Tenerife shore fishing species hunt

It had been two years since I had last fished the shores of Tenerife and not a lot has changed. Fished loads of spots with my youngest James on the lure and with a variety of seafood baits but primarily squid. Fished areas up the South East coast including Abades and Las Galletas as well as Palm Mar. On the lure we managed to tempt a few Trumpet fish and the ever present Lizard Fish mainly to the Black Minnow. I did have follows from escapee Bass but no takes. I find it absolutely amazing that the predatory fish are so limited near the shore on this volcanic island mid Atlantic even though we fished some really deep marks. On the float with Size 12 hook we landed many mini species including Canarian Damsel, Boga, Canarian Rockfish, Canarian Puffer and Ornate Wrasse. The tide had a noticeable impact on fishing with incoming tide always way more productive.

Trumpet Fish

Boga

Puffer

Canarian Rockfish

Biggest fish of the holiday on Black Minnow

Tenerife pumping surf for 10 days straight

Spent great 10 days in Tenerife surfing and fishing with family. After a long few months without surf apprehensively took on a great long period swell that was hitting the Las Americas peninsula. Surfed 7 out of 10 days and the days we missed the surf still pumped. Surfed primarily with middle son Henry who really started to gain confidence on some pretty decent days.  First session we went to our previous main stay of El Medio which is effectively the break on the outside of Spanish Left. It produces good lefts itself and a slower right. Unfortunately the place is crammed with all levels of surfers now and getting an unmolested wave is difficult.  It is easy though with paddling out either across flat rock or from the shit pipe that stretches out in front on McDonalds. Despite good waves it was tough to get a decent ride and the locals were getting heated as proficient soft boarders covered every wave.

As the week wore on and the swell jacked to overhead on some of the exposed spots we found La Fitenia was showing good form. This is the last point before the Los Christianos breakwater. It was smaller but wound off beautifully down a right hand point. For days we shared this wave with just a handful of friendly locals and tourists. Wind was gentle breeze to howling offshore and it was unseasonably warm with temps hitting 27C. The one downside was the parking which has now become an absolute nightmare on any weekday with no spaces even before sunrise. I have created a little map as I find all the spots here confusing here with multiple names.

La Fitenia showing some class rights

Summer surf in Tenerife - lesson is 'Early bird gets the worm' at Las Americas

During a couple of weeks in Tenerife I managed to get a handful of surfing sessions in with the largest day about shoulder high. Surfed mainly Piscinas off Las Americas as the swell had a fair bit of South in it. Piscinas is familiar to me as it breaks not unlike the Ledges at Kimmeridge with an easy takeoff and a winding left. It sometimes has two peaks combining to lengthen the ride. The right can suck up on the inside but tends to be fat on the outside. The only downside of the break is that it attracts surfers who ride longer boards and a half a dozen proficient long boarders on the peak can keep your wave count down.

Piscinas (or El Conquistador) on the best swell of the fortnight 

One day the swell came in more from the NW and Spanish Left started to work which is a few hundred meters N of of Piscinas. (Its worth noting La Derecha is classy right in between the two which is dominated by good locals). On that swell I did surf the slower right which peels off the other end of Spanish Left (not sure what the wave is called) which is the haunt of the local surf schools. I am amazed that the local shops take groups of inexperienced young beginners out here - not exactly the best conditions to learn in. They troupe them out on the shit pipe into the line up and coax them into powerful waves that offload onto the flattish rock (if your lucky, if not it might be lava lumps). I guess they see it as a local resource they need exploit at Las Americas but surely onshore El Medano would be better option where children and beginners can learn over sand. 

Funnily enough  the best swell of my visit must have sneaked through unseen as the session saw the smallest crowd.  On all days however by mid afternoon every break was pretty saturated with surfers fighting over ragged small peaks in the onshores. I could only conclude that the surf community here at this time of year thrives on social interaction with a certain amount of exhibitionism and few hangovers thrown in. This suits me as I will continue to get uncrowded better conditions at dawn.  Overall I was pleasantly surprised by the amount and quality of the surf in the height of summer when I thought it was going to be pretty flat.

Tenerife 2013 Sea Fishy tales...

Just come back from a few weeks in Tenerife with the family. Plenty of fishing off the breakwaters and rocks with lots of fish caught, most however wouldn't look out of place in your average saltwater aquarium. Light tackle order of the day with Size 12 hooks and reasonably small floats for sea fishing. I did try the fly occasionally but without success. I refined my technique to keep the bait in the water long enough for the bigger fish. This was to use a pinch of my trusty Ramer sponge capped with a squid tip. Bread would soon be removed without a positive take. At times I did groundbait with mashed bread, sweetcorn and tinned fish but I am not sure it increased the chances of hooking a bigger fish and merely turned your mark into a boiling mass of little rock dwellers. The lagoons held good numbers of Salema Porgy (a type of Bream), Vieja ( a type of Parrot Fish) and Mullet with odd European Sea Bass (farmed escapees sub 35cm) and small Cuda but getting a hook up was not easy. Mullet despite being the largest target were impossible to tempt, they seemed pre-occupied with grazing on the algae boulders. In between catching double figure numbers of Canarian Damsel Fish or Ornate Wrasse you might just have a scrap with a Porgy, European Sea Bass, Pompano or Vieja all on my bread substitute, which was nice on light tackle.

Ornate Wrasse

Lizard Fish

Canarian Damsel

No Guilthead Bream this time which was surprising as I did see the odd one snorkelling. Feathers or lures just produced the abundant Lizard Fish which although unusual never exceeded 30cm in length. Larger tides produced more fish in the lagoons particularly a few hours either side of high tide.  If you feel the need to take the odd fish for the table the Vieja is recommended despite its wrasse like appearance was delicious baked with butter, coriander and parsley. Rock fishing in exposed places was dangerous in any form of swell as even with my awareness of set waves I was caught out several times and found myself clinging limpet like to the lava  - sometimes I wonder why I push the boundaries so, it seems fishing does funny thinks to the logical mind. One other word of warning - Green Turtle were occasional visitors close inshore at this time of year which made for some spectacular snorkeling however if you know they are present best to move on when fishing.

Salema Porgy - the most abundant bream in the area.

Vieja - fish deep on the seaward side of inshore reefs
 and be prepared to make ground immediately.

Courting Flounders 

Grazing Mullet - if only they grazed on my bread fly!

Surfing Tenerife

Surfed about handful of times over past couple of weeks. Surf small but perfectly formed little reef break waves over the mile strip at Las Americas. I tended to surf early mornings as the crowds do not appear until mid morning and the wind is either non existent or light offshore. Some days I would surf  Piscinas (El Conquistador) and when the swell was bigger I headed to the break just out from Spanish Left. Piscinas is nice relatively mellow peak, having both a right and left, which is less busy. I often found myself surfing this break alone. Outside of Spanish Left  is a less competitive left with the odd right section over flat sandy rock. It is a nice left wave when there is a bit more swell but gets busy with locals and visiting surfers. There are other better waves here like La Derecha , a right that breaks across to Piscinas, and Spanish Left but the take off spots are confined and the locals are unlikely to do you any favours!

Piscinas right

Left outside Spanish Left

Piscinas

Sea fishing Tenerife style

Just spent last couple of weeks in Tenerife. Fished most days from the jetties or rocky beaches in south. Used different tactics including float fishing with a mash of bread and tinned fish, fly fishing and bubble float. Caught mixed bag of small fish including a few schoolie Bass from Palm Mar beach, Gilthead Bream (Dorado) and a number of Damsel fish on the fly no less from the beach at Caleta. The Bass I think were escapees from the fish farms just offshore as everyone who was catching caught them the same size. The locals bring the Bass in with pellets similar to carp fishing. Mine where caught on my bouncy ball rig or bubble float with a Clouser trailed behind. Loads of Mackerel jumping and coming in on the tide at Las Americas but just out of casting range. When I did hook one I lost my tackle on the lava reef. Frustrating but fun in the warm sunny weather. I think the island needs a catch and release policy as every fish I saw hooked, regardless of size, ended up in a bucket. Crazy numbers of Portuguese Man of War jellyfish getting washed up made for wary wading - I was amazed I never got stung or saw anyone suffering a sting.

Damsel on the bread fly!