Fly Fishing

Marcel_Karssies · Location: Enschede - The Netherlands

I have just returned from a visit to the Greek Island of Corfu.
Family invited me for weeks stay down there.
This was not exactly a fishing vacation but just in case I had packed my flyfishinggear with me.
My destination was Acharavi on the North side of the Island.
There I stayed in a holiday complex called Bostonian village just east of cities center at Almiros beach.
The name Bostonian sounded American, it turned out that the owner was a Greek from the USA who had returned to Greece to start in the hotel business.

On the first day I managed to get out and do some scouting along the beach.
Weather had been cold prior to my arrival.
The Ionian/Adriatic sea was still chilly and turbid due to high winds prior to my arrival.

Almiros beach east of Acharavi, In the background the Albanian coast.

I had hoped to see some fish activity in the surf but nothing was to be seen.
It was curious to see a beach without shells, another thing I missed was the presence of
gulls or wading birds.
At the end of the beach I found a harbor where a river flowed into the sea.

Estuary at the end of Almiros beach.

The river was locked from the sea by a sort of gate.
When I talked to one of the locals at another location it turned out to be a kind of fishtrap.
I talked to one of the local Greek anglers who could understand some English and German.
The man was catching mullet with traditional gear. In the mouth of the river I saw several mullet.
Other fish I saw where tiny seabream and a sort of small weaver type fish.
The latter was praying on tiny baitfish and would hit these from an ambush point underneath the rocky shoreline.

Mullet and a Greek fisherman in action.

I traveled further east and followed a trail along Cape Ektarinis.
I ended up at another river mouth at the village of Agios Spiridon and talked to a British tourist from Manchester who turned out to be a fisherman like me.
A Greek was fishing in the estuary for mullet.
He used the local method for fishing.
A whole bread covered with a fishing line containing many hooks was thrown in the
River.
The mullet would race in and start feeding on the bread.
If enough mullet where gathered the fisherman would jank at the line and snag one or more fish.
The man was obviously poaching since a sign in both Greek and Italian stated something like “no fishing” within so and so much meters of the river mouth.

Rivermouth at Agios Spiridon.

The Greek fisherman caught some fish and left after he had gathered a meal.
He kept his fishing session short since he did not wanted to be fined.
The Mullet made short work of the remaining pieces of bread that where floating along in the river.

I should have taken a bread fly with me.

I tried fishing some of the estuaries with streamers, shrimp patterns and crazy charlies but could not hook up.
From my prior research I knew it would be difficult but I had hoped to catch at least one little fish.
The place turned out to be fishless for me at least.
So I fished a couple of times with no success and decided to put the fishing gear away and just enjoy the landscape, weather and the excellent Greek food.
The fishing gear was replaced by the camera and I went on photo safari.

Some of the local wildlife.

I went on a couple of trips around the Island of Corfu and enjoyed the scenery.
A shame that those blue waters did not harbor fish for me.

Kalamaki beach.

A view from the Monastery of Paleokastritsa

Entry port to the Monastery of Paleokastritsa

Kouloura

A view from an abandoned fortification on Cape Ektarinis.

So a week of Corfu yielded no fish for me.
Still the scenery, climate and food made more then up for the lack of fish.
So in my view Corfu was not exactly the place for fishing but for the rest my stay was perfect. I can honestly say that I was saddened by the fact I had to leave the Island.
The sound of the surf at Acharavi and the climate of Corfu beats the racket of my antisocial neighbors in my apartment any day…

jeremy · Location: Portland, Maine

great shots marcel....you got a good eye. i bet you have a very impressive archive of digital photographs....when you get a chance...you should cull through all of the stuff and pic your best 10 out of all the thousands...would love to see them.

cya