Reportes de Pesca Eslovenia Fresca

A lot of people are surprised by the fact that it’s possible to fish for Mahi-mahi fish (also called Dolphin fish or golden Mackerel fish) on the Slovenian coast. But coast fishermen know that Mahi-mahi is a regular guest in our seas, approximately from the end of august until november or in other terms, until the sea temperature doesn’t fall under 18 degrees Celsius (64, 4 Fahrenheit). When my fishing colleague Thomas, who has already tried fly fishing before (In Florida), found out, that it is possible to fly fish for Mahi-mahi on Slovenian coast, he was determined to catch his first Mahi-mahi with a fly rod. On a Sunday **hidden content**), we set sail from Koper to Piran. We saw the first school (shoal) of Mahi-mahi on Ronek cape, where they were going after a school of Garfish. Janja was successful, when jigging, she has caught 2 fish. After that, they moved deep to Strunjan natural reserve and we didn’t go after them. We moved on to Piran, trying to set bait on many already known spots, sadly without success. We arrived to Punta Piran also called cape Madona. We have met another fisherman, he said that Mahi-mahi fish were there, circling the area but they did not care for his bait. Good news - so we quickly set some additional bait. Janja set the first bait, and the whole school of Mahi-mahi arrived. Thomas quickly said: “Take the fly rod and throw the streamer”! Luckily I was close to the rod, 2 strokes and the streamer was shining in the water. Another two quick strokes with the string and the first Mahi-mahi swallowed the streamer very soon. I have tightened the grip, the rod bended just as much, to reach few cm under the water. Yes! A very good grip! An epic battle followed, with a lot of strong emotions. The fish was jumping out the water, constantly changing the direction of movement. The fish lost the battle and ended up in the net. Some good jigging action followed, but the fish in the shoal stopped caring about it. So Janja took the fly rod and presented the streamer to the fish. That followed with one of the biggest fish from the flock, getting caught on the streamer. When she tried to tighten the grip, the fishing string burnt her fingers from the speed and the power of the fish coming out of water. After a few minutes of battling the fish, the fish gave up and we pulled it to the boat. The joy was indescribable! Really a beautiful specimen! ☺ The flock of Mahi-mahi was running away, only Thomas that was the most determined to catch one fly fishing, did not manage to do so yet. We took an hour break that we really needed. After that we have met the school again. The school of fish did not care much for any artificial bait we were presenting, except for the Thomas’s streamer. He caught a smaller specimen, but nevertheless, the size did not matter, because it was his first Mahi-mahi caught fly fishing. That day we have caught 9 Mahi-mahi fish.

Every year in the end of august and in the beginning of September comes in the north Adriatic(gulf of Trieste) many schools of Mahi Mahi. So we decided to take our spinning gear and to go spin fishing around the capes. We had a lot of fun with smaller and bigger mahis :)

The start of our meteorological summer is very whimsy, but that didn’t stop us from fishing for mackerel fish, that have arrived in Trieste bay. And the specimens of mackerel fish that arrived were very large for this time of the year. We left Koper around 8.00 in the morning and started fishing at 9.00. I have lured mackerel fish with bait that I have prepared from a new recipe (details about the bait will follow some other time). It only took 10 minutes and Janja has already caught her first fish. She was very happy and her eyes were brighter, when the fish started to pull her rod and fight. After catching the fish, we have decided, that it is best to clean the fish right there, at sea, because that removes the blood and the meat stays white and tasty. We were 8 miles from the shore and the remains of the fish have lured a blue shark. The blue shark is a regular visitor of our seas.

Here in the north Adriatic the water is getting cold, so the fish are becoming more and more delicate, but they are still searching for food to be ready for the winter. So we went fishing for Common pandora - type of sea bream which is very tasty, good fighters and hard to catch. All the elements that's a fisherman wants! For bait we used live shrimp - Mediterranean mud shrimp, mounted on a long arm leader with thin FC line.