BOAT ANGLER
Dave Lewis explains how to adopt two tactics used in the Mediterranean for catching bream this summer. In part one: Maltese-style trolling
Afew years ago I was fishing off the historic island of Malta with Captain Chris Borg Cardona. Chris had mentioned that we could try trolling for bream and immediately I was intrigued, especially when he told me that he had personally caught black bream in excess of 5kg; that’s an 11lb black bream. It is hardly surprising I needed no persuading that this was what we should do.
The waters around Malta, like most other areas I have fished around the Mediterranean, are inherently deep. As a result, local anglers have developed techniques that are specifically designed to target bottom fish in these areas without having to anchor in very deep water or resort to using huge lumps of lead or electric reels.
We headed past Valetta Harbour towards a mark situated off the north-east coast of the island, where I watched as Chris prepared us for a session trolling for bream. For bait we had a 5lb box of frozen calamari, along with some beautiful fresh cuttlefish caught early that morning. The plan was to fish two rods; one would be rigged with a whole calamari to catch bream, the other rigged in exactly the same way, albeit with larger hooks and a stronger hook length, and baited with a whole cuttlefish to target the dentex and amberjack.
Key to the success of this technique, Chris explained, was the importance of making each bait swim as naturally as possible in order to appear alive. Starting with the lighter bream rod Chris began by rigging a Pennell rig consisting of two relatively small, size 1/0, short shank Gamakatsu hooks. The top hook was attached to the hook length by first threading it through the eye, then‘whipping' or ‘snelling’ the short shank to the line using a length of light mono. This held it firmly in place while allowing the required adjustment necessary in order to rig the squid in exactly the right way.
The hook length consisted of a long 30-40ft section of clear 20lb monofilament, but apparently fluorocarbon is the preferred option with many local anglers. The hook length was then attached to the braid on the reel using a very small, high-quality, swivel, small enough to be wound through the rod rings, though obviously slowly and with some care to avoid damaging the ring inserts.
About 10-20ft above this swivel was the attachment point for the sinker. This consisted of a 6ft length of monofilament that Chris folded in half and then in half again, creating four equal strands of line that were tied directly to the braid using two uni-knots, one at either end. The purpose of this is to provide a wind on anchoring point to which the sinker can be attached via an easily removed snap link. The use of monof
