The
vacation started quite harmless. We had booked a beautiful stay in Puerto de Mogan
and where glad we could drive past the hotel bunkers of Maspalomas and the
slopes plastered with terrace houses of some other bays. I had planned to fish
for black bass in the reservoirs in the mountains, but after some excursions
with the family it seemed that that would be a difficult task ( I did manage it
the year after though). For now we just
enjoyed the mild climate, while at home autumn was moving in. Our apartment was
right at the yacht harbour and we could see a lot of fish in the clear water:
the omnipresent mullet, small barracudas, wrasses, a species of parrotfish and
even a cornetfish. So
the days went by and all the fishing tackle I took along ("Only the really
necessary stuff") was collecting dust. The only way to act out my hunting
instincts was squashing the cockroaches, which also seemed to feel very well in
the mild climate. Then one morning I just couldn't stand it any longer and took
a quick spinning tour through the harbour. I wasn't long before a yacht owner
pointed out to me, that fishing was forbidden in the harbour (really?). Oh well,
so I went to the tip of the mole right at the entrance of the harbour. Nothing
much was going on, once in a while one of the small barracudas followed a lure
and one even pinched out a piece of a shad. After
a foul cast ( multiplier reel...) I reeled in my flying C really fast and to my
surprise it was attacked by a small fish right before my feet. A closer look at
this fish revealed a relatively gigantic mouth full of pointy teeth: a
lizardfish! Luckily the teeth were rather soft to touch.
Get Going
After
several more days of family life with excursions to a crocodile farm and a bird
park I give in to my daughter and take her fishing in the harbour with the
hegene: a small wrasse, a black blue canary damsel and another lizardfish are
the meek result. But now we arrange a fishing tour with the captain of the
Shalina. When we arrive "early in the morning" we are in for a bitter
disappointment, the tour is cancelled due to a motor damage. Empty handed my
daughter and me leave the pier and desperately hope that the guys will manage to
fix the boat until tomorrow because we have only two days left!
On the next morning everything is OK and we
can
leave the harbour. We start off trolling
"Big-Game" with 50-80 Lbs tackle until we reach drop off where the
water reaches a depth of 500m. Now the crew anchors a buoy with a big net full
of stones. The ship is attached to the buoy and we begin to do some serious deep
sea fishing. The crew keeps on baiting with pieces of mackerel which is also
what goes on the hooks. The trolling season is nearing its end and this place is
being prepared for deep sea fishing. Reeling in the rig with this heavy tackle
is really a pain: after the endless reeling there is sometimes a small fish on
the other end, two times even small sharks and sometimes the hooks have been
bitten off. All in all not a roaring success but trolling back to the harbour a
really nice wahoo of 41 Kg
takes a lure and delivers a spectacular fight. To bad he didn't bite on my rod,
but it's a spectacular experience and spontaneously I decide to go out again on
the next day, the last day of my holidays.
The Last Day
Again my daughter and I are at pier on time and soon the fishing trip begins.
We troll to the buoy which marks the feeding place and the crew prepares the
deep sea rigs. This time they are all mounted with steel leaders though.
Same game as yesterday: endless reeling and a small deep sea fishy every now and
then. Then all of a sudden a 80 Lbs rod bends and the drag of the reel sounds.
The crew which were hanging around until now making fun of the sweating tourists
and there painful reeling sessions start to jump around and yell "Big fish! Big
fish!".
And the best thing: it's my rod. They hand it to me and I stick the butt into my
fighting belt. There sure is something pulling on the other end!
What really worries me is, that I can see the core of the spool through the last
windings of line left on the reel and the fish is taking line every now and then.
I find myself mentally preparing for the big disappointment of loosing the
biggest fish I ever had on due to lack of line. But he's not pulling that fast
and once in while I get some line back. After 5 Minutes of stand up fighting I
get to sit in the game chair and where a harness. That does make pumping easier
and I can put more pressure on the fish. But the fight is still on knifes edge
as the fish keeps on taking all the line I can win off the reel again in slow
irresistible pulls. With sure instincts a member of the crew regulates the drag
and I can keep on pumping.
Then, after maybe half an hour, the fish shows some weakness for the first time
and I can really gain some line. Not for long though and he pulls down again.
But still I can feel myself gaining an advantage and I start getting more
optimistic concerning the outcome of this battle. The sweat is running down in
streams and my limbs are beginning to hurt a little but I am happy through and
through. But did it have to bite 500m down? Just to think what a cramp it was
just reeling in the rigs from down there... The fight is routine now and a
cheerful guessing game starts among the onlookers: who took that fillet of
mackerel down there. A big tuna, a swordfish or a shark are the most guesses. As
the fish comes higher and starts pulling sideways very strong Mick, an
Englishman, says: It's clearly a shark and now its trying to turn over the boat! ;) My
daughter is not very impressed until now and after over an hour she asks me, if
I can help her go to the toilet and when I tell her that daddy's got to finish
fighting the big fish she just says something like "ah, ok". After 90 minutes
the fish reaches the surface, but he's not tired yet and thrashes about wildly
beating the water to a boiling foam. Women and kids have to go up on the fly
(the "roof terrace" on the cabin, where the second steering unit is mounted) and
the crew arms itself with (flying). It's getting quite wild now as the shark
(because that's what it turns out to be) does few good runs on the flying gaff.
When I realize that the crew has actually taken over the fight and I can't do
anything anymore I join my daughter on the fly. One glance in her direction
shows me, that she is in extreme horror now: white as a sheet and eyes fixed on
the wildly flapping shark. I ask her if everything is ok and she asks back:
daddy, can the shark climb the stairs? When I laughingly deny her question the
tension leaves her a bit. Finally
the crew can overwhelm the fish. It's a pity they obviously don't routinely
release sharks, but i guess that was already clear, when they took to the gaffs.
Now we drink to the fine catch and the captain decides to take us dolphin
watching and he actually finds them after just ten minutes. We also see a flying
fish every now and then and once even the fountain of a blowing whale! Now that
was really a very nice completion of beach holidays (almost) without fishing. By
the way the shark was sold at the local fish market and was measured with 91 Kg
and 3,20m. I identified it as a
big
eye thresher shark .
Boat tour from Puerto de Mogan: Shalina-Yachting
(Website is still up, but the boat is not running any more :( )
The
vacation started quite harmless. We had booked a beautiful stay in Puerto de Mogan
and where glad we could drive past the hotel bunkers of Maspalomas and the
slopes plastered with terrace houses of some other bays. I had planned to fish
for black bass in the reservoirs in the mountains, but after some excursions
with the family it seemed that that would be a difficult task ( I did manage it
the 
So
the days went by and all the fishing tackle I took along ("Only the really
necessary stuff") was collecting dust. The only way to act out my hunting
instincts was squashing the cockroaches, which also seemed to feel very well in
the mild climate. Then one morning I just couldn't stand it any longer and took
a quick spinning tour through the harbour. I wasn't long before a yacht owner
pointed out to me, that fishing was forbidden in the harbour (really?). Oh well,
so I went to the tip of the mole right at the entrance of the harbour. Nothing
much was going on, once in a while one of the small barracudas followed a lure
and one even pinched out a piece of a 
After
a foul cast ( multiplier reel...) I reeled in my flying C really fast and to my
surprise it was attacked by a small fish right before my feet. A closer look at
this fish revealed a relatively gigantic mouth full of pointy teeth: a
lizardfish! Luckily the teeth were rather soft to touch.
After
several more days of family life with excursions to a crocodile farm and a bird
park I give in to my daughter and take her fishing in the harbour with the
hegene: a small wrasse, a black blue canary damsel and another lizardfish are
the meek result. But now we arrange a fishing tour with the captain of the
Shalina. When we arrive "early in the morning" we are in for a bitter
disappointment, the tour is cancelled due to a motor damage. Empty handed my
daughter and me leave the pier and desperately hope that the guys will manage to
fix the boat until tomorrow because we have only two days left! 
can
leave the harbour. We start off trolling
"Big-Game" with 50-80 Lbs tackle until we reach drop off where the
water reaches a depth of 500m. Now the crew anchors a buoy with a big net full
of stones. The ship is attached to the buoy and we begin to do some serious deep
sea fishing. The crew keeps on baiting with pieces of mackerel which is also
what goes on the hooks. The trolling season is nearing its end and this place is
being prepared for deep sea fishing. Reeling in the rig with this heavy tackle
is really a pain: after the endless reeling there is sometimes a small fish on
the other end, two times even small sharks and sometimes the hooks have been
bitten off. All in all not a roaring success but trolling back to the harbour a
really nice wahoo of 41 Kg
takes a lure and delivers a spectacular fight. To bad he didn't bite on my rod,
but it's a spectacular experience and spontaneously I decide to go out again on
the next day, the last day of my holidays. 
Finally
the crew can overwhelm the fish. It's a pity they obviously don't routinely
release sharks, but i guess that was already clear, when they took to the gaffs.
Now we drink to the fine catch and the captain decides to take us dolphin
watching and he actually finds them after just ten minutes. We also see a flying
fish every now and then and once even the fountain of a blowing whale! Now that
was really a very nice completion of beach holidays (almost) without fishing. By
the way the shark was sold at the local fish market and was measured with 91 Kg
and 3,20m. I identified it as a