[philipo]

HI all, I'm off to Sicily beginning of April, Ragusa province, in the south of the island, just wondered if anybody had fished there?, done some searches on here but there's not really very much info, I usually boat fish, but I'm tempted to take a travel rod and some savage gear sandeels and have a go from the beach. Any thoughts or tips would be much appreciated

Cheers Phil

 

[LAVRAKI]

I have fished in Donnalucata which is just east of Marina di Ragusa. I was working there, but took some tackle. The locals mainly fish for mullet during the day and bream species- sarago, mormora, orata, into darkness off the beaches. You can spin lures during the day for "lecce stella" and other mediterranean predators like pesce serra (bluefish) although I didn't see any caught. I caught a small bluefish spinning with a small shad on a leadhead.
For the mullet the locals use half a bread roll with a trace with 10 or more small hooks and rely on the mullet foul hooking themselves when the shoal hits the bread.
When fishing the beaches after dark they use a technique called beach ledgering. This is done with long rods similar to feeder rods and light line (around 10lbs BS) on fixed spool reels. For bait they use "arenicola" or "coreani" which you can buy in tackle shops and look like very small ragworm. They are fished on small hooks around a size 6-8, or "bibi" that are the "peanut worms" that were discussed on WSF not long ago. Take a worm needle for baiting up. You can also try sardine fillets but the worms are the best bait. The locals also hunt octopus among the rocky outcrops using a variety of weird and wonderful baits and lures. You won't need a British style beachcaster, maximum I would take a flattie or bass rod. If you haven't fished in the Med before you will be surprised how light they fish.
It gets HOT there too....

 

[philipo]

Thanks Lavraki, we arrived in Sicily today, funnily enough I'm taking the kids to Donnalucata tomorrow, we're staying in Scicli so it's the nearest beach, I picked up some squid earlier in a fishmongers , nice guy , when I said I only needed a couple for fishing bait, he just gave them to me and wished me luck, the people here are amazing .
I'll keep a look out for some worms, glad I bought along some lures and isomes after reading your advice
Much appreciated, thanks .

Phil