Hi all , im new here . I have just got a new boat and would like tohave a try at Alungi fishing this year. So here are a few questions some of you might be so kind as to help me out with;
1. first of all what is the the Alunga in English ?!
2. What type of lures do you use?
3. What speed to trawl ?
4. how far out of the boat do you throw out the line?
5 . when does the season start exactly?
6. any other tips
Please excuse me but im a complete beginner in this area :(
Hi Ciantar & welcome to the forum. If I were you I would first run a search on the forum as there is a wealth of information in older posts but I'll try to give you the information you require.
1. Albacore
2. Some people use hard lures like Yo-zuri or Rapala, others use soft lures
3. 7-8 knots
4. approx 25 meters
5. Depends on sea temperature but should be started by mid June
6. Try going through older posts :)
Ciantar: first of all good luck and have fun. Most important after catching the fish is how to take care of it, as it can make the difference between good eating and YUKK, also I would research how to cut and how to cook.....These can all be found in the forum posts.
Hi Cianter, welcome to the forum. Alongi trolling has nearly become a national passtime. For a comprehensive and complete info package on Albacore (Alongi) I would do as benri suggested and do a complete sweep of the forum.., You'll find lots and lots of useful tips on tackle, trolling speed (e.g I like to use 6.8 - 7 knts in very calm conditions, and 6 - 6.2 in choppy conditions) and 1,001 other tips and ideas here. Good luck, and tight lines.
1,001 tips however tip No. 1,002 is missing and its the tip that would make a difference:)
@ Toxic Tuna - I recomend to stick to the 0.001 stated by the gaffer as that pointed decimal is the flavour of all the ingredients :)).....I know exactly of whats the gaffer is refering too ....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz :)) - lets rock the high seas....
Thanks Guys
I still getting used to the site ... how do you find old posts ?
???
write keyword/s of what you want to know bout in the search window and then hit the search button and BINGO u get lots of posts with that key word then go tru them...............
Went for a full day trolling for alungi yesterday but didn't manage to catch one. anyone had any luck yet? i know there was another boat (for some reason trolling all around us in circles and giving us looks qisna ha nihdulom xi haga) who got one, but not us unfortunately.
Has anyone been out for alongi? I intend starting off the season next weekend weather permitting.
Benri,
Alungi are being caught and quite a lot from what im hearing. Freediver bhal size are they nice jew?
My boat still in garage this year unfortunatly. Early season this year, kollox bil kontra :(
Steve
today we hooked just 2, one 10kg and one of 6kg, in 6hrs of fishing , fiakka ftid kinet but ahiar mi xejn uwx
I'll be out 1st time for Alongi on Friday, weather reports are not that favourable, but we'll see. Saturday also looks promising
myself planning a saturday session
@ gaffer, from windfinder weather looks very promising
Wind should not exceed 10 kts...however i would say that nearly every day during the hot hours of the summer months wind speeds exceed 10 kts. This is due to the land breeze that is generated as a result of the temperature difference between land and sea (ziffa ta' l-art)
Have been out today for our first alalungi trip. Trolled the second ridge and further out from 06:00 to 12:00 and not a single bite and this is not at all normal !!!! >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(
Have you registerd some catches today or this week ?
we are bored of seeing boats in the photo gallery.... show use some big eyed alungi...
Was out yesterday, got 4 hookups, and we managed to gaff 2. I trolled the 2nd ridge just in front of filfla.
Was out yesterday in quite a swell. We only managed to land one 10kg alonga! What was strange is that I had four hits without a hoop up which was something I never use to face before! I only know the reason of one of these which was the first one and I felt like slapping myself! I left the hook cover on :(
Yes, it was very strange. I lost a lure because the line broke quite near the rod. I suspect the drag on the Solterra reel wasn't letting out line in a consistant way, more like jerks. Second alonga that got away ws on one of the outrigger rods, it strike broke the rubber band, but the hook failed to set in!
looks like u guys had some Pastardell or swordfish teasing ur lures.........unlucky u didnt hook it up.....Alungi dont have a lot of bones structure in mouth so usually the hook sets in quick
Yes shanook is right.
If lures are of the hard type pastardella and swordfish are more difficult to hook up.
Gogo
I got one hook up and one miss myself till noon . not too much...
Did some trolling for Albacore yesterday, caught one around 10am, switched to do some bottom fishing shortly afterwards.
hi there,
I went early in the morning but had to turn back after 6miles as the sea was in a rage out there. we tried to put the leures out but the sea was too rough to stay out there. we were near land by 7:30
How far out are they catching them ?
between the 1st and 2ridge. Bil-malti alongi qed jinqabdu bejn l-ewwel u tieni xifer
Yes, today the sea was rather rough early in the morning. However by 9.00 all the swell flattened and the wind faded to a breeze.
I got two nice 10 kilos alungi early in the morning before 7.00. Then nothing. I was only about 10 miles out off benghisa.
Very poor catches so far. Hope something turns up by end of June.
Gogo
ha nergaw nippruvaw al alungi din is sena wara li pruvajna darba xi 2yrs ilu, il barra min filfla qalu li qed jaqbdu? l ewwel u it tieni xiefer fej qedin pls? forsi andkom xi heading?
mhux heading trid imma chart plotter Jew mappa. inkella imxi wara xi daghjsa tila u nizla wara filfa parallel max xatt
le nahseb heading ax ezempju tejd min filfla heading north al xi 3mls ezempju.......le ahna hemm kelna hsieb immoru ta lej filfla issa naraw nhar il hamis x jigri
L ahjar haga hu li jkollok chart plotter habib.
Xihadd qieghed jaqbad xi haga min quddiem ghawdex max xifer ???
le jien andi chart plotter mux problema u anka fish finder imma ma ridx nkun pastaz hafna u nsaqsi al posizjoni ezatta!!! allek saqsejt al heading biss :P
l-ahjar li taghmel tohrog lejn wara filfla u fejn tara xebgha dghajjes ghaddejjin b'xi 7 knots igbed! Tintefax maghhom ezatt e ovja hadd ma jiehu gost bin nies mat-toqba t'ghajnu. Itfa il-lure u hope for the best. fejn taqbad ghamel marka u erga pprova.
thanks guys issa naraw......qabel nitlaq inbattal il freezer ax be hsibni nimlija!!!!! ;D
Daniel
malliadan - ohrog bearing 190 u kif tasal ftit qabel l-ewwel xifer itfa lure/s. Ibqa tiela sat-tieni xifer, u ibqa tiela mieghu...il-fond jimxi minn 200mtr fl-ewwel xifer ghal 385mtrs kif taqbad it-tieni xifer
hu cans hawn man
N35 44.559 E14 21.651
if the boats are out you will see them going up and down
that bearing is practically in the middle
tight lines
mela dalodu morna ma nafx mal liema xifer konna nahseb mal ewwel...kif taqbes lil filfla ijad xi 200m u jinzel xi 300m f daqqa...qbaddna 1 ta approx 7kg (tajjeb nahseb al l ewwel darba) imma umbad beda jitqawwa naqa l bahar u thalna l gewwa.....dajjes wahda biss rajna u kinet il bod......
thanks tal bearing nipruvaw nxt time
Hi everyone,
If you go next to filfla just be on the look out as I heard there is a fin running around in that area. keep a look out just in case you catch a tuna or something so you dont get a fright if you spot him.
digger0579
Why dont we add a like button to the forum lol ???
thanks digger, good to know... i'll have to rig everything again with thicker mono ;D
I don't know if he's big enough to fit in you'r boat ;D ;D ;D. Just keep a watch out cause it's not a nice encounter hux .
Its always the same probblem :( fish storage space is always limiting :P
jokes apart...always wished to see a shark but never managed to
I managed to see three but one of them I think was a great white. we were 15 miles of Ghar Hassan and he was chassing Alungi, cause when we spotted him, after a few seconds we saw them Jumping infront of our boat. He came up between my boat and my friends and was lucky that he passed under my boat and he was a big one, but not huge as we see on TV.My boat was 14 ft so I guest he was 15 to 16 ft not the 20 foot we see on the discovery channel ;D.
It scared me to hell when I saw him but he wasn't interested in my boat ...... Thanks good :o
Quote from: digger0579 on June 22, 2012, 10:31:35 CET
"My boat was 14 ft so I guest ......."
from your statement shall we deduct that now after this encounter your boat is smaller ??? :)
No
this was Last year. I have a Petecraft 17 sport
No Fisheye,
I used to have a 14ft open boat but I changed it in November to a 17 sport from Petecraft.
:P
;D I was just joking my friend. You have a pretty nice boat, the sport fisher are amongst the best local build boats
Any body going to be out tomorrow fishing for Alungi??....jien ghadni intela u inizzel, ???not sure about the weather!
We (Skip and myself) are going out.
Hi everyone,
anybody caught one today, I was there but didn't get a bite. I saw some boats but didn't see any one stop or catch one. I think I saw you gaffer, you passed in front of me. did you get any bite?
digger0579
Was with The Gaffer and we landed 7 , but got 10 strikes. Best of the bunch was a triple hook up where we managed to land them all. I had my GoPro vid cam running till it ran out of batt a bit too quickly for my liking, but also had an HD vid cam taking footage. Photo`s are nice but video`s help you re-live the moment. Will work on getting an edit uploaded of today's fun
The bite was there but not that hot and no surface activity whatsoever!
Tomorrow its family duty so wont be near the sea, but for those of you going out....have fun :)
Digger, do you have a pic of your boat?
A video of the catch would be much welcomed!!! Well done Skip & Gaffer.
Well done skip & gaffer... i guess you had a great day!!
Looking forward to have a look at the footage
Was out yesterday too...had 5 strikes caught 3...! Was a nice day enjoyed it! Looking foward to see your footage skip! Should be interesting!
Was out today. Managed to land 7 and had a great fun day!
Was out yesterday. Managed to get 7 and another one got away...
Benri ghal xejn infaqt il-Flus ghall Valletta.. :-) :-)
I got 11 yesterday.......sea conditons were excellent..had 2 double strike and one tripple strike with 2 people on board so quite hectic.....all in all I had a good suntan. Well done baghira now you are hooked..........get a good radio man.....
Most of the strikes as Bghira very subtly implied (Benri ghal xejn infaqt il-Flus ghall Valletta.. :-) :-)) were in the 6miles range south of filfa...........
cant wait to see the Video Joe..........I made the mistake of not getting the camera. So sorry no photos no videos ( i am kicking myself in the butt at the moment).
Hi Gaffer,
I have a petecraft 17 sports, One time you passed infront of me .
Quote from: shanook on June 25, 2012, 09:02:22 CET
cant wait to see the Video Joe..........I made the mistake of not getting the camera. So sorry no photos no videos ( i am kicking myself in the butt at the moment).
Nick's your man there Tony - he came all equipped, cameras, videos, underwater camera!!...the works. I know there is some very unique footage of a strike, line peeling of the reel, and the eventual retrieve. There's also footage of the tripple hookup, which incidently, only minutes before, Nick was asking me what would we do if we got a tripple hookup!.
Quote from: digger0579 on June 25, 2012, 09:04:52 CET
Hi Gaffer,
I have a petecraft 17 sports, One time you passed infront of me .
What time was that - Early in the morning, or later on in the day?
at around 10:00am infront of filfla
Hello Benri :) I managed to land 12 alungi yesterday within 4-6 miles off Filfla.
the nickname seems to suit u well LOL........well done Renald
stop catching alungi! there would be nothing left for the competition!
hey we are the scouts for the competition now the members of MFF know where the bites are so go get them guys.......
Yes I must say Valletta was useless yesterday as I landed 6 of the 7 close to shore and only 1 in the far away spot :)
I really enjoyed it out yesterday and bites were in abundance.
@Shanook - Any news re your engine?
are you catching them from the surface? we cought ours from the surface but i was talking to some fishermen and told that they were biting mostly at a depth of approx 90m
malliadan I had all strikes on surface lures. I trolled for about an hour or so using rapalas but no strikes at all. had 8 strikes till about 9 am , landing 7 of them. The rest I caught them from 11am till about 13.00.
I had 6 of my catches on rapala, so both up and down....... but not at the depth mentioned.
I guess it is impossible to troll at 7 knots at a depth of 90 meters.
Good choice Norbert ;-)
Hi Guys im brand new to this type of fishing and am setting up for it, any tips hints help? .....
ciantar i am practically packing up i will keep some lures but in the near future i will put some NEW lures for sale, first choice will be is here on MFF.
Re rod and reel have a chat with Norbert he can set u up. Dont overkill I saw an alutecnos and its an overkill for Alungi. Its true u dont know what will hit ur lure but if u reason that way the rod was way tooooooooo weak for that type of reel. So u have to match rod and reel.
re lures there are lots of lures u can go for (they have to catch u first then the alungi) there are soft, surface, shallow diving, deep diving, poppers, surface skimmers etc etc. What i can tell u is to buy a Cedar plug (no mattter if u like it or not) then whatever catches ur fancy but have some dark and some light coloured lures.
I dont know what boat u have and what type of spread u want to have but let go for a 3 spread that is u troll with 3 rods. (THIS IS MY OPINION ONLY) we can argue till tomorrow on what I am about to write.
I prefare straight runners for the simple reason that u dont always drive straight, and when u turn with deep divers (lipped lures) there is a high tendency to get tangled. I prefare to have add a weight to the middle lure so that it dives under a bit and on one side a popper, flat head or jet head and when u need to turn u always turn on the side where u have the popper etc.
I prefare soft lures as u have more chance of hooking a Pastardella than hard lures.
Hi Ciantar I am not the most suitable to give you advice since I landed only one and lost another three last Sunday including some of my best feathers and soft lures >:(. But here what I will opt for. A 30lb-50lb trawling rod with Shimano TLD-25 or similar filled with some good quality 40lb mono or braid. Than you will need the end tackle mostly 140mm or 180mm magnum sinkers or floaters there are various trade name to choose from Yozuri, Rapala's, Maria's ecc. My preferred are the Yo Zuri Sashimi 3D Hydro Magnum and the x rap magnum they can be trawled at high speed up to 12knm if needed. Soft lures and feathers are without any doubts as good as hard lures if not better In my humble opinion Williamsons have the best, my favorites are the jet feathers and flash feather rigged with 80lb leader. Rubber squids are a good choice as well. Others here can give you other ideas and choices but the final decision should be yours. Good luck, have fun and stay safe.
@Ciantar - do a search for Alongi using the forum search facility. There are ton loads of information on rigging, set up, tackle (Rod + reel) areas, speed, presentation...its all there mate.
@ shanook, well at first I was thinking you were refering to our reels but then when I saw the comment on the rod I assured myself you werent referring to our tackle ;) an alutecnos size 30w reel is way too much for alongi however for the +100kg fish it is well balanced I guess.
for albacore an alutecnos 12 is way more than enough... you will also be on the safe side when the real fish hit the lure, proven ;)
Tajba Gann!!
Gann i know that you wouldnt make the mistake of not matching rod and reel so of course i was not referring to u............mmmmmmmm....+100 kg fish well if u have a permit then i suppose u will need it otherwise its a no no that is if u dont like to french kiss the fish.......CKR catch kiss and release.
Joking aside...we've all been out for alongi this past week...have you seen or witnessed any surface activity of some sort?, bird activity?...what about jumpers?...also, I was told in the beginning of the season that alot of BFT were about, and so I was told to spool up with some serious main line...( I didn't anyway, I use 40lbs momoi diamond)...I haven't seen any evidence to back up that claim. I also didn't witness any activity of any sort, birds, bait or jumpers...just the tell tale signs of bait fish on the sounder at 9mtrs, and much bigger blotches right underneath the signs in about 15-20mtrs. Thats all the evidence I'm seeing, which suggests that the fish are around!
I can confirm seeing many alungi jumping at the surface last Sunday in the area where we were fishing. They seemed to be feeding upon some small baitfish but I couldn't figure out exactly what these baitfish were. I have taken a video of them jumping but it's poor quality with quite some camera shake and poor resolution upon zooming. However, we got no strikes in the vicinity of surface activity and the 7 strikes that we got, of which we landed 6 (with the 7th sliding out back into the sea through the boat's open stern after coming off the gaff on board .... grrrrrrrrrr....) were all in areas with no apparent surface activity.
Anyone got any strikes from the gnejna area ?
yes BIG from gnejna just go in the direction of ''IL Ballun'' in between the first and second ridge.......got a tripple and double hook up from there..........if you need i send u bearings........hey it doesnt mean that u will catch from there !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Next Friday weather permitting will be there again hopefully will do better than last Sunday. Maybe some of you will be there as well.
@Jonathan - The baitfish was imsell, about 5-7cm in total length. 2 alongi were full of them!
I asked shanook because i will be in commino next weekend and it isnt that far from there for me to go with my boat since i do not have speed ;)
I would rather stay in comino bigboy you can catch something better there :D :D
I WILL NOT COMMENT WHAT BIG CAN CATCH IN COMINO.............
ajssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
@Big.....just to get to the point of fishing u have about 12 miles then there is another 8 mile trolling area........this is going to take u quite some time........is it worth the hussle??.....go to comino then if u want to go for alungi go on a cost sharing trip..........dont ask me as i am in bugibba.........try Benri.....
Shanook, I have 5 miles for the first ridge, i deploy 2 rods and a handline, then i cross to the second ridge (another 4.5 miles) am already in front of gnejna on the second ridge then i troll downwords, then back up :) Not such a big deal for me
Hi everyone,
Any tips ho wcan I win the competition ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D :
:P :P :P
thats an easy one digger and a very simple answer........catch more fish than the others do and bigger as well so that u win the comp as well as the biggest fish.....its as simple as that......
Is the competition winner dittermedon how many fish are caught or the largest amount in Kg Caught, no matter the amount ?
it seems the fish have moved since Sunday as a return to the site didnt produce fish................
hey Joe Gaffer my popcorn is getting stale waiting for the video and pics.........
Tony I'm just the fisherman, Skip's the director. Nick, can you put up some uncut footage?
Havent been anywhere near PC, family duty out looking for pushchairs. Tomorrow am off to the beach but if we dont get back too late will see what I can put up.
Nick we need some inspiration......vedios please ::)
Anybody going to be out tom?
Steve
Nick and myself are out again on Saturday Steve.
Been out yesterday once again with capt. Nemo opps sorry Colin, and crew Ir-Rammx and Nile....
Catches diminished drastically.....
Got 2 fish, one managed to escape......
We also have some nice footage...once rammx sends it to me...
send me the money first ;) ... s ghada jkun ghandek pixatur :)
What a great day we had together yesterday with captain Banozz & Ganni! Much appreciated! Thanks a lot & a very big well done!!!
Pity we didn't catch as much as Mike and myself expected but it was still good :) Thank you for joining us :)
Quote from: The_Gaffer on June 28, 2012, 22:58:42 CET
Nick and myself are out again on Saturday Steve.
Out again today with Nick and Garreth. Bite was rather slow, we managed to land 4 from 5 strikes.
hi everyone,
was out there today and trolled from SE to behind Filfla and not a single bite.......
Gaffer...... I think they were all next to you mella ;D
2 bites none landed from us.
Is there any kind of boating etiquette out there??? I'm sure not everyone is like this but man some people are there just to make sure you burn in hell for all the swearing...
A boat was heading on a collision course with us after it was zig zagging all over the place.
I reduced speed from 7kts to just 2 kts after I noticed he was not making any manouver to avoid the collision, even though i was seeing his starboard (so i had the right of way) thus the collision course was ended.
After noticing i slowed down this same probably unlicensed idiot steered and went behind us (less than 50 meters probably to "save" his lines). As if i want his lines on the propeller!!
He hooked up our line to his outboard, pulled out all the line from the reel and ended up cutting off one of our lures since it was a surface lure. Good thing the other was a sinking lure!
To add insult to injury after this manouver he just went perpendicular to us and just steamed on - meaning he didn't even keep his original course! No amount of shouting or horn blowing seemed to get his attention (he heard us for sure from 50 meters away!) so maybe we could untangle and not break off any rods.
Man tinharaq ta tara bniedem b'l-injurnaza u selfishness tieghu ma jiflahx ihallik jew jarak tiehu pjacir ta!
P.s. 6 hours+ trolling, not a bite! Very bad day today :( hope we get better luck next time!
Me and robby trolled from 6am until 11am and managed to pull one up. It was my first and was an amazing experience. I agree with the person above... some people are just plain ignorant and selfish.
Regards
SF
Quote from: bmamo on July 01, 2012, 22:07:52 CET
P.s. 6 hours+ trolling, not a bite! Very bad day today :( hope we get better luck next time!
Sorry to hear about your experience, it can get even worse/crazier when there are lots of boats out and the bite is hot in an area and then the rules get thrown out of the window. Some people just can't help themselves and insist on doing what you described above.
The bite has slowed down, but in the past 10 days the number of Alungi caught has been pretty astronomical so I hope it's not a question of we have caught those that were in our waters or the competition is going to be very quiet. Once again it looks like this year the peak came in the 3rd week of June.
Hi Guys,
Was talking to a fisherman yesterday and he told me they caught larg number of Alungi with long lines but from 20 miles out. Try going in that area.
digger0579
http://vimeo.com/45012929 - watch plse !!
Quote from: skip on July 02, 2012, 06:47:55 CET
Quote from: bmamo on July 01, 2012, 22:07:52 CET
P.s. 6 hours+ trolling, not a bite! Very bad day today :( hope we get better luck next time!
Sorry to hear about your experience, it can get even worse/crazier when there are lots of boats out and the bite is hot in an area and then the rules get thrown out of the window. Some people just can't help themselves and insist on doing what you described above.
The bite has slowed down, but in the past 10 days the number of Alungi caught has been pretty astronomical so I hope it's not a question of we have caught those that were in our waters or the competition is going to be very quiet. Once again it looks like this year the peak came in the 3rd week of June.
Taht's what fishing is.. give up and the good day will never come!
saw the video Janes very nice. u are still fishing by hand (nothing wrong with that I sometimes miss the feeling of the first pull when using hand lines.......I usually have a middle hand line doesnt get hit much as the outside lures get hit first).
What can I say very nice video but if u allow me to comment......keep the boat moving slowly forward, even if not constantly but once in a awhile especially when the fish gets close to the boat makes the Alunga calm down a bit..........
well done nice video.......give us more
Hemm hu l-Janes....
nice video. prosit! I never take a video camera with me as I'm very superstitious and am sure I won't catch a thing when I take it!
Proset Yanes. Nice video.
Was out again today, sea conditions deteriorated as the day wore in. Got eight strikes and managed to land 6. By 12.00pm sea conditions became rather rough, and we decided to slowly make our way in. All in all, great day out, with good company who really appreciate a days out fishing.
Hi All
last Friday i went out for Alunghi and did not get even one bite. Im completely new to this type of fishing and would like to know what i am doing wrong . I was using two rods with two type of fish lures ( rampala? ) please excuse my ignorance. One with a lead and another without , both lures were the type that flow downwards if you know what i mean, I had the lead approx 10 qama out from the lure, was fishing at approx 7 knots and had one rod about 30 qama out and the other 40 qama ..... what am i doing wrong ??? I would love to have at least a bite !
please help !
thanks
Ciantar - in my opinion, you lead should not be more than 7 mtrs away from your lure, else your lure won't work properly. 2nd you are trolling your lures too far back. Try pulling in your lures to 18 to 22 qami. This is just my opinion, but this works for me. 3rd try trolling at 6.2 to 6.5knts
Ciantar - I would also use some surface lures in your spread apart from Rapala style lures!
Steve
Try to use klamari as well as regards to lures.
Steve : what exactly do you mean by surface lures? i had one fish lure ( the shape of a fish) without a weight but which is supposed to go down on its own ( due to shape ta palletta f halqa) .
Bmano: re klamari ; how do you rif them ? do you still use lead
and in general are you using one or two leads on the line ?
i think u should first get used to using different artificial lures rather than go for live klamari.....
Alungi can be easliy caught with artificial lures...,google pictures' straight running lures, popper lures, albacore soft/hard lures.etc and u will see what they look like.
these type of lures dont have a lip.
then there are small lipped lures, these do not dive deep but just keep under the surface (when we say deep its about 15feet)
I finally managed to take and upload a picture of the baitfish that alongi were feeding on. Can anyone identify the species?(http://maltafishingforum.com/talk/gallery/4/61_03_07_12_2_31_58.jpeg)
It looks like mediterranean horse mackerel.
or lacci
Thanks for all your feedback , one other think the line i am using is coloured not xlief transparenti , is this any good , i always thought that the end of the tracer should be as invisible as possible ?
The more it deosn't show the better, but I've been told by a fisherman that Alungi,swords ,pastardell and these kind of fish they don't boder what line you have.
its more what vibration ur line with have with the water rather than the colour.......usually alungi realize that there is something wrong is when they are already hooked
They all have big eyes !!!!! thats what i always say !!
The don't have big eyes for nothing. On those days where the bite is slow, rest assured that these small considerations like, line, vibration, trolling speed and direction, currents ect may very well contribute to a hook up or coming in empty handed. Alongi are sometimes known to be line shy. However, out with some friends 2 years ago fishing for alongi, one freind really insisted on bringing his own gear. His gear consisted of one rod, a penn multiplier which was at least 40yrs old (it still had an ebony made reeling handle) .90mm line (I'm not kidding) and a plastic brown squid lure. The guy insisted I troll it in the spread. 20 minutes into the troll, guess which lure gets hit 1st by an alunga?...Exactly, my friends' lure rigged with .90mm line!!!!...so much for high tech lures, momoi diamond .40mm line, extra fine swivels, ect. No sooner had we gaffed the fish, we redeployed and 5 minutes later, wham...double hookup, again his lure gets hit!!
Bellahni ha nghidlek!!
Guys has anyone been out for alongi, recently ???
Just launched the boat recently and want to catch one ?
That sucks....16th July and they've already gone :(
Perhaps with the high air and water surface temps they have moved to deeper waters up near the 3rd ridge?
I heard that they've set up camp just outside the 3rd ridge. Some people were out on Saturday, and have caught alongi. Others reported no catches.
I went saturday and sunday but i didn't caught any alungi!!!
Went out last Saturday and caught 4...They are still there :)
sea temp was really hot...... way to hot for alungi but there is a spell of colder weather although we dont feel it much ....its there and the surface temp has gone down by a degree or two.this affects the cycle of life as well as how the currents work.
They are still there go get them guys...( I am on commission with the fuel division and the gov to make u guys use petrol/diesel)....hey one has invent how to make a cent nowadays......
Was out yesterday on the second ridge from 6am to 9am. Cought one and another managed to escape.
Then tried some jigging and inciku but seems I need more practice for this type of fishing.
Hi Guys,
I was trolling for Alungi on the first ridge Yesterday from 6am to 11am not even a single strike. Was trolling with three rods, surface Lure, diving lure and a teaser in the middle. Nothing!!! I trolled all the way from Gozo passed Filfla and back. All the boats I saw showed the same signs of no strikes.
I saw some boats in the distance which I calculated was the second ridge however they seemed standing still and I presumed they were deep see fishing.
u trolled from gozo and u stayed on the first ridge????????? i would have tried between first and second ridge and on the way back if i dont get a strike i troll the outside of the third ridge......
I was there on thursday and caught 2. Between 1st and 2nd ridge. I got the impression that the fish are moving in outer waters.
I tried to explain this to many people but it seems to be useless...most think they are drop offs, as you well said they are just contour lines showing the 100m, 200m, 500m, etc. contour lines
I dont go alunghi fishing much but I have caught some in the open water where the bottom is just flat.
Can those that go for alunghi more often confirm that they are more to be found near the ridges (real ones) rather than the open water?
So where are the ridges exactly?
Yes those lines on maps etc are mere lines to mark the different depths of the seabed. To see ridges one has to follow the seabed by a depthfinder. If you travel behind Fifla perpendicular to land going outwards, the seabed is relatively constant at first but suddenly starts to increase with a sudden drop from about 150 fathoms to over 300 fathoms just in a few meters. This is a ridge similar to the Dingli Cliffs or Ghar Hasan Heights as seen on land. It is a drop off to deeper waters. Further out South West off Fifla there is a similar area decreasing in depth at first then a sudden drop to areas over 500 Fathoms.
Use your depthfinder then all is clear.
Gogo
Maybe I was misunderstood, I was referring to the first drop off. The depth was between 300 and 400 meters. It was the first drop off before the valley floor. There were much more boats trolling this area then on the drop off further south west of filfla.
I'm making available a pictorial which clearly distinguishes where are these famous ridges everyone keeps talking about. The drop offs Dr.Joe (Gogo) refers to are more basins than ridges. All those who have 3D capabilities on the fishfinder can easily distinguish these basins at the approximate areas Gogo indicated. These basins are also good areas for Alongi, however the main fishing grounds are nearer the ridges.
(http://maltafishingforum.com/talk/gallery/4/thumb_318_17_07_12_3_54_11.jpeg)
Thanks Gaffer, I always thought the third ridge was the other side of the valley, I would have gone quite a way out for the third ridge had it not been for you. Thanks a million. lets hope there will still be some alungi left for next time. I cross from Gozo to Malta every day for work, so i get to see the sea in this area every day. Yesterday and today there was quite a bit of rough sea and large swells, lets hope this will cool a bit te surface temp and lure the alungi back closer to the surface.
Thanks again much appreciated ;)
For me the 3rd ridge is the other side of the valley too in the range of 15nm from the coast.
Gaffer posted a superb chart related to the area where Alungi tend to call each year for breeding. That chart is a bathymetric chart which shows the different depths of the seabed. It is the counterpart of topograghic land charts which show the heights of mountains with high values while bathymetric charts show the depthest sea areas with high values. The lines on the charts are contours which join areas of same depth and so indicate the slope or gradient of that area. The closer the lines the greater the slope. In fact southwest of Filfla the slope is very steep between the 100 metre to 500 metre contour while that South to south East is more smooth.
In may opinion indicating certain contour lines as 100, 350, 500 metre or what so ever as ridges which as far as I know are elevated areas in respect of surrounding terrain is incorrect. Why not the 200, 400 and 600 metre contours?
The point for us fishermen is that Alungi seasonally are naturally attracted to low depth waters for breeding where squid and other bait fish is more abundant than open deep waters. This year Alungi seem to have gathered mostly South and Southwest of Fifla so the best fishing ground as righly indicated by Gaffer is between the 100 and 500 metre contour where there is a steep slope.
To the South and Southeast although the area is bigger due to the smooth slope, catches have been sporadic. Maybe the seabed has been so extensively trawled that fish bait has been drastically reduced.
Just my opinion which may differ from others.
Gogo.
Thanks for this Gogo. I meerly pointed out the 200mt, 350mt and 500mt ridges as these ridges are prominantly showed up on the navionics marine charts, and to serve as a guidline for the novice angler. The quest is always to seek the alongi or (predators) between these ridges.
I agree with Gogo's interpretation of 'ridge'.
Contour lines are not ridges but lines joining areas having the same depth similar to ISOBARS for air pressure. To have a ridge one must see a shallow contour having a much deeper contour very close on each side giving the indication of a sharp drop on both sides.
In Hydrographic terms there are the following definitions:
RIDGE.
a) A long, narrow ELEVATION with steep sides.
b) A long, narrow ELEVATION often separating ocean basins.
c) The major oceanic mountain systems of global extent.
SUBMARINE RIDGE:
An elongated elevation of the sea floor, with either irregular or relatively smooth topography and
steep sides which constitutes a natural prolongation of land territory.
anyone fished any alongi recently ? tried some trolling this week but was too choppy plus no fish
Went out yesterday but only landed 2! Most probably it was my last trip for the season as they seen to have moved out!
heq brian i wasnt there so u couldnt find them LOL. Well done mate.
You did well Brian. I was out on Thursday and not one strike till 10am, then we went swimming!
any mermaids around Joe
nothing Tony, no splashes, no biurds, no surface activity whatsoever. There was though something to look at, at il-Hofriet, but not mermaids, these gals has legs!
oh even better..pity that alungi have moved its a bit too early...... mosy probably try further out where it is a bit colder and deeper...
i tried further out Tony and towards the SE of filfla too but it was just as bad. The 2 I caught were between the 2nd and 3rd.
@benri if u go again there are two BIG deep holes near the third ridge have a go between them and aroud them u can have nice currents around them. bring food from below and cooler waters
yes I tried that spot too but it was dead :(
Dear all people and Alungi lovers.....plse note that alungi are still being caught, true not in a numerous amount, though last week friends of mine had catches of 6, 7, 4, 2, 3........your theory described up here is true indeed, tough somethimes I believe that the moon makes a good difference in catching this fish, as when the moon is shining the more small fish comes to the surface at night and leading to albacore to come forward and catch / feed. I have to add that never a year is like the following one. Fish may stand at an area in a particular year as small fish will be more present......dolphins gives an example were small fish are present. One have to bear in mind that this fish comes to our waters to feed and spwan....important to note that they do not stand at the area.....every day has its own schools of fish as once fish do their spawning they keep going for their own journey......