Free dive for blue mussels

There are sites in the Algarve that appears to be unknown to mankind. I say this based on the existing  fauna and flora.  Long gone are the days when I dive after mussels. Usually I catch them on the waterline with low tide.

It was not the case this weekend.

I went to visit an old place for seafood picking, that i haven't visit for decades. About  4 ~ 6 meters deep, there are mussels of 10-12 cms.

So it was. To my surprise, it still is.

 It's a tiresome technique/harvest because each dive you only pick 3 or 4 mussels and you'll get hands full so you'll return to the basket to leak your hands.

With the bottom filled with mussels, is hard to believe that such places have escaped the human greed. The best is not to say where it is because it appears to be an unknown place to the humanity. That place could become a desert overnight.

The important thing to who harvest here, is to take only what you need and leave the rest for the next picking.

Here is a small film released on YouTube with images of these mussel forests.

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Marlins World Records recocnized by IGFA

IGFA (International Game Fish Association) recognized World Records

While there have been bigger marlin landed commercially and by recreational anglers not in accordance with IGFA rules, pictured below are the leading big fish, officially speaking.

Special thanks to the IGFA @ (www.igfa.org) and Marlin Magazine @ (www.marlinmag.com).

Atlantic Blue Marlin

Weight: 1,402 pounds, 2 ounces ( 636 Kg )

Angler: Paulo Amorim

Location: Vitoria, Brazil

Date: Feb. 29, 1992

Notes: 162-inch (4,11mt) fish ate a pink-and-white Mold Craft Super Chugger and is the most recent record-breaker on IGFA list. (Big photo is a replica mount)

Black Marlin

Weight: 1,560 pounds ( 707,6 Kg )

Angler: Alfred Glassell Jr.

Location: Cabo Blanco, Peru

Date: Aug. 4, 1953

Notes: 1 hour and 45 minute fight. The 174-inch (4,42mt) fish fell for a mackerel trolled in the once-legendary Black Marlin Boulevard off Cabo Blanco.

Pacific Blue Marlin

Weight: 1,376 pounds ( 624,14 Kg )

Angler: Jay de Beaubien

Location: Kaaiwai Point, Kona, Hawai

Date: May 31, 1982

Notes: This blue Marlin took a Kita lure and succumbed in less than one hour. Jay de Beaubien caught this 193-inch (4,90mt.) fish using a Fin-Nor 12/0.

Striped Marlin

Weight: 494 pounds ( 224,07 Kg )

Angler: Bill Boniface

Location: Tutukaka, New Zealand

Date: January 16, 1986

Notes: Boniface, a New Zealand native, fed this once-in-a-lifetime fish a kahawai.

White Marlin

Weight: 181 pounds, 14 ounces ( 82,5 Kg )

Angler: Evandro Coser

Location: Vitoria, Brazil

Date: Dec. 8, 1979

Notes: Coser (of Brazil) trolled dead bait to land this 107.5-inch (2,73mt.) fish.

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Cuttlefish fishing from shore with rod

In most places of the world known by me, there are cuttlefish all year round, but from the beginning of Spring till the end of Summer, they start moving to coastal shallow waters such as estuaries, bays or shallow sandy coves for mating and subsequent spawning. This time frame is set and limited by the equinox of Spring and Fall astronomical event.

Cuttlefish can be caught all year with an offshore technique, usually done by boat and somehow, different from the one we are going to write about in this post.
Please no not confuse both cuttlefish fishing techniques.

The lure used, does not have hooks with the traditional barbs, they are curved spikes, just like squid lures, and the lack of barbs detail force us to keep the line tense all the time while you retrieve the cuttlefish.
The lure looks like a shrimp and have a small lead weight. It is very similar to the 100% floating lures used on the cuttlefish offshore technique that represents a fish.

In the side picture, only the bottom right lure is the one used for shore fishing of cuttlefish. All others are used for cuttlefish offshore technique.

This type of lures or jigs, in Portugal are called by "clowns".

We'll need a good spinning rod with a very low action, because we are talking about a lure that might weigh ~ 6 grams. The reeling/jig is one the the most important detail. If we reel in to fast, the lure will rise to much from the bottom. It's a slow reeling because cuttlefish never rises more then 1 metres from the ground.
Cuttlefish approaches their prey swimming front way to it. It is a slow swimming. Cuttlefish and squid are powerful swimmers backwards when they use their water jet propulsion system, therefore a slow reeling or jig is important to allow the cuttlefish to approach the shrimp lure.

And there you go. All the details to be successful fishing for cuttlefish.

In the beginning of September, cuttlefish slowly start moving to deeper waters turning this fishing technique a pure waste of time.

Eggs are laid in shallows because the sea surf will oxygenate them, but there is a down side. The sea waves very often release cuttlefish eggs from the small boulders or underwater debris where there are laid and attached. Everybody already have found a cluster of this eggs on the beach waterline. After spraw, their are transparent and a week or two later they became caviar black. Next time you find a cluster of eggs, please trow them back in the water. You will never know but you might save 2 or 3 cuttlefish.

Finally, a film to allow you to realize how the lure should jig to allow Clown cuttlefish to catch it.

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A failed fishing weekend

Yes it's true. I had a failed fishing weekend. By weekend, i mean 2 days of failure, but, this Blog is named "Ocean Bounty" for a reason.

Saturday morning, me and my sister decided to give our kids a camping weekend on Murração beach, a remote beach just 40 Km away from home in the west coast of Algarve.

The plan suited me and "Helder", my brother in law, because we could go fishing while the kids have their fun in the beach and the women would be on watch. Suitable plan for the men but not so funny for the women. They made sure we were aware of their feeling.

Since the cars were packed with all the camping gear, both of us had to chose only one fishing rod to take. No need to say which rod Helder took since he is the bream fanatic, and my self, the spinning rod, because on the left side of Murração beach the low tide creates some water inlets ideal for sea bass.  If I do not catch a fish, Helder would and vice versa.

That afternoon, Helder tried his fishing luck in the rocks in the right side of the beach.
Nothing happen. In the evening, at dusk and low tide, I thought to give a try but we started assembling the 3 tents and the kids asking for dinner that i canceled my evening fishery.

Fire was set and the meat was on the grill to feed 5 hungry kids. Good mood all around after the first steaks.

At dawn, with low tide, i thought my chance of getting a seabass was now or never, while Helder mention "Don't know if i'm going fishing or not !!!". I let him with his dilemma, i just could not lose the timing that morning.


The best excuse for my failure was that there was to much seaweeds in the water getting stuck in my lure all the time. My ego was getting damaged but could not get back to camp without a fish. Sad decision, never got a fish.

When arriving defeated to camp, 2 couples of friends with their camper trucks were there for a Sunday Pic-nic and Helder with a full bag of Mussels, goose barnacles and some sea snails while our friends had a bag of big limpets that they caught the day before, Saturday, in a neighbor beach.
And me !!! with empty hands.

I admit, was not much of an help, the sea food was cooked and eaten and i did not do i thing. For some reason I'm the King.

The mussels, the goose barnacles and the sea snails are cooked very easily on the fire. Just a 1 or 2 minutes on the fire and thats it, still with sea water flavor.

The limpets are different. They go in the pan with some garlic, coriander and a dash of good olive oil and lemon. It only takes a few minutes to get ready.

We all eat a lot of extremely fresh seafood and i've behaved like a Lord. Beer, red wine, good tidbit of this and that, the company of loved ones and friends with good stories to share, is all a man can ask.
There was no need to cook the meat we took along for lunch, it came back to town for a home Sunday dinner.

What was a forgettable fishing day became a memorable friends reunion day, all thanks to the "Ocean Bounty".

The kids slept like angels that night.... who am i fooling. Everybody slept like stones.

The sea provides and humans just harvest the bounty.

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How to Shark fishing in Algarve

I'm sure that everyone already heard of shark fishing in Algarve. It is a "must do" when you're in holidays in this far away edge of Europe.
Why is it so popular!!?? you may ask. The chances of success are huge. For a long time, sharks are released after be caught maintaining their population levels. Some fishing boats are mandatory to tag some species of sharks such as the Mako shark for scientific research about their migratory paths.
The motive of this post is not to explain shark behavior, but to show you how we must successfully fish for it.

With the boat drifting, no need to go farder then the 5 miles off shore (nautical mile is 1.852 meters).
The chum. Usually we use sardines chopped in medium size pieces, just enough to drop tiny pieces through the net bag. Not pieces that allow any fish to eat, we just want them to get excited. Otherwise they eat the chum and not the bait. Set the chum net/bag hanging from the boat just at water level. With the boat slopes, the chum is all the time banging against the surface of the water and never stop breaking it self and releasing oil/fat.

If there is more then a couple of fishing lines, all of them might get tangled, so it's important to have the boat side drifting. Any skipper knows how to do that. There is a method in the madness.

Shark will eat what ever is available, which doesn't mean you can use hamburguer as bait. A chunk of mackerel is fine but we mostly use squid. It is harder meat and if the shark just nibble the bait, will not rip it off the hook leaving an empty hook. Shark do not do suction to pull the food into their mouth, they needs to bite the bait and if he likes the taste of the squid from the first bite, will turn around for the rest of the bait with full open mouth. Make sure the squid head is locked in the hook leaving just the tentacles hanging, else, the shark will take the head which is attached with the squid guts and you'll have just a empty hook or a non appealing squid body in the hook.

I should have to mention that the line terminal should be of steel with a length between 1,5 to 2 meters, and then a swivel to attach the terminal to the main line.
Drop your hook between 10 and 20 meters and set your balloon in line. You will not need any weight in the line. The steel terminal and the hook are enough.

Follow the drawing to spread the lines in the water and wait for them to bite.

Must comun are the blue shark, followed by the mako. Mako is an excellent trophy due to the way and stamina of his fight.

Also hammerheads and threshers can be caught.
Thresher are a once a year deal and i've only have seen in this waters, what i call small tresher. A small thresher is up to a 1 meter long body (tail are the same size of the body) but they can grow up to 2 meters body.
The thresher is a marlin shark. It jumps out of the water setting a show for the fisherman. Sometimes you can see them jump just for fun.

There are a lot of details that could be exposed in this article about shark fishing in the Algarve, so I'm happy to help you with any doubt.

An important detail: Some days, with clear water, when you look down to the endless of the ocean, I mean in ocean waters trying to have a glimpse of the bottom of the sea, you'll get a black blue color feeling instead of the usual dark blue. If this black blue feeling comes with what we call, a cucumber freshness smell.... Forget shark fishing that day.

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That's what I call big game fishing.

HUPPSSS!!!

Did I said "big game fishing". Sorry I meant "big game feeding"

I'm sorry but I cannot avoid sharing this video with you.
They estimate the weight of that beast over ~450 kg (~1000 pounds).
I agree.

Can you imagine the size of the shark that made that Marlin his lunch????

There are a few more videos on Youtube, of Marlins be eaten in the end of the line, but this one sets the record.
And they say "megalodon is extinct", tell that to the Marlin.

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Saturday night fishing with "Wild line"

First of all, let me apologize for the fact that my trophy room to be my kitchen. I went fishing alone and there was nobody to hold the camera.

Yes that's true, it was last saturday, 28 of June, with no plans. Checked the tide table and ..... "wild line fishing" on the spot...
Grab 5 fat smelly frozen sardines, lantern, pliers, knife, hooks, line and a bottle of water. Small fishing kit for conger and moray eel.

Jumped into my 4 wheels, named by my kid as "Buble Bee" just like the transformers, because it is a car, it is all terrain and it's a small monster truck...kids !!! 5 minutes drive and I'm at the beach with a little of sun light, just enough to set my rigs.

Were 2,5 hours well spend that allow me to bring home 2 conger eels. 1 with ~4 kg and a second with ~2,5 Kg.
Lost a couple of hooks and a fish that i can only suspect to be a huge conger or a moray eel.

A medium sized moray, let say 1 to 1,5 Kg, can do so much strength in the end of the line that some time you believe that the hook have been caught in the rocks.
This time was a fish and not the hook stuck in the rock, because at some time I've felt a tremble in the end of the line
After pulling the line to the breaking point, some morays, not this one, come out of the hole. Moray can and will do a knot with their body and they are the fish that i know, with the most stamina and a huge strength in size relation.

There is also the possibility of an 10Kg, or over conger eel. I know they are in the beach, I've spear-fished those big fellows but a big size conger of 10Kg just can not be pulled out of the hole with line. Or you're lucky and pull him before settles in the rocks or it is going to stay with a hook in his mouth for some weeks.

The biggest conger eel i've pull out of the rocks with "wild line", was a 8 Kg buster, some time ago with my pal Pedro, now making life in L.A. with his big family.

A good thing about this fishing is that you are going to do a lot of strength with your legs, jumping from boulder to boulder, rock to rock and even a 2,5 hours fishing will guarantee an excellent night sleep.

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