/27 21:41:53

I don't always snag fish, but when I do...
I choose Little Cleos

I'm the best looking smartest snagging poacher alive...
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    HookLineSinker
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    RE: Any help for fishing Spain? 2008/05/27 22:21:59 (permalink)
    I'm not sure many of us here have fished the Med. Sea. I would check with the locals about what works, and what doesn't. Good luck.
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    2dog
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    RE: Any help for fishing Spain? 2008/05/27 22:32:26 (permalink)
    While in the navy spent a year total in the Med. Never fished it though, but when at gitmo in cuba, guys from the ship were fishing with fresh squid. Don't see why there would be much difference from one side of that large pond to the other.
    #3
    Swans500
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    RE: Any help for fishing Spain? 2008/05/28 06:22:22 (permalink)
    Slick....your question got me interested in the subject. I found this post (below) on another site....some guy replying to a question similar to yours. Seems there are a lot of Mackerel species in the Med, and being a salt fisho myself, I would think Macks would be great fun for the kid who will be with you.

    Dennis.

    Hi Robert,

    I grew up in La Linea (detras de la plaza de toros, en la calle Padre Majon). I started fishing there when I was 3. Chipirones (small frozen squid) are cheaper at the frozen stores near the plaza, btw..

    Now's about the best time of year for it; try casting on la Playa de la Atunara, near the little fortress thing whenever there is a decent levante blowing. You can dig your own lug there at low tide too. Should catch decent herreras daytime and doradas or bass at night (if the snappers and bogas let you).

    Benimatt: the fish in Benidorm are the same as around Gibralter.
    Your best bet is to go out on one of the many stone jetties at night, use a float with a starlight and strips of mackerel or salted sardine - you're still in time to catch loads of horse mackerel (my favourite fish).

    Most popular species include snapper (wherever there's sand.. any bait will work; they tend to show about an hour after dark), black bream (wherever there is a mix of rock and sand, best caught on a float wherever there is a running current), dorada (like black bream, only with a gold tint round the head) and the baila (another bass-like thing that puts up one hell of a fight).

    Robert: The calamares season is also approaching - get down to Gibralter's RHS pier (its free but you need to hand in your **** for safekeeping) on a moonlit levantishon night (light easterly) and watch how the local moroccans pull out hundreds of monster sized white calamares - can be caught with any plastic fish or luminous squid jig. Can also catch mackerel and horse mackerel from the pier at night if you take a lamp along and use only a tiny sliver of fishskin as the bait.

    Baits: other than the ever popular frozen squid, are rag (river) worm, lug (can be dug on most sandy beaches), coquinas (a small seashell that lives on sandy beaches and in estuaries - can be dugup at low tide), corrucos (a kind of cockle with red and white flesh), navajas (razor fish - excellent 'big' baits for big breams / doradas), mejillon (mussels - quite good from piers / jetties if you salt them heavily for a few nights), ermitaño (hermit crab - a bit too expensive but worth it if big fish are showing). Try making enguao (ground bait) with smashed mussels, sardine, flour and sardine oil (sold in some bars), lethal from piers with little or no wind blowing.
    #4
    jlh42581
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    RE: Any help for fishing Spain? 2008/05/28 06:35:19 (permalink)
    Id go no lighter then 50lb braid and wash your tackle every night with fresh water.
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    formerguide
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    RE: Any help for fishing Spain? 2008/05/28 10:36:31 (permalink)
    ORIGINAL: jlh42581

    Id go no lighter then 50lb braid and wash your tackle every night with fresh water.

     
    Uh, no need for the 50lb braid guy...
     
    Load a quality spinning rod up with 20lb test and you'll be fine. I have a good client who lives in Italy and fished the Med all of the time. Lots of mackerel, jacks, amberjacks, and smaller snappers and such. Nothing in there is going to be stressing your line, especially if fishing for shore.
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    Porktown
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    RE: Any help for fishing Spain? 2008/05/28 11:02:52 (permalink)
    Although all of my saltwater experience is on this continent, some of this might help.  I'd probably stick away from your freshwater lures.  If they don't have stainless steel hooks and hardware, they'll rust/tarnish rather easily.  Even if you rinse them, they'll still hold some salt.  I'd do some research on tackle/local forage fish, but would imagine some of the "standard" saltwater gear would work. 
     
    Storm/Tsunami swim baits have always treated me pretty good.  Saltwater poppers, bucktails, stainless hook jig heads and twister tail / shad plastic baits.  Salt water spoons, like Kastmaster.  Variety size of hooks & weights would be the best thing to pack.  When you're there, you'll likely find a bait shop / fish market for bait.  A Sabiki rig might help you catch some baitfish too.
     
    Like Formerguide said, your line or something in that size should be fine.  Always nice to have some 30-50lb mono/flouro leader material for the toothy critters.
     
    Spain is one place that I want to visit in my lifetime.  The architecture in Barcleona alone, would probably keep me from fishing.  Although, seeing water would just have my mind drift into catching some fish!!!
     
    Good luck and have a blast!
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    Lipsticker2
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    RE: Any help for fishing Spain? 2008/05/28 12:56:17 (permalink)
    I was stationed in Turkey for 2 1/2 years, and did some fishing in the Med. From shore, you can pretty much count on small fish. From a boat, the size goes up a little, but nothing that 12-20lb test wouldn't handle. The boats that used to go way out would come back with some decent size fish (some kind of swordfish, etc). The Turks used to laugh at us with our American fishing gear. They use a board with line wrapped around it. The fun part is, you never know what you will pull up!
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    muskie500
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    RE: Any help for fishing Spain? 2008/05/28 14:42:11 (permalink)
    Just got back from a trip to Spain at the end of March.  I visited two different town in southern Spain on the Mediterranian.  In both cases the only fish I saw caught from shore were sardines.  They are larger than expected some being in the eight plus inch range.  The fishing I observed was your classic rod holder in the sand with weight on the bottem and various live bait on the hooks(squid pieces, low quality shrimp, etc.)  I know they arent very big but the locals loved them.  They are served in all the restaurants on the sea, gutted and fried with the head and tail intact.  You just sort of grab them like corn or a chicken wing and have at it.  Only other information I have is there is a great white wine that is from southern Spain called Palamino Fina.  It is a relatively new wine that is inexpensive, well made and goes great with seafood. Buena Suerte

    The world is full of bastards,the number ever increasing the further one gets from Missoula, Montana
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    Mr.Slickfish
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    RE: Any help for fishing Spain? 2008/05/29 05:52:31 (permalink)
    Well thank you all for your helpful posts, it is much appreciated! Spain is somewhere i have wanted to visit my whole life.....fishing the ocean is just a bonus,...... a big****bonus. Even if the fishing isnt good, i will be with a smokin hot fillipina girl.....In SPAIN!....No real downside to that. I'll post some pics after my trip. Thanx again to all those who took time to write..............Slickfish

    I don't always snag fish, but when I do...
    I choose Little Cleos

    I'm the best looking smartest snagging poacher alive...
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