fishing in portugal

I'm holidaying in Portugal at the end of August. Has anyone any ideas as to what fishing might be available? I'm staying at Alvor, near Portimao, Western Algarve...

Looking at a few websites, there appears to be plenty of offshore charter fishing but I'm thinking more of beach or rock fishing. Apparently there are plenty of rocky coves & inlets to go at. I'm a coarse angler mainly, I'm just thinking of taking a telescopic rod, some terminal tackle & buying a bag of prawns or small fish from the locals & seeing what comes along whilst the Mrs suns herself...

Any ideas or information greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Steve

Hello Steve I havent been to Portugal but have fished like this in Spain and Greece and great fun it is too bits of fish are fine as are prawns ,limpits of the rocks also work as does bread for the mullet.I would also take a tub of soft hooker pellets in a fishy flavour the light coloured ones about 3 pound a tub just in case bait is scarce.
You will catch all manner of strange creatures of the rocks just watch out for the teeth on some of them even the small wrasse I think they were wrasse any way have got a nasty little bite .
Try the marinas as well for the mullet and dont forget a couple of floats, good luck

Steve, you could not have posted at a better time, I have just come back from 2 weeks at Albufeira...please take note of one thing..
You need to buy a licence......for the first time this year, the Portuguese have demanded licences for sea fishing. it will cost you 3 Euros for 3 weeks, which is peanuts, there are 3 types of licence, one for spearfishing, which also includes boat and shore fishing, one for boat fishing, which also includes shore fishing, and one for shore fishing alone.The main problem is actually getting the licence, they are only available from Multipoint Cash points, which the Portuguese use for paying utility bills, and the Multipoints only accept Debit cards....and the instructions are in Portuguese..I was lucky and found a friendly tackle dealer who went to the machine and did the bis... you also need your passport number on the licence have to have your passport with you when fishing. I have been told that some anglers have allready had their gear siezed by the police for not complying.
So far as fishing is concerned, well,from the beach there is not very much doing, but if you go off the rocks, use uncooked prawn for bait, light line (about 10-15lb) small hooks, size 4 or 6, and you may get lucky and hook a bream or two. The locals use very light gear indeed, what we would class as freshwater gear, quivertip rods and only 1 or 2 oz leads. If you want any more info PM me.
Oh, if you want to see some Nutters, go to Cap st Vincent just up the coast, there the locals use the above gear and stand right on the edge of 250 - 300ft cliffs, catching Bream, and use a wire drop net to get them up the drop.....

Further to my last post...as Gav says, do take a couple of floats, a pike float and possibly a largish Chubber, you can use the Pike float off the rocks with a long (up to 4 feet) trace for the Bream,and the Chubber for the Mullet,which are very plentiful in the Harbours, also it is fun to have a go for the Squid and Cuttle fish which swim right into the edges during the evening and night, you will be able to buy a Squid lure from any local tackle shop, the locals fish them under a float similar to a pike float on sliding gear with a stop knot.Bait ... well, you can buy harbour ragworm in boxes from local tackle dealers, which the locals do, or alternativley buy some raw prawns from any supermarket, I found that they worked better than the Ragworm.The Portuguese take virtually everything they catch to eat, and did look at me sideways when I put back the Bream that I caught.The boat fishing in Summer can be either for Big Game fish, or reef fishing, which consists mainly of Bream, Pouting, Mackerel, Couches Bream (which are very rare in the UK.)Scad, Conger,etc... the boats provide tackle, and fish for Conger with handlines !Check out the Gallery for Pic of Portuguse style Rock fishing.

Gav & David, thanks for the replies. As with anywhere, it's the licences that can pose problems. Knowing what's needed & where to get 'em etc. Thanks for the info re the cash machines, looks like I'll have to brush up on my Portuguese to buy my license, otherwise I might end up paying my gas bill!!
Tackle wise I'm thinking of pike gear. Like you say, 15lb line, pike floats, wire & mono traces, some drilled bullets, beads & links & swivels, and various hooks.
I've never sea fished abroad before, nor in the UK for that matter, but I do fancy having a go. My mate tries to get a bit of fishing wherever he goes in the world on holiday & he comes back & tells me all sorts of weird tales. It just sounds fun, just to pass an hour or two rather than lying in the sun getting bored. That's the plan anyway, whether or not she'll let me is another matter.....
Cheers again
Steve

By the way David... Just looked at that picture in the gallery... please tell me that guy is tied onto the rocks in some way! I've never had a fear of heights before, but looking at that picture, I do now!
Steve

Steve, No, no ropes... they dont seem fazed by the danger at all, that lad is just one of over 20 doing just the same thing that day, the only problem was that he was the only one I could get a good photo of without donning my Climbing boots.They do actually lean out over the drop to get the fish into the drop net.
Glad the info was of some use.The cliffs where you are going are not so high. :>)
David.