I very interested in learning more about the fishing in the in-shore waters around Malta. Do you have fish that can fish on the surface like our yellow tail, bonito? We're lucky to have cool inshore water, and that helps the kelp to grow...and that' where we find many of our inshore game fish here in Southern California. We also fish the bottom for bass, and halibut, I don't know if you have similar fish, I interested in finding out.
Capt. Mike Fisher.
malta....is a heaven for bottom fishing. If you intend going out roaming any port with a small boat it can be such a nice treat. There's a lot of breams and other colourful small fish. Probably you're not going to land monsters but it can be quite a nice day if you use 0.20mm mono using a simple paternoster rig. For bait we suggest small shrimps, coreano worms (alive or preserved) As hooks use some small types ranging from no 10 to no 16.
You can also try out some lure fishing for barracudas from February to July. Dusk and dawn hours give results.
Also targeting the mullet from shores can be fun. Using breadflake on a running float method can result in mullet ranging from 0.200gms up to 1-2kgs species.
As for your question I suggest you try the months of September to December where one can easily go out a few miles in a small boat lure fishing for bonito, dolphin fish , barracudas and other predatory fish including small swordfish which can easily be caught within 1 mile or less from shores
::) Barracudas are abundant at this time of the year. Using a 12lb rod with 0.25mm - 0.30mm and a 7-9mm nice lure (preferably floating). So far I managed 6 barras spinning from shores but in a small boat inside harbours they are catching much more.
speed - less than 6 knots (3-4 preferably)
size - 0.5kg to 1.5kg inside ports......heard some rumours about 6 to 7 kg in some other places..
good luck
Placebo, the barracuda fishing sounds like great fun, we might call it a kick in the head. We fish Barries, here and bonito, with small lures, and live bait, they're fun and I love to smoke them,,,bery good. I'll dig around and see if I can find a photo of our barracuda here,,,they're the Pacific variety, not those tropical back alley toothy monsters.
Best regards,
Capt. Mike Fisher