Flipper
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2020
- Messages
- 287
- Reaction score
- 1,324
- Points
- 93
- Location
- Devon
- Favourite Fishing
- Shore
First day was a travel nightmare so didn’t fish.
Second day was a chill out around the pool with the family and a late afternoon foray along the rocks around Sardina looking for somewhere free of anglers and out of the strong NE trade wind. Lots of locals fishing, but, at our 5th spot we found somewhere, not an ideal spot but ideal place to scratch out some species on the LRF. The trek down was a little treacherous across the slippery volcanic rock and then some mountain goat descent down to the coast. Tucked out of the wind it was truly wonderful fishing in shorts and T-shirts with light gear and loads of bites. We caught on drop shot isome, small 10g jigs, but, nothing on the bigger jigs or hard lures. We ended up with 6 species made up of Ornate Wrasse, Canary Damsel, Madeiran Rockfish, Diamond Lizard fish, and some type of Comber and Goby. The access is tough, fishing challenging, however, there aren’t too many places as pretty to fish as the north west coast of Gran Canaria at sunset
Third day we went out in darkness to get some dawn action, more dodgy mountain goat activity in the gloom made for an interesting climb down. To be fair the climb down was the highlight for me
Absolute nightmare for me, went big and tried to get a live bait to target a bonito or barracuda and fell at the first hurdle, no livebait
I only caught one ornate wrasse - anyone had any success using them as livebait? - on my float gear. The boys tried the bigger lures but the reef was particularly hungry where we were fishing. So a change of tactics resulted in some lrf fun using isome and jigs, they had more Ornate Wrasse, unknown gobies, couple of groupers and an Atlantic Lizardfish. Lovely looking mark and popular with the locals just got to figure out how to get the best out of it. Later in the day a wander down to the beach provided us with with an opportunity to LRF, the boys again showed the way with another couple of new species a macronesian sharpnosed puffer on a jig and a white striped bream on a cheb baited with isome. Plus the usual suspects of ornate wrasse and a shed load of lost gear in a boulder field. So a mixed day for us, but, up to 11 species, so a promising start
Day four and weather was again blowy, so found a high tide mark to hit with 3 different tactics, float, groundbait and bait, dropshotting and larger lures/jigs. It was slow, some lizard fish and ornates, but, nothing exciting. We had two decent bites on the dropshot, but, both fish after a decent fight bent the hooks and escaped, so guess it was decent parrotfish. I had been groundbaiting all afternoon with floating bread to try and tempt a saddled bream, after 3 hours and a lot of bread, they finally turned up just before dusk, 30 mins of nervous sight fishing and 3 missed bites, left me ruing missed opportunities and a blank. So no new species, not great fishing, lost good fish and a missed opportunity to meet an old fish friend, however, it just fires me up to revise my tactics and get back out there to catch the saddled bream.
The fishing has been so slow - apart from the pest species - it isn’t even worth breaking it down. Yet again the boys dedication was greater than mine, so they ended up getting amongst the parrotfish and what we believe to be a dusky grouper. However, for the most part our 2-3 hour sessions resulted in nothing on my bigger lure setup and copious amounts of ornates and damsels on the lrf or bait setups.
Given some unusual strong winds from the west meaning some dangerous swells at most marks we resorted to the pool and day tripping for 3 days. After some pretty hard rain showers, the wind swung back to the usual NE, so we headed straight down to a mark I had an inkling about. We were treated to the sight of predators attacking shoals of sardines about 150-200 yards offshore, so sadly out of range, but, spectacular to watch. I switched to my favourite little white and chartreuse Fishus 32g deep diver and managed to winkle out a 2lb Barracuda which took the lure very close in amongst the rocks surrounding the mark. My eldest hit a rich seam of Madeiran Rockfish, but, ended up with a highlight of a little octopus which was cool to see.
Last full day and we hit one of our favourite marks early, it is a slog to reach and a bit cramped, but, we had a good feeling as we arrived bang on high tide. Soon got the groundbait mixed up and going in, with a 6m travel whip, a float, a lure rod, an LRF and a Samson Travel rod rigged with a Bluemeni livebait float rig, we felt we had the bases covered. Again we saw evidence of predators harassing sardines, but, lure fishing was a slog. The groundbait had the fish move in and soon we had a sardine to be used as a livebait. Lobbed out and line paid out periodically, I got very excited as my livebait started getting nervous and at one stage left the water like a trident missile! Sure enough it got engulfed and the fight was on, all too soon an angry barracuda was landed and released. My youngest was desperate to have a go so we caught another sardine and lobbed it out, unbelievably within 5 mins the livebait again went nuts and we anticipated another predator, sadly we didn’t get a hook up, the sardine came back in with some vicious looking cuts along its flanks which suggested another barra to us. The longer range saddled bream and derbio float tactics failed due to the conditions, so we focused on the whip and lrf to boost the species count and a lot of fun was had.
All in all a thoroughly enjoyable holiday, fishing benefitted from taking the lrf gear. Discovered lots more interesting marks to fish in the NW of Gran Canaria. Disappointingly the saddled bream and derbio fishing didn’t really fire as it did last year. The Samson lightest travel rod was given a second holiday outing, but, now very unlikely to convince me long term that it is for me, too long for my style of lures and yet too light for general bottom fishing. My thanks for the support I received prior to my trip, you are all very kind and know who you are
If you are fit and active, happy to scramble around off the beaten track and keen to avoid a mass tourist destination, I can thoroughly recommend NW Gran Canaria.
Anyway as usual any help clarifying my dodgy fish id skills would as ever be gratefully received;
Second day was a chill out around the pool with the family and a late afternoon foray along the rocks around Sardina looking for somewhere free of anglers and out of the strong NE trade wind. Lots of locals fishing, but, at our 5th spot we found somewhere, not an ideal spot but ideal place to scratch out some species on the LRF. The trek down was a little treacherous across the slippery volcanic rock and then some mountain goat descent down to the coast. Tucked out of the wind it was truly wonderful fishing in shorts and T-shirts with light gear and loads of bites. We caught on drop shot isome, small 10g jigs, but, nothing on the bigger jigs or hard lures. We ended up with 6 species made up of Ornate Wrasse, Canary Damsel, Madeiran Rockfish, Diamond Lizard fish, and some type of Comber and Goby. The access is tough, fishing challenging, however, there aren’t too many places as pretty to fish as the north west coast of Gran Canaria at sunset
Third day we went out in darkness to get some dawn action, more dodgy mountain goat activity in the gloom made for an interesting climb down. To be fair the climb down was the highlight for me
Absolute nightmare for me, went big and tried to get a live bait to target a bonito or barracuda and fell at the first hurdle, no livebait I only caught one ornate wrasse - anyone had any success using them as livebait? - on my float gear. The boys tried the bigger lures but the reef was particularly hungry where we were fishing. So a change of tactics resulted in some lrf fun using isome and jigs, they had more Ornate Wrasse, unknown gobies, couple of groupers and an Atlantic Lizardfish. Lovely looking mark and popular with the locals just got to figure out how to get the best out of it. Later in the day a wander down to the beach provided us with with an opportunity to LRF, the boys again showed the way with another couple of new species a macronesian sharpnosed puffer on a jig and a white striped bream on a cheb baited with isome. Plus the usual suspects of ornate wrasse and a shed load of lost gear in a boulder field. So a mixed day for us, but, up to 11 species, so a promising startDay four and weather was again blowy, so found a high tide mark to hit with 3 different tactics, float, groundbait and bait, dropshotting and larger lures/jigs. It was slow, some lizard fish and ornates, but, nothing exciting. We had two decent bites on the dropshot, but, both fish after a decent fight bent the hooks and escaped, so guess it was decent parrotfish. I had been groundbaiting all afternoon with floating bread to try and tempt a saddled bream, after 3 hours and a lot of bread, they finally turned up just before dusk, 30 mins of nervous sight fishing and 3 missed bites, left me ruing missed opportunities and a blank. So no new species, not great fishing, lost good fish and a missed opportunity to meet an old fish friend, however, it just fires me up to revise my tactics and get back out there to catch the saddled bream.
The fishing has been so slow - apart from the pest species - it isn’t even worth breaking it down. Yet again the boys dedication was greater than mine, so they ended up getting amongst the parrotfish and what we believe to be a dusky grouper. However, for the most part our 2-3 hour sessions resulted in nothing on my bigger lure setup and copious amounts of ornates and damsels on the lrf or bait setups.
Given some unusual strong winds from the west meaning some dangerous swells at most marks we resorted to the pool and day tripping for 3 days. After some pretty hard rain showers, the wind swung back to the usual NE, so we headed straight down to a mark I had an inkling about. We were treated to the sight of predators attacking shoals of sardines about 150-200 yards offshore, so sadly out of range, but, spectacular to watch. I switched to my favourite little white and chartreuse Fishus 32g deep diver and managed to winkle out a 2lb Barracuda which took the lure very close in amongst the rocks surrounding the mark. My eldest hit a rich seam of Madeiran Rockfish, but, ended up with a highlight of a little octopus which was cool to see.
Last full day and we hit one of our favourite marks early, it is a slog to reach and a bit cramped, but, we had a good feeling as we arrived bang on high tide. Soon got the groundbait mixed up and going in, with a 6m travel whip, a float, a lure rod, an LRF and a Samson Travel rod rigged with a Bluemeni livebait float rig, we felt we had the bases covered. Again we saw evidence of predators harassing sardines, but, lure fishing was a slog. The groundbait had the fish move in and soon we had a sardine to be used as a livebait. Lobbed out and line paid out periodically, I got very excited as my livebait started getting nervous and at one stage left the water like a trident missile! Sure enough it got engulfed and the fight was on, all too soon an angry barracuda was landed and released. My youngest was desperate to have a go so we caught another sardine and lobbed it out, unbelievably within 5 mins the livebait again went nuts and we anticipated another predator, sadly we didn’t get a hook up, the sardine came back in with some vicious looking cuts along its flanks which suggested another barra to us. The longer range saddled bream and derbio float tactics failed due to the conditions, so we focused on the whip and lrf to boost the species count and a lot of fun was had.
All in all a thoroughly enjoyable holiday, fishing benefitted from taking the lrf gear. Discovered lots more interesting marks to fish in the NW of Gran Canaria. Disappointingly the saddled bream and derbio fishing didn’t really fire as it did last year. The Samson lightest travel rod was given a second holiday outing, but, now very unlikely to convince me long term that it is for me, too long for my style of lures and yet too light for general bottom fishing. My thanks for the support I received prior to my trip, you are all very kind and know who you are
If you are fit and active, happy to scramble around off the beaten track and keen to avoid a mass tourist destination, I can thoroughly recommend NW Gran Canaria.
Anyway as usual any help clarifying my dodgy fish id skills would as ever be gratefully received;
- Ornate Wrasse
- Canary Damsels
- Madeirian Rockfish
- Diamond Lizardfish
- Comber
- Madeira Goby
- Island Grouper
- Hairy Blenny
- Atlantic Lizardfish
- Macronesian Sharpnosed Puffer
- White Striped Bream
- Parrotfish
- Dusky Grouper
- Guinean puffer
- White trevally
- Sardine
- Bogue
- Saupe
- Barracuda
- Rockpool Blenny
- Octopus
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