Adam F Posted October 8, 2005 Report Share Posted October 8, 2005 Just returned from a week in the Algarve, Lagos to be precise. Never been before, and was very impressed....not a single 'brit-abroad'...lovely! We hired a superb brand new villa for the week, and basically the 8 of us just ate and drank to our hearts content, and had a great laugh in the process. Didnt manage a fishing rod in the case, but did take the snorkelling gear which got used most days - colder than the Med, as in the Atlantic, but just as good vis and lots to sea. Biggest result was that I mananged to find at least half a dozen scallops each trip - all of wich were eagerly consumed that night - the last night saw us gather a few fresh mussels, a dozen fat scallops and we bought a kilo of fresh jumbo tiger prawns - for our own Fruit de Mer!! I also hunted down the local charter boat and promptly booked a trip for Weds, and as the others all wanted to try we charted the whole boat - a 38' Aquastar originally from Liverpool - called The Pescamar - Jacko was our skipper. The plan was to go blue water game fishing as he had taken two white marlin and a few dorado the day before - but as the other 5 were all fishing virgins we opted to just do a bit of inshore bottom fishing. We fished 3 hook patternosters with pieces of prawn for bait - tackle was a little dissapointing - 20lb class solid class rods with cheap fixed spools - but after a while it just added to the experiance - they hadnt even heard of braid when I mentioned it to them! Bites came to everyone, every cast for the whole day - and as others have experinaced, the Portugese keep everything the local law deems sizable - unfortunalty this isnt very big - a black bream has to be just 12cms. We protested and put most of the fish back, but still ended up with 3 builders buckets full of fish - we took a few for the BBQ, the rest went to the skipper and crew. Red Snapper, Permit, four types of bream, gurnard, bass, scorpian fish, mackerel, scad, herring and about six types of wrasse kept us busy - plus 3 or 4 fish Ive never seen or heard of! The snapper and permit brushed with olive oil and pepper and salt was some of the best tasting fish I have ever had! To finish it off the five non fishers were all 'hooked' and wanted to try back at home! Finally - we had 7 days of clear blue skies and 29-31 degs everyday - from the looks of things I didnt miss much - good to be back though - and just in time for the cod! Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam F Posted October 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2005 Best fish of the day - Red Snapper 4lb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinbad Posted October 8, 2005 Report Share Posted October 8, 2005 Hi Adam Nice report and glad you got the weather too! we've been going out to Lagos - (Burgau) for the past 10 years - Great fish market in Lagos - only just been re-furbished and with a panoramic restaurant on the top floor! They certainly know how to display their fish - but agreed the size limits are obscene !!!! surprised you didnt target the tons of mullet in the estuary ? I may well do the charter next time with smallest lad, as he's quite keen and as you say with a fish a chuck, plenty to keep everyone busy! Incidently - What did the skipper charge for the charter - and how was his hospitality / English ?? We always visit the lagos beach as its a fabulous expanse of sand - the shell count - razor clams, scallops, etc is huge!! which must mean rich variety of fish species. Great place for a week or so, and local flight from Hurn too ! Cheers Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob F Posted October 8, 2005 Report Share Posted October 8, 2005 Sounds like a great holiday. Always fancied giving the Algarve a go. Got some good golf courses too, I hear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swainiac Posted October 9, 2005 Report Share Posted October 9, 2005 Nice report Adam, was going to call you last week, didnt realise you were away!! I could have done the double......you in Algarve, and Coddy in NZ!! See you soon, Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam F Posted October 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2005 Paul, Yes we spend a few days at Burgau - great beach and lovely beach side bar. I was tempted to have a go at the mullet, but didnt take any gear and didnt fancy wasting money on cheap tackle over there. The charter was 400 euros for the day - 67 each, so about the same as the UK, but when you consider he has to pay the same for diesel as the road users do, it makes it cheap in comparison. His english was OK and he moved three times to put us on fish - so I couldnt complain - we took our own lunch, but he did provide it for 8 euros each. Finally - youre right, flying from Hurn is the way to go - and cheap also if you book ahead - we have already put down for next year! Bob - yep, fabulous courses. I didnt take my sticks as no one else in the group played, but you were spoily for choice. We stayed about 2 miles from the Beuna Vista Golf Resort and Pennina was only 1/2 hour alway. Quite dear for a round though, between 50-90 euros. The snorkelling experiances this year in both Spain and the Algarve has also prompted me to take my PADI over the winter to enable us to scuba dive when on holiday. One of the guys we went with did, and it was very reasonable for a days diving - 30/40 euros. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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