Sport fishing in Palermo
CharterFishing
Charter Fishing takes to the sea with passionate professionals who know how to enchant the lucky guests of their fishing trips.
With state-of-the-art boats and gear we take you to the most exclusive sport-fishing spots on the Sicilian coast: in complete safety, with skill and professionalism, fully relaxed, against the breathtaking backdrop of the Palermo coast.
We are lucky to have fishing grounds 200-300 metres deep and more just a few miles off the coast: they can be reached in less than an hour.
The “sea wolves” who will take you out have thirty years of experience, handed down by generations of fishermen. Jealous of their spots, they will show you techniques from their ancestors' days, when men spent months at sea to survive, such as six-hook bottom fishing with a hand line. Weathered faces, deep tans, a firm and proud character: true sea wolves. Careful, they bite!
Specialties, weather permitting
- Tuna drifting
- Deep-water bottom fishing
- Light bottom fishing
- Night squid fishing
- Light coastal trolling
- Vertical jigging
All included
Boat · All kinds of gear · Fuel · Bait · Food · Drinks on board
All you have to do is relax and enjoy your fishing day.
All year round, weather permitting
Deep-water bottom fishing
This is a highly technical kind of fishing: it needs electric reels, sturdy rods, weights close to a kilo and rigs with six or seven hooks, often circle or eagle-beak hooks, with star lights or lamps that draw fish in the dark of the deep. As we do it often, we have first-class gear for our guests.
Trips last several hours: from 300 metres it takes at least 15 minutes to reel in and another 15 to get back to the bottom, so you manage two or three drops an hour. On good days it is hard to bring the line up without at least one fish. The finest blackspot seabream are caught from January to May, summer brings plentiful catches, and in autumn and winter a giant conger may turn up. The best bait is sardine, in chunks or fillets, or squid.
What you can catch
Blackspot seabream · Deep-water grouper · Hake · Silver scabbardfish · Forkbeard · Conger eel · Blackbelly rosefish · John Dory
All year round, best from late August to October
Coastal trolling
One of the most popular techniques and the best for beginners: you fish close to the coast and it can quickly reward you with a good catch. Two or three rods are set at different depths and schools are tracked with the fish finder; when seagulls dive into a feeding frenzy, the boat skirts the edge and the rods start screaming, with spectacular strikes at the surface.
Light tackle is used to enjoy the fight more, with minnows, feathers and konas. Atlantic bonito arrive from January to May, amberjack and leerfish from May, dolphinfish and large bonito schools from September, bluefish from October.
What you can catch
Amberjack · Dentex · Atlantic bonito · Dolphinfish · Bluefish · Sea bass · Bullet tuna · Atlantic chub mackerel
June to August, sometimes into September
Night squid fishing
An evocative kind of fishing, out at sea, at night and in complete silence. You leave around 9 pm and return well after midnight: in summer, when it is sweltering on land, it is magical out on the water. The best nights are moonless, with a light land breeze.
Squid are drawn to light: a deep-water lamp and star lights go above the squid jig, baited with a horse mackerel or a strip of lard. The line is brought up slowly and steadily, with a vertical-jigging rod, a hand line or an electric reel. Some evenings bring dozens of squid, some over a kilo, and they are delicious.
What you can catch
European flying squid