Fishing in Portugal

Reef Fishing and Sea Fishing in Portugal

You can organize short fishing trips from ports like Cascais or Sesimbra if you want to go fishing in Lisbon, Portimao, Vilamoura or Tavira in Algarve, Sines in the Alentejo, Nazaré, etc.

Normally the fishing guides do bottom fishing or trolling along the coast. Wile bottom fishing you fish for sea bream, guilthead sea bream, sea bass, mackerel, conger eel, sole and other smaller fish with natural bait (octopus, squid, sardine, worms, etc). You can also catch bigger predators like the Dentex, grouper, amberjack and corvina with life bait.

Big Game Fishing in Portugal

Portugal is a premium Big Game Fishing country. Madeira and Azores are first class Blue Marlin destinations; but lets not forget that the bill fish and the tuna also visit the waters of the Algarve.

Situated at 45 nautical miles from Portimao (Algarve) the Picos Herminios are THE hotspot for large Blue Marlin, White Marlin, Swordfish, Tuna and shark. Compared to the Azores and Madeira, anglers believe that there's more Blue Marlin around the islands, but the marlin caught in Picos have a much higher average weight.

The Blue Marlin fishing season starts towards the end of june, when the ocean starts to warm up. They stay till the end of october. White marlin stay till end of november. Blue fin tuna can be caught between april and august. Other great sportfish are albacore, dorado, spear fish, skipjack and amberjack. Blue sharks are the most common shark but you can also catch Mako and Hammerhead sharks. There are yearly marlin fishing tournaments run from Vilamoura marina and Tavira.

You need a fishing license to fish in fresh water and salt water. The fishing charters in Portugal normally have the fishing license included in the price, so you don't need to buy one if you're chartering a boat.

Other boats sell a daily fishing license for 5€ on board.

Depending on the charter fishing boat and on the duration of your fishing tour, you’ll pay more or less for the tour. The price for a private 4 hour Portugal fishing trip is 350€. An 8 hour private trip will cost you 1200€.

What does the price include?

The price usually includes the captain, fishing tackle, fuel, bait & lures, taxes and fishing licenses. On every listing we indicate whether drinks and food are included.

Once you’ve made a booking, the captain will contact you to arrange the meeting point and the departure time. Also, we recommend you contact the captain a couple of days before the tour to confirm the weather forecast.