HELP.. spent a lot of money but no fish yet!

[Blaze]

Wow Carmelo.. what a catch. Till now I've only caught 2 Blue Runners (sawrell tal imperjal).. thanks for raising my morale, will keep on trying..

But I have a feeling that I had better change my line to braid, and buy some smaller swivels. Cos barracudas have followed my lures about 50 times, but none have struck till now.

[Carmelo]

why do u use a swivel ?? ...i always attach the minnow directly on the mother line of the reel .....if the barracuda follow the minnow without attacking is probably because of two reasons... 1 the barracuda understood that is not a real fish or 2 because the minnow is travelling at  too low speed to induce the predator instinct in the barracuda ..... when i caught fish on spinning i was always spinning fast ...lot of people told me to slow down, but i always kept going fast ...regards the braided or not , ... the braided is surely better because it does not have any elasticity and u can have more contact of your bait,, but if u use a .30 of nylon or a .30 of braided ,,the only difference apart the elasticity is that the braided will have a breaking point maybe 2-3 times higher than the nylon and considering that a .30 of nylon can have a breaking point of about 7-8 kilos ,, i think it s a bit exagerated have have line that can take 15 kg....using a fluorocarbon would be better for your wallet and for the fishing as a sport where also the fish can have a chance to win over the angler..in any case if u use the braided be very carefully for your finger when u cast .....http://www.tackletour.com/images/picstrikeprojero1308.jpg in the image there is the minnow i use ..it about 13 cm and weight 20 grams ..
gd luck

[Lamacca]

Yes I did try fishing with live bait and what i hooked were all Serra , Barracudas just come and toy around with the baited fish whilst the Serra bites and goes with everything , Sadly they have very sharp teeth and since they gulp the whole fish out of 5 i only caught 1 the other 4 bit through the 60 size mono ot the 30 kg braid in a matter of seconds. The only one i got was because the hook lodged itself between its teeth.

[Blaze]

Hi Guys.. is it just me, or are there no Cudas, Cervjol & Sawrell around our shores? I enjoyed June and July a lot but these past few weeks have been so unproductive. Worse then that I have had almost no follow ups.

My method is spinning BTW.

[clutch_kick]

Blaze, fish move around, they do not stop and wait in one place.  They will swim generally stalking the shoals of bait fish which they hunt.  So you can expect that sometimes fish will go elsewhere to hunt. 

let me give you a few tips.

1... Fish light.  Rod, telescopic net, and a hoversac are all you need, so you can easily move around the coast line, don't hang around the same spot if you are not getting any follow ups.

2... Vary your lures. Poppers, WTD, Minnows, Skippers, and vary the colours, you never know what the fish are looking for.

3... Just enjoy the fresh air and your time by the sea. Sometimes we don't catch fish

[jean]

Have not been spinning in quite a while, but clutch_kick gave you the best advice possible. It seems like something strange is happening with the low rate of catches. Something I would attribute to the weather. Nonetheless, there is also the issue of lunar phases though not that well informed about them and the impact on fishing and spinning especially.

[Blaze]

Hi Jean, it could be those details you mentioned. I talked to an old experienced fisherman and he said it hasn't done a strong grigallata yet. Or it could be something more simpler. Like the sea is being swept clean with certain fishing methods.

I feel its us Homo sapiens to blame. And even some Homo erectus that come and fish right next to me, barely 10ft away sometimes when I spin.

I have seen ppl  bottom fishing, and catching 5 inch groupers and releasing them....  in their bucket!!!!

[jean]

Blaze I totally agree with you! The over-fishing and absence of ethics when it comes to prey selection is a true killer for our beloved hobby. That's definite! I keep thinking about weather and lunar phases and blame them as it kind of gives me some hope; when i think of over fishing I simply dont manage to get my lazy ass off my desk hehe. Use to love fishing in sliema and sometimes caught some nice. But when they started to close the port with nets it all went bust. Remember seeing 100s of cudas and used to enjoy seeing them fly out of the water catching their preys. Pity I didn't spin at the time 

Re grigalata I agree; a good friend also keen on fishing keeps repeating that endlessly. I also remain puzzled when I fish in tramuntana (north wind) – simply nothing. Not even a bite when using bait. Does this happen to you or are they just myths? 

[Blaze]

I cant say that the north wind is unproductive cos I don't note the wind direction when I catch fish. When I get home I note date, location, species, weight of fish and lure. But it will be a good idea if I start.

I am seeing resident cudas here and there but no cervjol and sawrell. Thats why I am completely baffled. It should be a good time of the year to see lots and lots of cervjol as far as I know.

[malvizzu]

I also remain puzzled when I fish in tramuntana (north wind) – simply nothing. Not even a bite when using bait. Does this happen to you or are they just myths?  

I totally agree with you Jean about the north wind. I have been experiencing this phenomenon for years when fishing from land in winter. I usually fish at St Paul's Bay with a hand pole and make some nice catches with a north-westerly wind. As soon as it goes to north, it's like someone turned off the switch. Not a bite, not a strike and the bait remains attached to the hook for a long time until it falls.

[jean]

Exactly like me malvizzu. One time i'm telling you, me and some friends had the menu better than a five star fish restaurant! Fresh squid, mussels (Fresh), hniex tal - pallela, imperjal, chkal, and also sardine! Was were fishing a spot were we made some nice catches in the past. Some rods were far out with single hook rigs (beads and swivels to make it more attractive in current) other rods closer inside with a simlar setup but laying the bait on the sandy bottom. And nothing! I should have just cooked the bloody squid and boiled the mussels lol! not one single bite or hit! 

[rammx]

fishing is really strange at times.... I remember very good fishing days with wind coming from north ..but also remember days that the bait remain untouched (unfortunately  also happened  with other wind directions as well     )

can't understand fishing even regarding bait,,,I also tend to try different types of bait during the night using different kinds of worm (which cost loads of €) only to have catches only on the simple shrimp I we usually use for bogue

but that's why I like fishing so much...there's always a surprise

[robby017]

my personal best sargi fishing came about when the wind was blowing a steady north wind...... Coincidence perhaps.......... also caught my biggest that night, 1kg 200g+ and another one of 900g+


http://maltafishingforum.com/talk/index.php?action-gallery;sa=view;id=2716

[caldaland]

"When the winds from the south, it blows the lure into their mouth.
When the wind is from the west, the bite is the best.
When the wind is from the north, don't go forth,
and when the wind is from the east, they bite the least."

[malvizzu]

Good one!!!