For a while now I have been planning a trip to Southern Greece in
search of the predatory Mediterranean barracuda! This is a species I've
never caught before as its not very common in Northern Greece. I was
visiting relatives in Athens and it would be a good opportunity to fit a
fishing day or two in between.. My friend Stelios invited me way back in Summer and now was the time.
Although,
with the weather we were having here in the North I had to postpone
this visit twice and I finally found a window of settled weather last
week. It was only gonna be a short visit thus we had to make every
minute count...
Upon my arrival in Athens we arranged when to meet and our fishing destination would be the island of Poros.
With me I had only the UL travel rod and two reels (1000 and 2500) as
my friend would bring an extra heavier rod for me. Tactics wise we would
fish mainly softplastics during the night (slugs/soft jerkbaits on darting jigheads) and hardbaits at dawn (slim jerkbaits and minnows).
Thus, late afternoon on Friday we reached Poros
and after settling in the hotel, sorted our stuff and got out fishing.
There were splashes in a wide area near some strong lights as large
shoals of baitfish were attacked by the cudas.. I started with the UL setup as I wanted to land one of these fish on lighter gear and after a few casts with the 4" Attira on a 7g jighead
I got a solid take near the surface and immediately the drag started
singing! The fish was making powerful runs and shakes and when I tried
to get line in it felt like pulling a brick! Needless to say that the
Mobile Stick was bent to the handle! After a few minutes I managed to
bring the fish close to the wall and my friend Stelios got it in the net. We then realised that the cuda was hooked on its side (!) something that tells me it reacted more out of aggression than hunger. Nevertheless I had my first cuda in the net within minutes of starting the session and enjoyed a great fight!😀
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| Success! |
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| My first Cuda! |
After
releasing the fish we persevered but I only got another half hearted
bite near the bottom before we called it a night around 22:00. We
grabbed something to eat and then got to our beds as we had to wake up
at 03:00 for the morning bite...!
I was up before the alarm and we headed down the harbour straight away. We then met up with Stelio's friend Alex. A local who fishes for cudas
day in day out. The news weren't encouraging... The past few sessions
he only got a few fish by fishing all night long (!), while as is always
the case, he was having great catches a couple weeks ago when I was
bogged down by the snow...
Alex had already caught a couple fish
though and I was paying attention to what he was using since this is
always a good thing to do when fishing for new species and in new
areas.. When in Rome...
He was using 4.5"-5" white or chartreuse/yellow Sluggos and Xlayers, working them close to the bottom with a few jerks and medium speed. I was using my friend Stelio's rod (a Lucky Craft ESGII 871HXF) but it was slow going. Bites dried up and we moved to another spot (a chokepoint) where the fish usually hit hardbaits
at first light. I put on a Tide minnow slim 140 and as the sky was
turning colours just before dawn I got the first strike. I hit the fish
hard but didn't manage to set the hook. The same thing happened a few
moments later while the others (friends Gianis and Nasos also showed up) were hooking up! It became apparent that this rod wasn't ideal for fishing hardbaits and cudas as it was too soft and couldn't set the trebles hard enough in the cudas bony mouths. My friend Stelios then offered me his rod (Apia Foojin'R ART MAGIC 88MLX) and I finally managed to land a couple cudas! This rod was quite impressive and I might look towards Apia next summer...
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| On a jerkbait around dawn. |
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| A little one. |
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| The channel.. |
As soon as the sun came up the bites stopped and we fished a couple spots for the chance of a bonito. Giannis
was the lucky one and got the only one for the day... Then it was back
to bed till lunchtime (well fed!) and out again after sundown.
On
the second night again the fish were splashing and hunting about soon
after dark but I felt more confident about how to get them into biting. I
started with a chartreuseish 4.5" Xlayer on a 10g Owner darting jighead
and started covering the spots that the fish were working over... I was
retrieving and pausing the lure to touchdown in regular intervals and
made sure not to strike in any nibbles but kept working the lure.. I
then got a sudden and powerful take and the fish immediately took drag..
The rod was well bent (the Lucky Craft) and the fish took off again.
Then all of a sudden it got off! I thought it bit through the line but
soon felt the lure's weight again and took it out of the water to be met by this...
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| WTF? | |
I'm not entirely sure it was a cuda and I'm even considering a big gilthead
as a possible suspect, since they're known to frequent that mark and
got jaws strong enough to do this.. I proceeded to lose another fish
that didn't hook up properly and by this point I had no faith in this
rod...Thankfully for the remaining of the fishing trip Stelios lend me his Apia...
After
the second lost fish, the spot dried up and we decided to move to a
nearby spot for a chance of scad and False scad. We used 3" Sluggos on 7g jigheads and soon enough Stelios
got a scad while I got a false scad of about a pound. The fish weren't
tightly grouped and holding near the bottom a fair cast away, but I
still would've preferred to get them on the UL/LRF setup.. In any case things soon slowed down again and we were back to beds in preparation for the last session.
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| A nice False scad. |
We
woke up slightly later that day (04:30) and we headed down the harbour
to find the others fishing already. They had caught a couple fish each
and were hammering the most productive spot, though the fish seemed to
have shut down. I moved in close to them with a plan in my mind. They
were using 5"-6" bubblegum and chartreuse slugs on 15g+ jigheads but it had been a while since they had another bite. I opted for a 10g darting fishead jighead and a pink 4.5" Xlayer.
I fished slower than them and with fewer darting movements on the
retrieve trying to show something more 'natural' yet still enticing to
these pressured fish. The first bite didn't take long to come but I
didn't get a good hookset even with the Apia (damn those bony jaws!), I changed Jighead and lure immediately after, opting for a white Xlayer on a 15g Ecogear jighead.
This would make me work the lure slightly faster and I hoped to
aggravate another fish to bite as I knew I wouldn't get many chances. A
few casts later and I was in! Not a big fish but it felt good managing
to 'unlock' them.
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| Another on the Xlayer. |
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| Going back. |
We soon moved to the 'chokepoint' for another go with the hardbaits. Out of curiosity I decided to use shallower running jerkbaits
than the others to see if they fish would show a preference.. And they
did though not for my lures! As the sun started to come out the others
started getting fish while I got one strike and a couple follows. The
bite didn't last long but I wasn't bothered too much about not catching
since I got useful hints to the behaviour of these fish.
After the
sun came up higher, I had a few casts at the bonito-spot but with no
luck. We then picked up our stuff and boarded the ferry back to Athens. A
lovely fishing trip with plenty of exciting moments although without
tonnes of big fish. I'm glad that due to my friend Stelios I managed to catch a species that eluded me for years and also have a great time and make new friends!
Bellow I add some bullet points and observations regarding this trip.
- Use jigheads with sharp 2/0 plus size hooks.
- Midwinter, softplastics near the bottom at night and possibly hardbaits at first light.
- Preferably a stiffish rod for good hooksets.
- 0.34mm fluorocarbon leader minimum.
- 4"-5" soft jerkbaits/slugs on darting jigheads most effective.
- When having lots of nibbles etc keep working the lure. Strike hard on positive takes!
- White, pink, with hint of chartreuse etc good colours for nighttime.
- Begin with lighter jigheads first and then go heavier for faster/more reaction based work. Typically 10g-15g at aprox 6m depth.
- Trailer hooks such as open eye Siwash may be a useful addition to the jighead hook.
- Vary lures and presentations after dropped takes and overworked fish.
- On Poros, cudas
at night were staging at the deep parts of the canal, usually at the
drop offs and near the first major light source but in the shadows. At
dawn in the chokepoint.
- Megabass Super Xlayers most consistent softbait. DUO Tide Minnow Slim and Seaspin Mommoti for hardbaits.
- First bites and splashes after sundown and then again around 04:00.
- Feeding spells can be brief especially with hardbaits midwater and higher, Softplastics near the bottom more consistent.
- 14cm+ jerkbaits very effective at dawn on straight retrieve with some speed variations.
- Sayori, cuda and 'sparkly' colours most effective then.
- A slightly larger lure than what the others are throwing might get more fish when they're fired up.
- Cuda like more 'intense' actions on hardbaits than bass do and a slightly deeper dive.
- Scad and False scad near the lights but in more 'open' areas and deeper water.
- Bonito might pass soon after first light at the deeper water near the chokepoint.
- The presence of baitfish is a must!
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| The fishing team! |
Well
its soon back to Skye now and my more usual fishing targets. Although I
had hoped for much more action filled holidays (fish-wise) the
horrendous weather really killed any chances for that but I cant
complain too much as at least my main target was achieved and besides I
had a great time!
Tight Lines!
Gear used.
Rod: Spro Mobile Stick 80MH, Lucky Craft ESGII 871HXF, Apia Foojin'R ART MAGIC 88MLX
Reel: Shimano Stradic 1000fc, Shimano Stradic ci4 2500f
Mainline: Duel Hardcore X4 PE 0.8
Leader: YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon 0.34mm+
Lures: Various.
