Holiday fishing

In a perfect world we’d be jetting off to fish for GT’s in Oman, to Mexico for rooster fish or off to the
Amazon to fish for peacock bass but the reality for many is an annual package holiday to a warm
European destination with the family.

Now whilst writing this i must point out, I fit in the latter part of this, i take my fare share of road trips or
flights into Europe with my normal tackle but it’s what's possible from my family holiday is what i want
to talk about here.

To better understand what most of us are facing when we book our summer holidays i have done a
quick search online and it threw up the following as the top destinations for British holidaymakers.

Mallorca, Ibiza, Canary Islands, the Algarve, Benidorm and Crete were named by this website.

With the Algarve as the exception none of these are famed for their fishing, but one thing all have in
common is a coastline, endless sandy beaches, rocks and marinas- easily accessible and available
for fishing (check local laws before you travel)

The packing revolves around the essentials for the typical 2.4 family, maybe if there’s enough room
left for dad you’ll get to chuck in a book or snorkel, the snorkel kit being the worst thing to pack as an
angler as often you get to see the fish but haven’t the tackle to fish for it with.

One thing we all have in common is when we arrive at our holiday destination, after the excursions/ days
on the beach and late nights we often wish we had tackle to scratch our fishing itch, some will go to the
local shop and buy the combo set available and whilst ok- it’s not quite lure fishing as we know it.

Travel rods have been available for a long time but most were crude, cumbersome, often telescopic and
whilst ok for a short fishing fix are not much use to the angler that is used to refined JDM lure fishing
tackle.

These days, travel rods are widely available in high modulus carbons, using the same build and rod
design employed in 1 and 2 piece models but build in convenient suitcase sized sections, housed in
lightweight, protective cases that make them perfect for travel.

Now if you are like me, the best time to slip away to fish on holiday is during daylight hours, usually
whilst the other half is shopping or asleep on the beach- most fish around during these times aren’t for
the hardened specimen hunter but are perfect for LRF/ light game techniques.

Any fishing time abroad is a bonus, to do it with balanced tackle as you would at home is something
else and that’s where we come in. Major Craft produce in excess of 20 lure rods covering LRF/Light
Game, HRF, Light Shore Jigging, bass etc in the Crostage range, Freshwater in the Benkei range and
trout in the Finetail and Troutino range- whilst these rods fall into individual categories there will
definitely
be some crossover with the only limitation being your own imagination.

What you choose really depends on where you intend to fish, I like to fish with lighter rods that travel
with me every year to Crete where i fish for mixed species using jighead, dropshot, metals and hard
plastic lures.

If you were heading to Mexico like our customer Rory Eastlake you could opt for the
Crostage Light Shore Jigging, or if you were off to Cyprus or Portugal and had the chance of both
saltwater and freshwater fish you may opt for a rod from the Benkei range.

Don’t get hung up on the size of the fish you target, you can only catch what’s in front of you in the
locations you find yourself in but with careful consideration to end tackle you can put together a good
number of species, try it for yourself, i set yourself a target to catch 10 species- you’ll be amazed what
you can find over small inshore reefs, on sandy beaches and in typical ports around tourist resorts.
Research your destination online, use Google maps to give you a clue as to what you may find before
you choose a rod and pack your tackle, on the big surf beaches in Portugal bass may be viable target,
in the Canaries you may want to pack your 28g SG sandeels and hard plastics, if it’s a mediterranean
holiday then a simple bag of soft lures and metals  like my one below (taken from a holiday a few years ago)
will be perfect.