I stayed at home for almost 14 days after my June trip, then I simply “had to” go back to Mallorca: The renowned journalist and author Dave Lewis had asked me to accompany him on a trip with skipper Vince Riera. Dave wanted to catch a Mediterranean spearfish, write about it for the Marlin magazine and get closer to the decisive step on his way to the Royal Billfish Slam. I should then help and take photos.
Nothing easier than that! At the first exit, the lures were not in the water for 5 minutes, when the bite came, the photos, the tagging for the Billfish Foundation, and the challenge was complete. Dave’s joy was enormous because catching a spearfish is considered the most difficult task when catching the 9 Billfish species. Now the only thing missing was a white marlin.
My fishing afterwards brought me some beautiful Albacore, which – catch and deep freeze – are now waiting for their resurrection as Sashimi.
By the way: Old School feather jigs are very good for albacore…
I also caught a bluefin tuna with about 60 kg in Vince’s “supermarket”. Rather reluctantly: Vince wanted to know if the fish were back from spawning, they are in abundance.
The fish was also tagged and allowed to swim again
Worth remembering is the fight of a manta ray with a wingspan of more than 2 m. He was foul hooked on a wobbler and showed himself in a jump at the boat. For 50 hard minutes in the stand up on the 80s, my lumbar vertebrae wondered if manta rays, pound for pound, were not still tougher fighters than bluefins, luckily the fish came off under the boat.
The most fun we had on the last day was the bottom fishing for scorpion fish and john dory on a new underwater mountain, apparently not yet discovered by professional fishermen. Vince’s friend and rod builder Xavi Santasusagna got us a big scorpionfish right at the first drop.
After another one came the John Dorys, nine of them until early noon, we then called it “a day” and motored back for cool drinks.
Vince then showed me an ingeniously simple recipe, which I now reproduced at home with the great approval of my wife:
In a large pan, 6 cloves of garlic and 5 dried red chillies and 1-2 fresh bay leaves are heated in one to two centimetres of olive oil until the garlic turns brown. Then these ingredients come out of the oil.
In the meantime, cut off the horny, pointed scales on the back and belly of the Dory and cut the fish vertically into 5 cm wide slices, pepper, salt and flour and then fry gently in the flavoured oil. Delicious!!!
Vince has now caught 11 spearfish by the end of July. Among the lucky anglers was the director of the German Museum for Hunting and Fishing, Manuel Pretzl, who also caught the spearfish on his first trip.
His friend Thomas, up to now “only” a fly fisherman, was “hooked” by albacore and wants to “absolutely” return to Alcudia.
At my request, marine biologist Sven Hille has now made contact with a scientist in Italy and Vince is now collecting so-called fin clips, i.e. small sections of fins from the spearfish. They are preserved in alcohol and sent to Italy. Their DNA will then provide information on the biology and population of the spearfish since little is known about the species.
Interview
