Rockfish Fuerteventura! - Part Five

Well Monday morning was a bit of a washout due to bad hangovers form the night before.

We decided on an easy afternoon at Las Playitas, this time with suncream and head coverings in full force. 

Pretty much the same species caught on pretty much the same methods too.

I think this was also the day Scott finally got his Red Lipped Blenny which was a species that had eluded him for some time. Finally his goal was achieved though after wading through tons of Ornate Wrasse and Canary Damsel.

Red Lipped Blenny and a new species for Scott.

We fished Las Playitas into the night and we had a go on bait and big lures for larger fish but it was pretty non-eventful.

Tuesday was now upon us and our last full day in Fuerteventura, its weird how quick it goes when an hour of work feels like a week at times.

We had a last stab at getting either a Bonito, Blue or Barracuda but once again only the Lizards took a liking to my Jigs.

We hit the road again heading way down south to Morro Jable to fish the breakwater to the Marina there. It was a slight disappointment to find clean ground and lots of small fish once again, still it was a sunny hot day and we were catching fish, better than Wales that time of year for sure!

Atlantic Lizard Fish on a Yozuri jig

Stunning colouration on this Greater Weever.

Nick actually got stung by one of the many Weevers this day which was pretty crap, he said it wasn't any worse than a bee sting but I could tell it was giving him some bother. Really it is just a protein based poison and will quickly break down in hot water, but when you are fishing in 25 degrees you don't exactly bring a flask.

After some time catching wee blighters we headed South West, as far as you can go to Faro De Punto Jandia. its a pretty stunning place visually and the swell was something to behold especially on the off shore reefs.

As you can see it was fishable on the east side and that is exactly what we did.
It was a bit samey samey but fun nonetheless and I caught some Madeira rockfish on some of the HTO lures I designed, theres always something satisfying about that.

Madeira Rockfish on a T-Rigged Mace

Madeira Rockfish on a T-Rigged Flail

I had actually hoped for a Grouper but they didn't want to play and I actually went through a couple of packets of lures as they wer shredded by toothy critters on the reef.

Before dark we made our way back along the windy and dodgy dirt road to Morro Jable where we had some good seafood in a port-side restaurant before hitting the breakwater again.

In the light of our head torches you could see hundreds of Cardinal fish among the crevices of the rocky barrier, they lit  up like jewels along the shore and it was quite extraordinary. When the head torches were off they bit quite consistently as did a few other fish.

I however got bored and just before the end I fished a deserted area inside the harbour. You aren't really allowed to do so and I think the fish know it! We had seen Barracuda, Parrotfish, Mackerel, Derbio and all sorts in there during the day, I guess that is one good bi-product of this prohibition; a thriving, safe habitat!
Well one fish certainly wasn't safe and fought very well for me; another Dusky Grouper.

A quality way to end the day to be honest even if it was a bit naughty!

Tight Lines.