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Few anglers in the United Kingdom, in fact few anywhere, would associate Gibraltar with quality sea fishing. It seems to have passed the world by that Gibraltar, positioned right at the head of the Straits of Gibraltar is the gateway to the whole Mediterranean and that this narrow channel that concentrates the tides is a huge fish holding area amassing large baitfish shoals that in turn attract the big predators.
Flying out of Luton Airport, England sees you screech to a halt on the short runway in sunny Gibraltar just two hours and 20 minutes later. Cost in UK Stirling can be as little as £150 return. That's cheap and affordable for most and puts you not only in the sun, but also on to warm water with a dramatic increase in exotic fish species that fight hard and test your skills to the limit.
SHORE FISHING
I fished the North Mole. This is a stone breakwater on the north side of the harbour near the Spanish border crossing. The water is deep, starting out at about 30ft in front of the wall but a good cast puts you in to a depth that can exceed 100-feet. The ground is mixed clean sand and rock in places, or wholly rock and tackle losses can be heavy, but it holds lots of fish.
 The famous rock |
Boats will take you out to the Detached Mole. This is the centre breakwater protecting the harbour and is detached from the north and south moles. This is the top gilthead bream mark and turns up the biggest fish. The gilthead bream swim in small shoals, but occasionally in much larger concentrations. The favoured baits for GB's are conch, a medium sized clam like shellfish or hermit crab. The latter tends to take the better fish.
There is a chance of hooking bonito off the Detached Mole fishing surface swimming plugs or fast retrieved spinners. The bonito work the surface chasing fry shoals and are often just 30-yards off the breakwater wall. They average about 3 to 5lbs.
If you want to target bass, then fish the rocks off Europa Point under the lighthouse and to the right looking across to Africa. The bass run big here, averaging from 4 to 6lbs, but with fish over 10lbs always on the cards. Again go for surface or deep diving plugs or spinners. Personally I'd choose a rubber sandeel fished on a 3ft snood of 15lb line to a three-way swivel. Local anglers do not fish this way here, but British anglers will appreciate how deadly this method is for bass and it's sure to work here too.
I also think these rocks would prove excellent areas to ledger fish at night targeting big conger and moray eels with fish baits. By day, conch baits and fish strips would account for many bream species and comber.
Moving round from Europa Point along the Sir Herbert Miles Road you come to Sandy Bay. This is a clean sand bay that few if any locals seem to fish from. This looks like it will hold big sole, certainly bass in the east winds that will push up a surf on the beach, and probably rays at night. Some bream are likely to also run the surf tables including the mighty hurta bream, a tough fighter and highly prized table fish. Catalan Bay and Eastern Beach are also sand beaches and should produce the same species.
In-between these beaches there are several rock platforms you can fish from on to mainly clean sand, but with some rocky areas. Expect bass and bream to dominate catches, but other species such as triggerfish, mackerel, garfish and comber are also likely.
There are also beaches between the southern Mole and Europa Point, namely Rosia Bay, Camp Bay and Little Bay. Bronze bream are the main catch, along with bass, sole and several other bream species. These beaches fish best in a west wind.
The best rig locally is a simple sliding ledger rig, but I'd also fish a two-hook rig to maximise my bream and sole catches.
I also noticed some large shoals of grey mullet both in the marinas and just out from the Mole's. You can catch these by anchoring a mesh bag of bread in the water to encourage the mullet to feed and float fishing bread paste for them.
 A red bream |
The inshore waters just off the Detached Mole carry schools of bonito. You can troll for these using small spinners or feather lures. Fish them on 12lb class tackle and you'll have great fun. I also fancy fly-fishing for them.
Moving out off Europa Point the local fisherman troll for bass here with spinners, plugs and feather jigs. The plugs are the most successful, especially the C4 colour cod Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow in the floating option. Also try Rapala J13's. There are good shoals of mackerel here too on feathers.
Ledger fishing just off Europa Point is over rough rocky ground. It carries black bream, two-banded bream, white bream, bronze bream, combers, conger and moray eels.
There is fishing all the way around heading east from Europa Point towards the Spanish border. The boats look for areas of rock amongst the sand and take gilthead bream, big triggerfish, comber, all the other bream species, plus the famous common bream, a beautiful reddy pink fish that fights hard and runs up to about 6lbs.
Out in to deep water and the fishing really takes off. Here we find the rare red bream living amongst the rocks. They reach about 10lbs and are again highly rated for eating. Pink dentex, another bream like fish, are caught by working metal jigs over the rocks.
Next we meet the heavyweights. Both the stone bass and the grouper are found out here in the deep water. These are solitary predators relying on ambushing prey by darting out from their lairs. They both exceed 100lbs in weight and offer a stubborn heart stopping fight with searing dives back down to the seabed. You fish these on heavy 50lb class tackle with braided line. There is also the pointed nose grouper that runs up to about 50lbs. All these predators take small deadbaits worked close to the seabed.
Also watch for birds working on the surface as predatory fish push baitfish shoals up on to the surface water. These will be leerfish, pompano and amberjack. Trolling surface working plugs and lures will account for these. Other fish occasionally caught are meagre and bluefish.
BIG GAME FISHING
Although commercial fishing has exploited catches greatly here there are still large shoals of bluefin tuna in these waters that are little fished for by rod and line. The fish run from 20lbs right up to leviathans over 800lbs.
There are big broadbill swordfish that will take a squid bait fished below a lightstik, plus white marlin occasionally attack surface trolled lures. Big blue shark and mako shark are also present, plus rare for here porbeagle and thresher sharks. Commercial tankers and cargo vessels moor up east of Catalan Bay and I think this is where big shark cruise under these boats and nobody has fished for them here yet. Also remember that great white sharks are found in the Mediterranean too.
 A gibralter caught trigger fish |
To get the best from what Gibraltar has to offer you'll need a 5 to 6oz beachcaster and a multiplier reel holding 300-yards of 25lb line for the heavier shore fishing, plus a lighter multiplier carrying 15lb line for the beaches.
A light spinning rod is also useful for the bass, mullet, garfish and mackerel.
For boat fishing, then carry a 12lb class rod and reel, a 30lb class combination, plus a 50lb class rod and a reel loaded with 80lb braid if you're aiming to go out deep for the stone bass.
I'd also take a 9-weight fly rod for added fun from the shore and boat.
TOP BAITS
The local anglers rate conch as the all-round bait for everything. You can get this from the fish stall in the local market quite cheaply.
Hermit crab is excellent for the bigger fish like the gilthead and hurta bream. I also found it good for the bigger common bream.
The fish stalls sell pilchards, mackerel and squid, which are the best baits for general ledger fishing.
BEST TIME TO GO
I fished what is considered a poor time in February, and still caught loads of good fish. The local anglers rate June through to November as the best, with September the top month.
TACKLE SHOPS
There are two in the town. Both carry good quality tackle familiar to UK anglers, plus tackle popular along the Spanish coast. I'd still take common items with you such as favourite hook patterns etc.
 The Famous Gibraltar Monkies! |
When you're not fishing, then Gibraltar with its long time military history has much to offer.
A must visit is St Michael's Cave, a beautiful labyrinth of hidden caves with the most amazing display of stalactites and stalagmites, plus a hidden lake. The main cave has been turned in to an auditorium with amazing acoustics where local groups and acts perform.
The Rock is famous for the short tailed monkeys. It's said that when the monkeys leave the Rock of Gibraltar, then The Rock will cease to be British.
There are 34 miles of tunnels hidden inside the rock bored out by the army. These are called The Galleries and offer amazing views across the harbour and out to the Spanish coast.
Some other places of interest are the Moorish Baths, Almeda Gardens, The Moorish Castle, the Mediterranean Steps walk, the Cable Car, and Gibraltar's famous museum illustrating life on the rock from the Stone Age to today.
Regards eating out, there are a host of quality restaurants serving everything English and Spanish. My recommendations would be the seafood, especially the Calamari and swordfish steaks. Obviously paella is also very good here. I also enjoyed a Tapas menu, which offers a little of everything from a large selection.
ACCOMODATION
There are all kinds of accommodation here from Bed & Breakfast through self-catering apartments to top class hotels like The Rock.
Full accommodation options and further help are available from the Gibraltar Tourist Board, Duke of Kent House, Cathedral Square, Gibraltar. Tel: your international code plus 74950.
There is a tourist info centre in the Airport, plus several inside the town.
Also visit their website at gibraltar.gi
GENERAL INFORMATION
The Gibraltar currency is the Gibraltar pound which is on parity with British Sterling (£).
The average taxi ride around town costs about £4
Most of the products in the shops will be familiar to UK visitors, though with the obvious Mediterranean and Spanish influence.
Just about everybody speaks perfect English.
The African coast lies just 15 miles away off Europa Point.
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