After my last session in Altura, Praia da Alagoa, I naturally went back to try again. However, the following day the ocean was almost calm, water was crystal blue, and I knew that does not bod well for fishing. I had 3 rods out, 1 2 hook system and two single hook long line systems and as it usually is the case, only action I saw was a single bite and a single seabream on red worm, and on top of that, it was on the 2 hook system – go figure!

Then I skipped a day, as I was not quite motivated…

Yesterday I decided to try the Gilão River in Tavira, just North of the 125 bridge – same spot where I had something pull in my feeder last time I was there.

This time I had loads of chum in the form of my old bait, so I threw in some shrimp, squid, clam, mussels… It seemed that all I could attract was mullet, as I got a few bites on red sand worm, but that was the extent of it. After it got dark, mullet stopped biting – there is lots of light there and all the fish seemed to rise to the surface and play there, while my baits were on the bottom. When I finally got a bite, it was a seabass… I knew they were around, but this 15cm bass is not what I was aiming for.

Posted by Milko at 4:47 AM EDT

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Two days ago I went to try Fuseta – just as an experiment, to see if fishing there is any different from Altura, Praia da Alagoa, which was very quiet last time I tried.

They pretty much said the same, low activity, no fish for weeks now, and they had 1 bite that day which they missed. Went back to my rods, waited, waited, waited…

Them my buddy got a bite and after a nice fight landed a seabass of around a kilo or so.

And then yesterday, I had a decent session right here on Praia da Alagoa. I went out in the morning with low tide to collect red worm and, naturally, brought my rods along😇. I did not even fish, I merely baited two rods with red sand worm, casted in and dug for worms. I would go back to check the rods every 20 -30 min. To my surprise, I pulled out a small seabream, and thought that is the one fish I will catch for the day. 20 minutes later, I got a doublet of seabream and a s triped seabream (ferrera).

After that I caught a spotted bass. And then I stopped digging and concentrated on fishing. I got 2 more seabream, a sargo and even a mullet!

Let's just hope this marks beginning of a fishing period... it could also be a fluke on account of rain... we will know soon enough😇

Posted by Milko at 1:05 AM EST

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The temperature has finally started to rise, and so I could not resist trying Paraia da Alagoa – I knew fishing was difficult, but hey, one never knows. And besides, there is none fishing on the beach, so how could we know if they are biting or not😊.

Started around 8 in the morning, intentionally wanting to be there at low tide around 9, so that I can cast further into deep water. I had 3 rods, two one hook long line systems and one double hook system. At the beginning I baited with white clam, and as there was no activity I walked back up the beach and dug up some red worm -. This time they were easy to find and they were quite big.

I went back and baited with red worm and again, there was little to no activity. I think one of my baits disappeared in half hour, and I guess it was either crab or kingfish, as the rod did not move. As I was getting ready to leave I finally got a bite – nothing spectacular, a tiny little quiwer on the tip of my rod and then the line went slack. I caught a small spotted bass of about 35 – 30 cm… Encouraged by the success I stayed another 45 min during which I stocked up on red sand worm, but I saw no further action. When I started packing around 11, I had to discard the worms from my hooks even though by this time the tide had started rising.

So Altura is still non-productive. Today I will try Fuseta, just for the sake of it…

Posted by Milko at 2:37 AM EST

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Given my last unsuccessful sessions in the surf on Praia da Alagoa, I decided to try a different spot. It is still uncharacteristically cold, so I decided to try Gilão River in Tavira. I thought about trying this for a long time, but the surf was always so much more appealing. This was a perfect opportunity to actually try the river.

I chose to fish comfortably, close to the car and so I went underneath the N125 bridge and drove 100 or so meters upstream on the macadam road. Parked there and set up.

There were loads of mullet around and I could not resist catching a few, while I had my carp rod set up on a bottom rig with white clam on. I had 3 bites on the clam, and got only one seabream – one of the bites I did not even see as I was immersed in catching mullet on the surface.

The following day a buddy of mine, having heard my report, insisted to go himself. Being a solidary man, I could not let him have a session on his own, could I???:)😊😊 And so we did exactly the same thing – one rod on clam each and another rod with bread on the surface for mullet. Tis day mullet were very shy – we barely god 10 or so between us. And clam was untouched for more than 2 hours!!! As my buddy was packing, the water started receding and I finally got a bite and a seabream. I decided to linger a bit more and rigged up my feeder with another clam.

Soon after I was alone on the bank, something grabbed the clam on the feeder and pulled the rod right into the water – I am not sure if it was a BIG mullet or a seabass, but the take was sudden, ferocious and I am almost glad I did not hook it as I would have had to swim for my rod. Still, now I am motivated to redo this session, even at night, but I need to wait for the high tide to fall at dusk.

After this I had a short boat session – and I still do not get boat fishing at all!!! First 2 casts, in the initial 5 minutes, I got a nice red seabream and a BIG stripped seabream. After this there was noting but small fry and mucharra for the next 4 hours.

Posted by Milko at 4:33 AM EST

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It is a very weird climate at the moment in Altura, and the water temperature at Praia da Alagoa is very low. Consequently, there is little to no fish in the surf, except at night when mucharra move in in untold numbers and is again ipossible to fish on account of them.

Last week Thursday and Friday, I attempted 2 sessions on high tide in the afternoon, just before dark. Result was disheartening. On Thursday I was there from 16:00 until 20:00. For the first 2,5 hours, while it was daytime, there was not so much as a nibble! When the Sun set, and just it became completely dark, I got a small spotted bass and missed another bite – one was on conquilha the other on white clam. However, when it got dark mucharra moved in and coupled with uncharacteristically low temperature of about 5 – 8 degrees Celsius, I decided it was better to have a medronho at home then freeze at the beach feeding the piranhas.

Next day I tried another session, only this time I started at 17:30 – intending to be there only at dusk. I had 2 very nice rod bending bites at the same time after sunset, but I did not get anything. Of course, as soon as mucharra started pestering me I left.

I believe I made a mistake of using short leaders and this is why I did not catch anything, the ocean was too calm for the short leader, but I was too lazy and unmotivated to change my rigs from the day before.

And yesterday I went down to the beach with my son – he wanted to try to throw the boomerang around for a bit and I took handful of white clam and one rod, just because I could😊😊😊… I had just enough time to cast 2 times before he got fed up with boomerang not coming back to him – but this was enough to catch a sargo. But this time I used a single hook long line leader of about 3m. Still, I will never know if this is the ticket or just a fluke as I have no intention of going back before next week when the temperature is supposed to go back to normal 20+ degrees…

Posted by Milko at 5:50 AM EST

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Yesterday morning I woke up quite early as I had a boat trip scheduled with a friend. However, as I woke up, I could clearly hear the ocean from my house, meaning the weaves were up and slamming against the beach. The problem was I did not go on a boat for more than 10 days, plus there was no wind to speak of; it was absolutely calm and the forecast said it will remain that way all day. So, we decided to give it a go. We went down to the Vila Real de Santo Antonio Marina, which is where my friend’s boat was anchored and boarded around 8:20. As we made our way down The Guadiana River, everything was perfect – beautiful Sunrise, smooth sailing, and high expectations. BUT, as we reached the estuary we had to slow down as the weaves were quite close to each other and the boat was rocking quite a bit. This should have been our clue to turn around, but nooooooooo – we hoped that it will be better when we exited the estuary so we pushed on to 15m deep in front of Monte Gordo. Weaves were quite high, but there was almost no current, and so it was fishable. Almost immediately, we caught a decent red seabream and a very nice cuttlefish, which is what made us only more determined to carry on. However, there were loads of traps and nets placed by the local professionals here and after getting stuck a few times we decided to go to 25m – bigger depth meant more work and the locals do not place nets and traps there unless they have a really big vessel and a strong electric motor to retrieve it.

To cut the long story short – fishing was very uneventful! We got a few more cuttlefish, and were pestered by small bream until 15:00 when we decided to pack it up. Lesson of the day – when you can hear the ocean and the weaves, hit the beach, forget the boat…

Given my recent beach experience with rough sea, I can not help but wander what did I miss !!! A rare day with big weaves and no wind…

Posted by Milko at 3:39 AM EST

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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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