Tackle and Tactics
Mike Ladle

Information Page.

Quirks of Brazilian fishing.

It's rare that I bother to write about anything other than actual fishing/catches but my recent trip to Brazil brought up a couple of interesting features which others may like to share. My first week in Fortaleza was a bit of a hotch potch with a little bit of fishing and various visits. Richard and I fished from a beautiful stone pier and I tried to get information from the local anglers. However, none of the fishermen I spoke to caught anything of any size while I was there.

One of our visits was to a beautiful river estuary at Sagua de Barba. The tide poured in and out through the river mouth over a golden sandy beach. It was holiday time when we were there and so the beach was thickly covered with sunbathers, swimmers, etc. There were a few little fish to be seen around the edge of the river but nothing worth catching. As the tide speeded up local cast net fishermen drifted their boats in midstream and flung their nets into the torrential flow, apparently to catch mullet. They were clearly 'fishing blind' and none of them had anything while we were there. Richard and I tried a variety of spinning lures but we had no better luck. I suspect that if we had been able to fish dawn or dusk there could have been a good chance of jacks or other big predators.

Along the open shore outside the river mouth there was a long stretch of rocky reef which also looked extremely fishy. In fact there were quite a few local 'beach-casters' in action using prawn baited paternoster tackle. Again their efforts were futile but it was clear that, at times, the beach must produce (worthwhile?) fish because the shoreline liberally adorned with permanent rod rests drilled and concreted into the bedrock. Rich and I tried spinning but apart from a few houndfish follows (we wouldn't have minded catching one of them) again we had nothing. It looked wonderful and I'm sure that given more time and freedom to fish when and where we wanted we'd have caught some decent fish.

Anyway, the only good fish we saw was on a plate with some chips at one of the beach bars. It would be good to try it again sometime.

If you have any comments or questions about fish, methods, tactics or 'what have you.'get in touch with me by sending an E-MAIL to - docladle@hotmail.com

Jetty.

That's me questioning a local who was catching tiny catfish on bits of prawn.'

Sagua de Barba.

A wonderful spot but not the ideal time to fish.  Note the line of surf and the reef at the river mouth.'

Estuary.

The tide ripped through here and MUST contain good fish at times.  Too many people!'

Surf beach.

A local angler using one of the permanent rod rests.  Another one is visible a little to his right.'

Lure fishing.

If big jacks, etc., don't come in here I'm a monkey's uncle.  (Don't say it!!!)'

Ipioca beach.

Back at Richard's home ground this was a more relaxed form of fishing.  Lots of fish but nothing big.'

Snapper.

This was our only sight of a worthwhile catch at Fortaleza.'