Fishing in La Graciosa

Just north of Lanzarote lies the island of La Graciosa. It’s a tiny rock outcrop, there are no cars, no paved roads and just 721 residents. Known for its incredibly empty beaches, such as Playa de las Conchas and Playa de la Cocina; but for us, anglers, it’s known for the abundance of fish.

jigging in La Graciosa

You need a special license to fish in the Natural Reserve of La Graciosa, but not everybody can get this license to fish here; … but capt. Bernardo is one of the few lucky persons to have this license that allows him to go fishing in La Graciosa!

His boat is moored in the port of Órzola, located right at the northern tip of Lanzarote. Órzola is a small fishing village known for being the only point to travel by ferry to the Island of La Graciosa.

“La Graciosa Sport Fishing is a professional fishing charter that offers sport fishing trips from Órzola in Lanzarote. We are specialised in bottom fishing, trolling, big game fishing, light tackle fishing and much more. Book this boat and enjoy the Island of La Graciosa from the other side!” Capt. Bernardo

Urta, a striped Red Snapper

Millions of years ago, the volcanic activity scattered the seafloor around La Graciosa Island with sea mounts, boulders & rocks. There are also ship wrecks and huge drop-offs. This irregular underwater structures are home to great fighters like amberjack, grouper, dentex, sama or pink dentex, wahoo, bluefish, barracuda or the amazing urta (Pagrus auriga) a kind of striped red snapper.

Jigging & Spin fishing

The most popular fishing techniques in La Graciosa are jigging and spin fishing. The captain has all the necessary tackle and lures on board, but the anglers normally prefer to bring their own tackle. Slow jigging in La Graciosa works really well with inchiku, kabura and slow jigs. They are pretty effective for groupers and snappers. A slow steady retrieve is enough because the skirts and ties flutter to lure the fish.

The big fish are caught with longer metal jigs. When fishing in top water one can use poppers, walk-the-dog stick bait to trigger the attack of wahoo, massive amberjack (up to 60kg!), bluefish, barracuda, jack, etc.

Bottom fishing

Fishing with cut bait such as squid, cuttle fish, sardines and even worms you’ll be busy all the time. All sorts of reef fish will be around your rig: snapper, striped red snapper or Urta like they call him over here, jack, abae, grouper, sea bream, dentex, etcetera.

Trolling

Trolling dead bait or artificials may be the most relaxing option. This technique will produce all sorts of predators such as bonito, (European) barracuda, wahoo, horse mackerel, dorado, etc. When trolling off shore with big game fishing tackle the fishing charters target bluefin tuna, big eye tuna and albacore during late march, april and may. When the waters slowly warm up the first bill fish will arrive to the waters of La Graciosa. The best time to go marlin fishing in these waters is September & October. In July and August you’ll be able to catch marlin but you’ll have to have more patience.