THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

Thank goodness then for Miguel who at the time was living with his Austrian girl friend who ran a little
food shop and was able to point us at the restaurant, bar, and car hire, not that there was very much
choice available on any of those counts.
One thing people should understand about El Hierro is that it's always windy. Very windy in fact.
Throughout the entire summer, the north east trade wind blasts the eastern side of the island which is
where La Restinga harbour is situated.
I remember lying in bed that first night listening to the windows rattling and the wind quite literally
whistling around the corner of building, thinking there would be absolutely no chance of going afloat
the following day. Yet when we made it down to the quay, there was Miguel ready and raring to go.
A quick look over the harbour wall showed white horses breaking as far as the eye could see. But you
only need to sail a short distance to tuck in around the sheltered southern tip of the island to fish an area
the locals affectionately call the 'Costa Calma', which is where the big sharks are.
Because of the depth, Miguel had two buoyed permanent anchors in place. The first, maybe half a mile
out was where he fishes for stingrays, with the second in very much deeper water maybe a mile of so
off where he targets the six gilled sharks.
To put the depths here into some sort of context, depending on the direction of the wind and the tide
pushing on the outer buoy creating an angle in the rope, you could be fishing in as little as two hundred
fathoms or as much as four hundred fathoms, as the island quite literally is an almost vertical rock wall
climbing to the surface from the abyss, and unfortunately, six gilled sharks like to feed hard on the
bottom.
What normally happens is that the boat catches one big six gill, then moves to the inshore buoy to use
up any remaining time fishing for stingrays.
What Dave and I did was extend each of the days we fished
to ten hours so we could stay tied up to the outer buoy,
thereby, theoretically at least, giving us both a shot at a big
fish, and sufficient time to get them in. For while six gills
certainly don't put up much in the way of a recognised fight,
their sheer bulk, coupled to the extreme water depth and
blazing sunshine, makes it tough going to say the least.
Imagine trying to winch in a wheely bin with its lid open up
the side of three Blackpool towers stacked on top of each
other under a blazing sun and you start to get the picture.
One six gill in a session is enough for anyone.
The bait was a whole bonito. When they are about you can
sometimes troll up a few en route from the harbour. We
were not so lucky and had to make do with frozen baits. But
with food presumably quite scarce in a dark world often
reliant on corpses falling from above to provide meals, the
six gills aren't too fussed.
Phill Williams into a big Six Gill
That said, the buoy, which was marked by what appeared to
be a large floating mattress or air-bed, attracted reasonable
numbers of small dorado, some of which we caught on
small lures cast to them while the shark baits were down.
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