* Not a Fishing Holiday!

I’m sure most anglers have been on that “family holiday” and wished their time away thinking about fishing. I’m sure many have wished they packed some gear in order to have the occasional cast to keep their sanity!

Yes the family holiday is great. I certainly appreciate the annual week away in the sun. I may find it tedious at times but it is more craic than I let on to my girls. For many years I used bring a rod with me and I would take a cast a few times during the break. The arrival of well-priced travel rods has made taking a lure rod on holiday easier than before.

The Rovex Lure-Pro Quad should really cost more than €40. It is quite the mystery how these rods are churned out at that money. I know the fittings will be cheap, I know the reel seat is not going to be Fuji, but for a rod that will get a couple of outings a year it is excellent value for money.

What do you get for your money? A 210cm four piece blank for starters. It is housed in a reel bag and encased in a tube as well! Unreal considering the price tag. It’s as simple as that really. I didn’t use the tube. I just packed the rod in amongst my clothes in my case. It was well padded and was in no fear of it.

I was heading to Lanzarote, Puerto del Carmen to be exact. It is a place I have been before and I have also fished there so I was happy that I had a fair idea what would suit my needs out there. I’ll go into more detail on my tackle later…

I knew heading out that I would use this rod maybe three times during my stay more for a bit or craic and diversion than any serious fishing. I do know that there are some decent fish to be targeted out there so it is not all just for the laugh.

There is a licensing requirement when fishing in Lanzarote (the Canaries are part of Spain). I have spoken to many anglers about the regime and have never heard of somebody getting checked for a licence. I’m told that securing a licence is somewhat of an ordeal. With that in mind I don’t think I’d take on a serious fishing holiday out there without a licence. The thought of some local jobsworth getting their mitts on my expensive gear would kill me! At things considered I was happy to work away without a licence for the little time I would be fishing.

The little Rovex Lure Pro is very unobtrusive travelling to marks. It peeks out for the back of my rucksack and doesn’t draw any attention. Once I arrive at my first mark of the morning it is just a matter of assembly. The rod feels a bit heavier than my normal rods. I mated it to a Penn Battle 2000 loaded with Ultima 8-strand braid of 20lb and very thin diameter. The assembly feels quite balanced. I loaded up with a 21g lure and flaked it up and outwards. If you could have seen the look on my face you would have smiled… My gob was open, I was impressed with the distance.

I began to work the lure back to me and at this stage I could feel the heavier rating of the rod. I was still able to feel every bump and touch on the rod. The Rovex is rated at 20-40g. While I would consider this a bit heavy for “normal” lure work we need to appreciate what we are doing here. We need an all-rounder that might have to tackle a 15lb Tuna or a feisty Barracuda. At the same time it needs to be able to get the most from a schoolie bass. Remember this is not a fishing holiday!

I caught nothing on that first session. It did not matter much. While it would be the goal it was not a necessity for enjoyment of the session. I tried out a few different lures and set ups. Wht the short session did was whet my appetite for another round.

A couple of mornings later I was on the same spot. I had a little more success and caught a small “lizard fish” These are a fairly toothy critter that can explode out of the water near you to grab a lure. Not exactly the bass I was hoping for. I have had bass here before and there has been an explosion of bass in and around the harbour of Puerto del Carmen.

My next session was on my last full day on the island. I headed out early in the morning but this time I headed for the breakwater of the port. You can access the rock armour on the outside of the breakwater near the base. You can get out to more than half way along. On this morning there was already a local on the end and he was casting lures. I was surely in the right area so!

The water here is deep. I cast out a 30g jig head and held the rod waiting for the head to touch bottom. It took well over twenty seconds to touch bottom but the combination of rod, braid and jighead still had feeling. Not bad and rather unexpected really.

I worked the lure back to me touching the bottom and retrieving. I tried up high in the water column and I hugged the bottom. While coming in close to the surface I got a decent thump. The lure was quite close in. I had a brief tussle with a decent fish. Thoughts of bonito were dashed when I saw the oblong shape of a toothy critter – a barracuda. I got a decent pull around the place before it sawed its way through the leader. You couldn’t expect much more really. It is something to be considered when fishing deeper marks in these sort of places. Certainly if you were going to be sending expensive hard lures out into  the deep you might have to consider the addition of a pike leader. I have seen lots of barracuda out here over the years.

Despite the presence of lots of baitfish, you could see plenty of little shoals of small mullet and suchlike boiling in front of me, I had no more hits. Mi compadre up the breakwater a bit had caught nothing either. The sun was getting high in the sky and the heat was building. I decided to call it a morning. When I saw the local chap packing up too I reckoned it was the best course of action. My buddy had caught earlier. We was carrying a fine bonito or some class of small tuna. You can only guess that the best times to be here are dawn or dusk. My feeling that I had left it a little late to arrive on the mark could be correct. I was very encouraged to see such a fish. It shows that the fish are there to be targeted. I packed up the Rovex lure-Pro. I packed up my little Tupperware box of lures and headed back to the family. I was the model husband for the rest of the day…. My mind was chasing tuna though!

The Rovex is perfect for this style of trip. It is incredibly well priced. It is a nice rod to use and fits the bill as an all rounder that can take on different types of fishing. It is after taking a few holidays at this stage. Cork based angler Danny Kane took one away to the Canaries recently. “A grand wand, it punches well above its price tag. I took it boat fishing as well as work-King it from the shore. It is tidy, easily packed and assembles well.” Decent praise indeed.

Notes

If you are considering taking some fishing gear away with you there are a few things you need to consider:

Some airlines do not allow fishing gear such as hooks and line in hand luggage. Check with your carrier or insure your gear is packed with checked-in luggage. These days more and more people are working with hand luggage only so it is important to check first. Having your pride and joy stopped at security would not be the ideal start to the holiday.

I have heard some horror stories of anglers on mainland Spain getting their gear confiscated by zealous “Policia Local”. It is not a common occurrence but it can happen. If I was on a serious angling trip I would consider a licence important. I am happy to take my chances on my short family  trip to Lanzarote.

Be aware that there are some serious toothy critters in the area. If you are using expensive lures you might consider a pike leader.