Anyone got any idea on how to catch Xilep??

[fava]

hi guys...if possible i would like to know how Xilep could be caught?!??! 

don't know maybe spinners or whatever.....

could someone please help...

[MartinB]

You don't catch Xilep on spinners.They are a type of bream (cow bream) and they mostly eat underwater vegetation.you can easily catch them on farka or magun but the best bait for them is sellieh (a type of seaweed).

[ciappinu]

Xilep are quite hard to catch. If you're not a pro, I suggest you look at something different. They are caught as Martin said with Sellieh either very early in the morning or at sunset. I have personally experienced many times a shoal of xilep practically trying to climb on land to scrape sellieh (A green type of sea vegetation). Another way to catch xilep is with a small net which you use when they are trying to scrape sellieh from the shore line. This technique is very traditional and is mostly used in the Sliema and Qawra area.

[MartinB]

Well  as ciappinu said they are quite difficult to catch (or more like to land espicially the bigger ones) as they are very hard fighting fish and you can easily end up breaking a fishing pole with them if you dont know what youre doing...

[Granitu]

until you try, you can't tell. If you want to catch xilep easily, go to kemuna they bite like vopi

Or else wait for a good weather cause until you find a good weather for it it won't bite.
very cunning fish and getting smarter as time passes!!! Might catch it on bread but sellieh is better, depends.

Once one of them did bite on gambli which was particularly strange. i used to catch a lot from sant iermu area and they can grow!!! not quite edible though that's why i don't go for it often

[fava]

ohh verry thanks to ciappinu MartinB and Granitu... so the sellieh, you just put it in the hook... as normal?? couldn't find what cow bream (Xilep) eats on the net.
if someone maybe has a picture of sellieh... much appreciated.

so xilep are not good to eat.!?


by the way ciappinu... the net you mentioned...
what kind of next you were talking about?? the Cast net (terrieha)?

[MartinB]

I think thats the net ciappinu was mentioning but that really does take a big ammount of skill & patience to use effectively!!
I coudn't find a picture of sellieh but you can easily find it around the shore line especially in shallow water where it will be growing on rocks or submerged objects..
As regarding eating xilep some people do eat them however you need to clean their stomach cavity extremely well...personally i find them sour tasting & i don't really like them,but i know some people who say its one of the best fish & wouldn't eat anything else...However there may be a reason for this!! :- check out this article from a popular uk aquarium magazine
http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/item.php?news=911

[fava]

ohh thnks about that article martin, but eating xilep was surely not in my ideas!
cooking them for a dog may be an option.

will try later next month, i think it's better to have thin lines for xilep?

.20 would we good for a 30 cm xilpa? or lesS?

[MartinB]

If its a 30cm one your talking 1kg+ easy and when they grow to that size they fight hard! line size depends on where you are fishing i sometimes used .18 in some places or in clear conditions but where the big ones lurk i used to use .25
Its not that .20 can't cope with the weight its just the sheer power of these fish..if you catch a big one you will know what im talking about.
The best time for them is early morning especially exactly after a storm or rough sea when the water will still be murky.Groundbait well & fish pretty close to the bottom (with sellieh or even farka) you will know when you hook one cos they don't bob the float like mullet they just take it straight down (like a big sargu) and they bust up light wieght fishing poles like you wouldn't beleive! i actually posted a thread about xilep before

http://maltafishingforum.com/talk/index.php?topic=63.msg3186#msg3186

[The_Gaffer]

Those were the days, back in the eighties when I was still living in Xaghajra ta Zabbar, fishing for xilip.  As posted earlier, best time for the is early morning, especially after either high winds, or a storm.  You need to find a place where you can scrape the seaweed, this is used as ground bait.  The ideal spot, known in Maltese as (il-lokk) would be in turbulant waters with enough surf produced to hide the line.  The leader would be .18mm and main line .26mm.  As bait you use sellieha....the greener and longer the better.  You use a special technique to turn the sellieha around the hook and line.  Hook size is normally 8 or 9 tal qazba twila!.
They are great fighters, and what you normally do on hook up is that  you use the surf coming in to help you maneuver the fish onto the rocks.
Xilip have a reputation as not being that good to eat. 

[Granitu]

use braids else they will get away because they bite the line. make sure you use extra long hooks than normal and using sellieh there is a way how to tie it on the hook. else you won't figure it out!!!

[ciappinu]

I used to fish for xilep in Bugibba, just below the bocci club when I was about 10 years old. The smaller ones called "Gerwiel" are very easy to catch and I used to catch between 20 and 30 on a good day with bread and a stinky mash provided from an eighty year old fisherman who didnt fish anymore. The bigger ones where more difficult to catch and you had to find the perfect day for them. Since I was so young I wasn't able to tell that a day after a stormy day was good. A good day was just a good day since I went everyday!

[Granitu]

NICE ARTICLE, WE CAN SELL THEM NEAR THE DETOX CENTRE MELA THESE FISH LOL. i rekon once i caught a big xilpa from sant iermu and it was full of human hair and pieces of basal, wonder how this has a hallegoneicv tendency, with all that eats.

[fava]

just a small question... what are braids? (a kind of line i imagine) but what's the difference?

(i'm kwazi still new to fishing) lol


thanks all for the help

[skip]

Braid's or Spectra are part of what's known as superfilaments, basically very thin very strong line. You can use a very small diameter line but with high strength, letting you pack more on a reel etc. But Braids do not have stretch in them like mono so you have to bear that in mind.