Boat Fishing.
‘Orca Steve’ went out on a spur of the moment fishing trip with ‘Kayak Steve’ and ‘Pickerel Steve’ last week after spotting a good spell of weather and sea conditions which were not to be missed. And a good chance to test the boat’s new turbo charger that he had fitted. The sea conditions were calm and there was a slight North Westerly breeze coming off the land with clear skies to complete the perfect fishing conditions. Steve’s boat “Vagabondo” reached a speed of 24 knots going out to their fishing spot in front of the Garrucha lighthouse where he dropped the anchor at a depth of 320 ft and drifted steadily to about 440 ft where it stabilised. The fishing was initially slow but after an hour they hit on a nice shoal of fish which included mackerel and pandoras and the fishing was brisk for a while. Steve had a good take on raw langoustines and landed a hake (Known as Merluza in Spanish) which gave him a decent fight. Plenty of fish were landed including the usual suspects of comber’s, blue mouths and swallow tailed sea perch. Kayak Steve got hit by a conger or something big which gave him a short fight before biting through the short trace to the hook. One of the highlights of the day was watching a large fish which they thought was a marlin or swordfish jump clear of the water several times not far from the boat.
Sea photo of Steve (OS) and the bigger specimens of the day’s catch.
Steve was out again a few days later with the lads from Mazzaron, Derek, Lou, Tony and Dave who had come down to Garrucha seeking some decent fishing. The sea conditions were good with only a slight swell but a cold North Westerly wind was blowing from the land which was gusting at times so Steve decided to anchor up and drift into the 400 ft area. They fished for a couple of hours but with no decent fish to show for their efforts Steve decided to pull the anchor and move elsewhere. This proved to be more difficult than anticipated as the anchor was fast solid and after several attempts to free it he resigned himself to the fact that it was not going to budge and decided to stay put for the rest of the day.
The fishing didn’t improve and they ended up with only the usual pandoras, combers, blue mouths, swallow tails, mackerel and pouting although Tony did have a good fish on at one stage but lost it when it bit through the short trace to his bottom hook. At the end of the day they had one last attempt to shift the anchor but to no avail and ended up cutting the anchor line losing 300 ft of good rope and a 10 kg anchor, chain and couplings. Time to make some of those disposable anchors the other skippers are using Steve thinks!
See photo of Dave with a mackerel.
Shore Fishing.
Shore fishermen have again been reporting poor catches and only a few striped and cow bream have been caught by the said anglers.
Coarse Fishing.
Experts are assessing what the invasion of a ‘huge and ferocious’ fish could mean for Andalucía’s fragile ecosystem. (The Wels Catfish I presume) Electric barriers may be used to stop catfish leaving the Iznajar reservoir near Cordoba, where a 50cm specimen was caught earlier this year.
A working group has been held in Seville to discuss ways of stopping the ‘irreparable damage’ the fish could cause, and zoology experts at the University of Cordoba have produced a report detailing the fish’s predatory habits. The Environment Ministry has also held meetings with local fisherman to discuss this emergency situation. The fear is that the species will spread to the entire Guadalquivir waterway, which experts say would be fatal to the biodiversity of the river and its tributaries.
The Rods and reels match venue this week was the Eden Canal stretch of the River Segura in Murcia. The nights are cold and this is reflected in the fishing, the weights have dropped dramatically and every fish is a prize! It is a real matter of scaling down now in line and hooks and hoping that if you hook one of the resident animals it heads for open water and not the reeds. (You can always dream). The weights below reflect how few fish are now being caught with several anglers having a dry net.
Top anglers on the day.
1st Dave (The Sweetie Man) Hutchinson fishing the pole using maggot with 12.1/2lbs.
2nd Terry (Swing E´m) Screen fishing the pole using maggot with 12lbs.
3rd Bob (The Major) Rafferty fishing the pole using maggot with 9.1/4lbs.
There was a good turnout for Abbey Angling’s Fur & Feather contest, with seventeen anglers fishing on the River Segura in Murcia. The banks were no better than the week before, the silt deposited on the pathway from the floods was three inches deep and under the bridge about eight inches deep making a mess of the cars. The water temperature is now very cold as the temperature in the mountains is dropping probably below zero over-night, fish were hard to find as weights show on this prolific water.
1st Lennie (Ex Cultural Attache) Bolton with 17lbs fishing pole maggot and pellet.
2nd Dave (The Sweetie Man) Hutchinson with 14.1/2lbs on the feeder maggot and pellet.
3rd Terry (Swing Em) Screen with 13.1/4lbs fishing feeder pole and maggot.
A good day was had by all as everyone received a prize.
These and all details are available on the website www.abbeyangling.com or from the Match Secretary Terry Screen on 965328368
The next Anglers Together club meetings are:
Friday 13th January at 12 o’clock at Mary’s Bar, Campoverde (near Pilar de la Horadada). Saturday 14th January at 12 o’clock at The New Royal Bar and Restaurant at El Alamillo, opposite the sea-front between Isla Plana and Puerto de Mazarron.
For further details contact Alan Roscoe:
Email: anglerstogether@hotmail.co.uk
The Albox fishing club meets every two weeks or so. For details of the next meeting tel 677 655 049.
For further information on any of the above or to find out about beach, boat or coarse fishing licenses, see John at the Beachcomber Bar Restaurant on Mojacar Playa or tel 950 473 099. In case of difficulty reaching me (Probably out fishing) ask staff for my mobile number.
See more about the Beachcomber, past fishing reports and photos. www.beachcombermojacar.com
You can also find me on Facebook and Twitter. ‘John Beachcomber’
Checkout Mojacar’s weather and sea conditions here on the Beachcomber’s three webcams. www.beachcombermojacar.com/beachcomber-webcam/
The above webcams are now working but only with Internet Explorer and a 32 bit computer operating system, I.e.: Windows XP should work.
Very Tight Lines for the New Year and I hope you all got what you wanted for Xmas!
Beachcomber John.
