

Chipiona Charter
Rota, Cadiz (ES)
Located in the province of Cadiz in Southern Spain, Rota is home to the Naval Station Rota, also known as NAVSTA Rota. This is the largest American military community in Spain.
Located close to Puerto de Santa María, Chipiona, Sanlúcar de Barrameda and Jerez de la Frontera, this is also a great place for sport fishing. Offshore, Rota offers big game fishing for tuna, dorado and marlin. Inshore there's snapper, seabream, jack, scorpion fish, meagre and pelegic species such as bonito and skipjack tuna.
Rota lies at the north of the enormous bay of Cadiz. In the centre of the bay is Puerto de Santa Maria and the estuary of the river Guadalete. The bay has shallow silty seafloor with hardly any obstacles. There is bluefish, seabass and gilt-head bream in the bay. Further off-shore, rocky areas areas provice nice bottom fishing with banded seabream, scorpion fish, blackspot seabream, snapper, jack...
Outside the bay, the seafloor descends slowly, you have to sail 20 miles to find deeper waters for biggame fishing.
These waters are extremely rich with tremendous amounts of baitfish that attract pelagic fish such including tuna, marlin, wahoo and dorado.
The Amberjack species are a game fish that are found both in the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Jigging and live bait fishing are the best techniques to target these magnificent fighters. Greater Amberjack can weigh up to 170 lb (80 kg).
The dentex (Dentex dentex) is a common saltwater fish in the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea and sometimes they appear in the Canary Islands, Morocco and Senegal. They have very strong teeth to feed on fish, squid and mollusca. Dentex are a great species for sportfishing and are targetted mainly trolling or jigging. The larger fish are 1m long and can weigh up to 15 kg (35 lb).
The pink dentex (Dentex gibbosus) is a saltwater fish distributed from Portugal to Angola, Canary Islands and the warmer areas of the Mediterranean Sea such as southern Spain and the Gibraltar Strait area, Morocco, southern Italy, Tunisia and Algeria. The larger fish are 1,2 m long and can weigh up to 18 kg (40 lb).
Atlantic Bonito (Sarda sarda) is a rapid fish species known for being great hunters. They have striping on their backs with silver-coloured undersides and they grow up to 30 inches long. They have a hydrodynamic body shape, even more so than larger tuna.
Mahi Mahi (Coryphaena hippurus) are also commonly referred to as dorado, dolphin or dolphinfish. They are recognizable by their bluntly shaped heads, long dorsal fin and their bright colouring, dark blue and green on their dorsal side and yellow on their sides and underside.
Wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri), also known as Ono (meaning “delicious” in Hawaiian), are found in many subtropical and tropical waters. They’re identifiable by their blue-green upper body which shifts into silver towards their belly. They also have blue vertical striping along their sides. These predators are torpedo-shaped and have long and largemouths with teeth.
The White Marlin (Kajikia albida) is a very nice predator which can be caught off shore in warmer waters. This powerful fighter usually feeds during day time on fish, octopuses and squids. They can be caught trolling with artificial lures or with dead bait (bonito, mackerel...).
The Little tunny or False Albacore (Euthynnus alletteratus) is easily identified by the dark spots under its pectoral fins. They like warm temperate and tropical waters of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The larger Little Tunny weigh up to 35lb and can reach 1,2m.
The Albacore (Thunnus alalunga) has large eyes and long pectoral fins. This is why this species is also known as longfin tuna. The largest Albacore can reach up to 140 cm (4.6ft) and weigh up to 40 kg (90lb).
The skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) have a strong body with black stripes on the side. The largest skipjack tuna can reach up to 100 cm (40 inch) and weigh up to 10 kg (22 lb). Skipjack are mainly caught trolling lures.
Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus) or simply mackerel have a great back with irregular black bands. They're very common and like the temperate waters of the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea and the northern Atlantic Ocean. Mackerel are typically between 25-35cm.
The Bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) is known by anglers as being a fast, aggressive and strong fish of the ocean. They are fun to target and give a real challenge to anyone who comes across them while fishing. They inhabit temperate and subtropical waters around the world. Bluefish have extremely powerful jaws with razor sharp teeth. They can grow over a meter and weigh over 10kg.
The sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) is for many sport fishermen a trophy fish because of the nice fight they offer but also because they're an excellent eating fish. Sea bass, also known as European bass, are found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, from northern Norway to Senegal, the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. They can grow up to 1 metre and weigh up to 12kg.
Gilt-head Bream (Sparus aurata) is a common species in the Mediterranean Sea and also in the Atlantic Ocean from Britain to Cape Verde. Popular in the Mediterranean cuisine, the fish is easily recognized by the gold bar marking between its eyes. The largest gilt-head bream are 1 metre long and can weigh up to 7kg (15lb).
The Blue Marlin (Makaira nigricans) is probably the most wanted fish in the sport fishing world. The magnificent fighter usually feeds during day time on fish, octopuses and squids. Blue Marlin is mainly caught trolling with artificial lures or with dead bait (bonito, mackerel...).
The blue shark (Prionace glauca) is a migratory, live-bearing shark that feeds mainly on smaller fish and squid. They can be found in all the oceans and sees around the world.
The meagre (Argyrosomus regius) - also known as croaker or corvina in Spanish - is a great silver colored sport fish found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Meagre use to feed on squid, crustaceans, sardines and mullet in inshore waters like estuaries and coastal lagoons. This species can become huge! Meagre can grow to 2m (80 in) in length and 50 kg (110 lb) in weight.
Yellowfin tuna grow fast, up to 400 pounds (180kg) in about a 7-year lifespan, and they range in length from 59 inches to 88 inches long. They’re known for their torpedo shape, with a pointed nose and a sickle-shaped tail, and have dark blue backs with yellow sides (thus their name) with a silver underside.
Grouper is common name for all the bass-looking-fish from the Epinephelinae Family. This family also includes sea bass by the way. Grouper are colorful predators who like to live in rocky areas, reefs, wrecks where they can hide.
The common pandora (Pagellus erythrinus) is a type of snapper, common in the Meditarranea Sea, but is also present in the eastern Atlantic coastal areas from Cape Verde to Scandinavia. The biggest pandora can grow up to 50cm (20 inch).
The Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus) is a pelagic fish that can grow up to 500kg (1000lb). The biggest Bluefin Tuna every caught was 780kg (1496lb). These great fighters can be caught trolling, jigging, casting or drifting; mainly off-shore.
Fishing in Rota from April and May is an ideal time to do trolling and jigging for bluefin tuna, albacore and little tunny. Spring is also a good time to fish with live bait to target dentex, grouper or meagre.
Summer is ideal for fishing bluefin tuna or white marlin trolling off Rota. Closer to shore, live bait fishing produces dentex, pink dentex, grouper or amberjack.
Fishing in Rota in autumn is great to catch bonito, skipjack tuna, dolphin fish (mahi-mahi), frigate tuna, little tunny, smaller bluefin tuna and sometimes even wahoo. Light tackle trolling with smallers lures & feathers is the best and easiest way to catch these species.
Bottom fishing for blackspot seabream, scorpion fish, snapper or redbanded seabream for example and live bait fishing for meagre, amberjack, sama, grouper.
Wether you fish from the shore, on your own boat, with a shared charter or a private charter, you need a fishing license to go sea fishing in Rota. The fishing charters in Rota normally have the fishing license included in the price, so you don't need to buy one if you're chartering a boat.
If you do wish to buy a fishing licence, you can purchase one on the website of the Junta de Andalucia.