This sections aim is to help anglers who have not fished in Portugal before or those of you that are struggling with the conditions. (eg : dealing with the heat to losing fish).
One of the biggest problems fishing here in Portugal is the heat. The lakes and resevoirs offer very little shade because of the lack of trees around the waters edge.
Items you should take with you are: Sun block factor 50, Thin cotton trousers, Long sleeved cotton shirts, Wide brim hat, Polarised sunglasses, Crocs or similar rubber shoes so you can wade in to net a fish without cutting your feet and plenty of drinking water.
Shade is a problem so what I do is attach a 2m x 3m ground sheet to the roof racks of my 4x4 and using 2 storm poles on the front with guy ropes for stability this gives shade and allows the breeze to go through to help keep me cool.
What about length and test curve of rod. My preference is a 13ft 3.5lbtc. There is good reason for this. Keeping the tips of rods high with the front of your pod elivated will help keep your line up in the water away from rocks and reducing line breakages on a run. Also the action of a 13ft rod will give more control when playing a good fish close to the net.
The reel used is also important. Your normal size baitrunner will be ok but a bigpit reel is far better with its bigger line capacity, greater casting distance, generally smoother clutch and when winding in leads from 200m or more it's alot easier.
Mono or braided line. A question I get ask alot. The new high tec mono lines are very strong but when it comes to fishing the lakes here in my opinion they are not up to the job. With large sharp rocks and very big hard fighting fish braid is my choice in diameters from 0.25mm to 0.35mm and 8 metres of 60lb breaking strain rubbing leader for abrasion resistance. This will withstand alot of rubbing against the rocks and land that PB carp where mono would have snapped.
Feature finding is as important here as it is in Britain. Half an hour with your marker will give you a good idea of what the bed of the lake is like. When setting up a marker lead I attach the lead to 30cm of leadcore with a big ring swivel the other end. Then I thread my braid marker line through big ring of the swivel then thread on two 5mm soft rubber beads and attach the marker float. When you have found a mark you want to fish start counting at 2 and letting line out a foot at a time you will find out how deep your swim is when the float appears on the surface.
The end tackle I use here is very simple. For short range work I use inline leads ranging from 3oz to 4oz. For long range work I use 4oz pear lead and for extreme range 4oz distance lead. I always use 1m of leadcore for extra abbrasion resistance and this is tied to the 8m braided rubbing leader.
Hooks and hook lengths. Hooks have to be strong here in sizes 1, 2, 4 and 6.
Hook lengths are braided minimum 25lb breaking strain. I use all different makes and coated and non coated.
When tying your own hooklinks always tie the hair loop first. Then cut the braid to desired length. Thread the cut end through the top of the eye of the hook and pull through to the desired length hair you need for the bait your using. This next step is important with the hook in your left hand start tying your knotless knot by turning the line around the shank of the hook away from you so the line is going away from the join of the eye. After 9 turns come back up the knot with 2 turns and back through the top of the eye pull tight and apply rig glue to the knot. At the other end of the hook link you can tie on a swivel or tie a loop. REMEMBER to glue that knot aswell.
Most common reasons for losing fish are: badly tied rigs, poor quality hooks straightening and line snapping. If you do what is written above I am sure you will catch more fish and lose less fish.