Mediterranean Spearfish on Fly!
By David Lewis
My article ‘Spearfish In The Med’ appeared in the 2022 edition of the IGFA World Record Game Fishes yearbook. For me, there were two things that stood out in this story. The first is the incredible number of spearfish swimming around the Balearic Island of Majorca. The second is that such an abundance of fish has remained below the radar of the international sportfishing community for so long.
Today Majorca is widely recognized as being one of the best, if not the very best, places anywhere in the world to catch a spearfish, and this can be attributed in large part to the incredible work and results achieved by Captain Vince Riera. An IGFA Captain for four years, Vince has spent his whole life fishing the waters of Mallorca and specializes in bluefin tuna, swordfish, and spearfish. He runs Mad Max, a Tiara 4100 Open from Alcudia, Mallorca (an alternate spelling for Majorca) year-round. His passion for fishing drives him to constantly try out new techniques and look for new fishing grounds.
As word has spread about this remarkable fishery, unsurprisingly many anglers have travelled to Majorca specifically to catch a spearfish to complete their IGFA Billfish Royal Slam. Anglers such as the Florida-based Rick Benitez. Benitez had already completed two IGFA Billfish Royal Slams, when he came across the March 2021 issue of Marlin which featured my article on Majorca’s fishing. He immediately saw an opportunity to add an additional billfish species to his personal life list. Today, following several trips fishing with Riera, he has completed an incredible 10 IGFA Billfish Royal Slams. “I have fished Kona and I believe Mallorca will give anyone their best shot at catching a spear,” Benitez recently told me.
“I have fished Kona and I believe Mallorca will give anyone their best shot at catching a spear”
Over the past few years, I have visited and fished in Majorca on numerous occasions. Living in the UK it’s so good to have access to a genuinely world-class blue water sport fishing destination within a two-hour flight from my home. During these trips, Riera and I have often discussed the possibilities of catching a spearfish on fly, something which at the time had never been achieved. Surely this was possible, we had mused.
Spearfishes (Mediterranean, longbill, shortbill and roundscale), are some of the most difficult species of billfish to catch for the IGFA Billfish Royal Slam, especially on fly. Spearfish may be wide-ranging throughout the tropical and sub-tropical oceans of the world but, formerly with the exception of Hawaii, nowhere were they found in sufficient concentrations to consistently target them using conventional tackle, let alone fly.
This is something that can be confirmed by looking through the IGFA World Record Database, where you’ll see that only two of the available tippet classes from a total of 14 eligible records for the Atlantic spearfish category have been claimed. Unbelievably, the 10-kg (20-lb) tippet class remains vacant. Similarly, there are seven vacant records for shortbill spearfish, with just seven recognized records currently held.
The 2023 spearfish season in Majorca has been truly incredible in terms of the number of spearfish Riera has tagged and released. Between April and the time of this writing, mid-June, Riera has tagged nearly 70 spearfish. On just one day, when fishing with Benitez, he tagged an unprecedented eight fish from ten strikes. When considering these numbers, you also need to factor in that the vast majority of Riera’s charters are with anglers wanting to fish for large bluefin tuna, which are also abundant around Majorca. Riera’s largest bluefin last year weighed over 1,000 pounds. Just how much of this spearfish abundance is due to some cyclic abundance of fish around the island, and how much can be contributed to Riera’s ever-increasing knowledge and understanding of these elusive fish is difficult to determine. I suspect the answer lies in a combination of both factors.
As 2023 unfolded, Riera and I were in frequent contact as it started to become clear that if we were going to achieve our goal of catching the first Mediterranean spearfish on fly, then this was going to be the year to do it.
As 2023 unfolded, Riera and I were in frequent contact as it started to become clear that if we were going to achieve our goal of catching the first Mediterranean spearfish on fly, then this was going to be the year to do it. But with a solid diary of already booked charters deciding upon a suitable date was not easy. Then an opening presented itself, and Riera suggested a couple of days in the first week of June, which is absolute prime time. Within an hour of that conversation, I had booked my flights to Palma.
The weather leading up to my trip had not been great. For several weeks an unseasonable band of heavy rain often accompanied by strong winds had covered the Balearics, but thankfully conditions were forecast to improve. They did, and for the two days we had set aside for my trip, conditions could not have been better.
Day one was spent working one of the most productive areas where Riera catches spearfish, off the island’s eastern coast in the deep, blue water channel that separates Majorca from her sister island of Minorca. That day we raised six spearfish, and there is little doubt that had we been fishing lures and pitch baits we would have tagged at least three or four fish. A couple of fish were teased close enough to the back of Mad Max for me to make a few casts, with one hanging around long enough for me to cast my fly at it, at least twenty times while with the boat still in neutral. It was an exciting day on the water, and a real privilege to be able to observe these rarely seen fish free swimming at such close quarters, but no cigar.
Day two we returned to the same area, and it wasn’t long before the first spearfish was snapping at the squid bait skipping way back in our wake. An aggressive fish, it teased right up to the transom and when I cast, it rushed the fly. It looked as if finally, we were going to get our chance to seal the deal, but rather than eat the fly it just gave it a side swipe with its bill.
Throughout the day we had some great shots at fish. Then around midday, one grabbed the fly. When I set the hook, everything appeared to lock up solid, but as soon as it started to run the fly fell out. Over the two days we started to realize that the fish’s first reaction appeared to be to hit the fly with their bill, as if they were trying to disable a fish before returning at leisure to eat it. Consequently, rather than continuing to strip a fly after a fish had reacted to it, I let it sit. Then, when the fish showed further interest, gave it a couple of tugs. That did the trick!
Late in the afternoon just as I was beginning to think I had missed my opportunity, another hot fish attacked the teasers. As soon as Riera put the boat in neutral and the mate pulled the teaser out, I cast. The fish rushed the fly and moments later it was hooked. The fish ran a short distance and started jumping, at which point I was terrified the fly would fall out, but the hooks held, and everything went to plan. The relief when a crewman finally grabbed the bill of my fish was overwhelming.
Riera and I had already decided that if we were to be successful in our endeavor, the fish would be released, and so we did. Watching that beautiful fish swim away is undoubtedly the absolute highlight of my sport fishing journey so far.
To contact Captain Vince Riera, telephone numbers are: +34 667 93 09 02 and +34 675 44 73 05
email: [email protected]