Rockfish Menorca - Es Grau to Mahon

Thursday morning Scott wanted to head back to the North East of the Island to a spot called Es Grau, which is a lovely little village and bay area with foot paths to access the rocky headland.

You are not actually permitted to fish the main bay due to it being a reserve of significant importance, a real shame on seeing the amount of fish present.

Because of the nature of the terrain I had hoped for some Grouper here yet did not find any, it was really much the same as other areas being highly populated with Wrasse and Comber.
We did see a really large fish cruising about and occasionally lighting up, we suspected it to be a Dolphinfish. I spent some time throwing lures to see if I could gain interest, but sadly it was to no avail.

As the day grew warmer the fishing died a little and we headed around to Es Grau for a bite to eat in a little bar/restaurant on the bayside. Fanta Lemon was the drink of the holiday and we enjoyed this refreshing beverage with a tasty Pizza and Mediterranean salad whilst seeking shelter in the shade, we weren't the only ones with this idea!

After lunch we headed down to Mahon Harbour and found a spot well away from moored boats. It was really quite pleasant fishing on concrete instead of jagged volcanic rock.

The water itself was reasonably coloured so I opted for the smelly Gulp stuff here, fishing both dropshot and jig head. Scott was fishing his effective dropshot technique and was first into fish also catching another species I wanted - the Common Pandora;

The Pandora really are quite striking fish and feature blue dots along their lateral line area and some bold colouration an the gill plate edge. I didn't get one unfortunately, but was catching other Bream species.

I also had a small run of Bogue which are apparently a good live bait for Barracuda, was I tempted? Not for a second, these fellas went straight back!

I also caught a Damsel fish which was super nice. Yes I sometimes moan at catching such small fish, but the one I caught in Turkey filled me with pleasure and this one kind of rekindled that memory and feeling, they are an attractive wee species.

I knew we would always catch a lot of Bream away and I was so glad I was right, they are indeed a lovely range of species that pull well for their size;

As darkness fell we made our way to another spot in search of a few more species and found a very snaggy area to fish. Almost immediately I got owned by something here, whatever it was, reefed me in seconds. I rigged up another dropshot rig and slid on a Gulp! fish fry, then cast to the line where the harbour light fades to darkness. Sure enough I got a positive bite and pulled out my first Black Scorpion fish;

Well I was quite pleased indeed, not quite the same buzz as even hooking the Barracuda the night before, but put a smile on my face nevertheless. My Scorpion would be the last fish of the day before we headed back for dinner, nice day indeed!

Stay tuned and tight lines.

Rockfish Menorca - Artrutx Lighthouse to Ciutadella

Wednesday started as a day with hopes of bigger fish. As much as I like fishing for pretty, small fish, I do like a bend in my rod and some line being taken, we therefore decided to try Artrutx Lighthouse in the hope of some Amberjack or something. 

The winds were much lighter, the sun was hot and the swell subsiding as we descended onto the rocky ledges below the lighthouse. 

We were greeted by a local angler too who was flinging a Bucktail Jig into the depths below, however we were soon informed that he had not caught anything.

Nevertheless We started flinging jigs, metals and plugs about to see if any decent fish could be found along the headland. As time went on it became apparent that once again the larger fish would remain absent, I must admit to being a little frustrated.

Scott had already changed to dropshotting and was catching some Bream and Wrasse. I decided to join him after a brief moan, after all, catching something is better than catching nothing.

I'm kind of glad I did as I caught another two new species for me amongst other things;

An Ornate Wrasse

A Cardinal fish

The Ornate Wrasse and Cardinal fish are both such nice species and the Cardinal fish is pretty unusual indeed, having mouths disproportionate to the rest of their frame.

At this time myself and Scott both started using the Aquawave Ami's, I was kind of tired of using Berkley Gulp and wanted something as effective in clear water, but far more durable. These lures would actually prove indispensable throughout the remainder of our trip!

Soon we decided on a change of location and made our way to Cala Macarella and Cala Macarelleta which were two adjoining coves set at the end of a cliff surrounded valley, they were simply beautiful!

Cala Macrella was the first cove we fished;

The species were much the same as elsewhere and I just embraced it and had some fun;

We then moved to the next cove Cala Macarelleta which was a lot less reefy, featuring a deep sandy bottom. Although Scott had already caught a Lesser Weever, I know he wanted some other Weever species to add to his already impressive tally.

Scott caught some nice fish here including a pretty cool Striped Red Mullet;

I caught a few there but found the fishing a bit slower than Cala Macarella.

We were also treated to sights of a couple of naked ladies there which was quite different to what we are used to in the UK, they were prettier than average too!

About the same time the ladies had gotten dressed and moved on, we decided to head back to Ciutadella (complete coincidence!).

I really wanted to catch one of the Barracuda we had seen in the previous nights and again was lobbing about my plugs and metals, getting the odd follow. I hooked up to something and with previously hearing Barracuda do not fight, thought I was into a small one.

I felt pretty silly when I landed a Common Comber that was just strangely hooked;

As night fell we noticed the Barracuda turning up with some sizeable ones in the mix. They were lying tight to the structure we were standing on and ambushing small prey coming in for the harbour lights, this made it quite difficult to present a lure to them. I walked my Breaden Metalmaru along the walls of the structure when suddenly I got a take of a good sized Barracuda which mad a few searing runs around the platform. At this time there were children congregating to see what was going on and I had to tell them to stay out of my way. The Barracuda then made for some moorings and upon realising this, I tried to bully and turn the fish when ping, my braid snapped at the wire!

I think the whole of Ciutadella heard me yelling an expletive! One of my boyhood dream fish gone with my favourite metal in its mouth, I can't tell you how much my hands were shaking. Barracuda don't fight my arse!

Scott kindly made me another trace and I tried again to no avail, I returned to the hotel sullen and frustrated, thats fishing for you I guess and there's always another day.

Stay tuned for more on the trip coming soon.

Rockfish Menorca - Ciutadella to Fornells.

As you know I have been rather looking forward to visiting Menorca this year for a spot of Rockfishing, I've been counting down the weeks and months throughout the year with high expectations.

When the 13th Oct finally came around I was too excited really, I realised how much gear I had accumulated throughout the year for this trip and was looking forward to trying some new things.

Myself and Scott had been on Google Earth viewing places we'd like to fish, some of those places just looked picturesque and others looked like good fish holding areas.

With plenty of pins in Scott's phone we had a lot to pack in to a relatively short trip, but boy did we make good.

After touching down in Mahon, we picked up the car from Avis and made our way across the Island to our hotel near Ciutadella and ready for a fish. Our first port of call was just the little cove-inlet below the hotel.

There was a stiff South Westerly blowing, which had kicked up a sizeable swell and the water was coloured so we fished with Berkley Gulp Angleworm to gain our first fish which came in the form of Saddled Sea Bream.

Due to the water colour though we decided to have a look in town for a more suitable and fishable area and found a nice choke point near Ciutadella port. I was at first hesitant as fishing is not usually permitted around harbour areas and moored boats in Spanish waters, I didn't fancy a run in with the cops!

It turned out to be fine though and we were able to say clear of peoples boats, there were some good signs marked around the place too.

Scott was first in here, fishing his very successful Dropshot method. He kind of uses dropshot in a tension fall way and its deadly effective.

A female Rainbow Wrasse

An Atlantic Peacock Wrasse 

A Common Two Banded Sea Bream.

I joined in the fun and started catching new species for me;

Scott then caught another interesting fish at range, again on his dropshot method;

I think it was a Red Porgy which is another name for the Couch's Bream, a nice looking fish and I hoped to get one myself.
The fishing was remained good and consistent and we were pulling out these species with good regularity.

Saddled Sea Bream 

Annular Sea Bream

As darkness fell more species came out to play too and saw Scott catch a fish that I really wanted; A Black Scorpion fish.

Before long we headed back to our hotel for some much needed food, a rest and to plan the first full day of our trip.

Tuesdays weather we always knew was going to be challenging on the south coast and we had planned to visit the Pregonda and Fornells area anyway, so that was our plan of attack. We travelled up some pretty windy roads with dodgy navigating from me until we ended our journey along a dirt road at Cala Binimel La.

We knew that this area of the coast featured different zones, inside some of these zones fishing is prohibited from shore. There are quite a few signs highlighting what is allowed and where, we found these useful as we did not want to be disrespectful to the law of the land.

The area is quite stunning, featuring some quite dramatic rock formation and varied terrain. It has a wild but calm atmosphere, being so remote.

The heavily reefed area produced hopes of Grouper for me, but it soon became apparent that Rainbow Wrasse were the most prevalent reef species on the Island, with Scott getting quite a few almost instantly. I tried to stick to larger lures and pick out some larger fish from the area, I also just wanted to experiment a little and see what could be produced. My first fish here was another new species for me - a Painted Comber.

In Spain they call these fish a "Vaca" or a"Cow" due to the white mark on their belly and are apparently good eating. Well I seemed to have a knack for Painted Comber as I caught tons that day and over the course of the trip!

After we'd had our fill of Small Wrasse and Comber we decided to move to Fornells in order to search deeper water for more species.

Spotting an interesting inlet near where we parked I clipped on a small plug and cast over some sand and got an instant take off a sizeable Lizardfish only for a larger one to come up and snatch it off of my hook. I had heard these things were aggressive and boy are they, quite funny too!

Scott managed to get quite a decent one and unlike me, kept it on;

We caught more Vacas and Rainbow Wrasse before moving over another reefy area, where I caught Painted Comber! It was becoming a bit of a joke now as I was getting way more of those than Scott and little of anything else.

We walked around the harbour catching more Rainbow Wrasse and Comber, I also picked up a tiny Five Spotted Wrasse, which I initially thought was a Corkwing Wrasse.

Eventually we ended up at the back of a breakwater with access to deep water. Despite seeing a few really large fish we didn't catch anything exactly of note, I did however get a few Lizardfish which took a real fancy to my Breaden Metalmaru!

Before long the rain came down until we could bare no more, so we headed back to the hotel for food. 

We did go out briefly that night and caught more Bream, Scott caught a few other nice mini species too, including Scorpion fish and Cardinal fish.

By now though I was starting to itch for something that would put up a better fight, we both had species such as Amberjack, Leerfish, Dolphinfish and Barracuda on our wish list and had our eyes set on a known deep water mark for the morning. With that in mind we headed back for some shut eye and concluded a fairly satisfying day!

Stay tuned and tight lines.