THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

shark, which, along with a fish I had caught before at El Hierro, the escolar, they catch at night in around
150 metres of water from the boat.
Efforts were made to get a group of
interested anglers together for a
serious minded night trip, but
unfortunately, not helped by lack of
advance notice on my part, this wasn't
to be. However, I could still arrange
to fish from the same boat 'AlbaKora
Cat' for a few hours of a morning. But
as mixed parties tend to be holiday
makers wanting to give it a try, you
shouldn't expect much in the way of
serious fishing, though we caught a
good selection of breams, plus a
couple of barracuda, and a moray eel.
With regard to daytime private
charters, the target choices are many
Aram Taholakian, Seven Gilled Shark
and varied, including marlin, tuna,
amberjacks, red snappers, and
assorted larger breams. Obviously there is a seasonal element to it all, the trick being to get working on
the arrangements before going out rather than with just a few days left by contacting Aram through his
'Gone Fishing' Facebook page.
CANARY ISLANDS - GRAN CANARIA
Of the four main holiday options in the Canary Islands group, Gran Canaria has been the most
productive for me personally. In particular Puerto Rico at the southern end where the climate differs
markedly from that at the northern end of the island around Las Palmas.
I haven't fished Lanzarote, though I hear that Arrecife Pier, which I understand is a concrete harbour
construction, can be a very good spot for a wide range of predatory species, and I did once boat fish out
from Tenerife and found that to be a complete holiday rip-off.
Similarly, my first taste of Puerto Rico many years ago was a bit that way too, though maybe not quite
as bad. At all the main ports throughout the island group you will probably see big game boats with
super sized Penn outfits on display and old faded pictures of marlin at the booking kiosks.
Marlin are occasionally caught at each. But the window of opportunity is often very small, and with
little in the way of predictable bait-fish holding areas to hold them up as they pass through, I personally
don't entertain thoughts of marlin trolling, which I don't like at the best of times.
For the most part it's a holiday angler con. For me there is too much other good stuff going on to bother
wasting time in the vague hope of latching on to an occasional blue marlin.
That first taste of Gran Canaria that I eluded to earlier was typical of a holiday angler being drawn in
by all the hype. Many years ago I booked a marlin trolling trip as a quarter share on a flashy looking
boat, where it very quickly became obvious that we were never going to see a marlin, or anything else
at the surface for that matter. A line of though reinforced when the skipper suggested a bit of bottom
fishing in the afternoon.
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