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Madeira

Fishing regions · Last reviewed 2026-08-24

A single steep volcanic island and its outliers, standing on a submarine slope so abrupt that a fishery worked at a thousand metres is prosecuted within sight of the harbour wall.

Safety: cliffs and rock platforms — can cause serious injury or death. 5 more points apply here.

What each one does, and what reduces it ↓

Fishing here at a glance

What you can catch
Ways to fish
From the shore · From a boat · On a charter · Spearfishing
Where to fish
How people fish
Plan a trip
When is best · Baits and lures to bring · Open the trip planner
Local help
2 tackle shops, charters and guides
Rules and access
Who sets the rules here — being listed is never permission to fish.
Being listed here is not permission to fish. What that means

Access, fishing rights, seasons, licences, local bylaws and permitted methods vary and can change. Check current access, permission, local regulations, closures and restrictions before you travel or fish. FishingHQ describes what the ground is and names who holds the answer; it does not hold the answer itself.

Find the authority for a jurisdiction · What FishingHQ does and does not cover

Madeira is one large island, one much smaller sandy one at Porto Santo, and two uninhabited groups — the Desertas and the Selvagens — sitting six hundred kilometres off Morocco in water four kilometres deep. Three things separate its fishing from the Canaries, which is the archipelago it most resembles and the one it is most often confused with.

THE SLOPE IS STEEPER AND CLOSER. Madeira rises from the abyssal plain as a single mountain, and its submarine flanks fall away within a very short distance of the coast. That is true of the Canaries too, but here it produces something the Canaries do not have: a commercial deep-water fishery, for black scabbardfish at eight hundred to twelve hundred metres, worked on vertical longlines from small boats that leave and return the same night. Câmara de Lobos exists because of it.

THE NORTH AND SOUTH COASTS ARE DIFFERENT ISLANDS. The mountain spine runs east to west and rises above eighteen hundred metres, so the north coast takes the prevailing north-easterly and the Atlantic swell full on while the south coast sits in its lee. The practical consequence for an angler is that the two coasts are fishable in almost opposite conditions, and Porto Moniz and Seixal on the north are a different proposition from Funchal and Câmara de Lobos on the south in the same week.

THERE IS NO SHALLOW GROUND TO SPEAK OF, AND NO RIVERS. What fresh water there is runs in short mountain streams and in the levada channels, which are irrigation infrastructure under conservation designation rather than fisheries. An angler arriving from mainland Europe finds the estuary, the salt marsh and the sandbank fishery simply absent.

The inshore fish community is the eastern Atlantic subtropical one — white seabream, parrotfish, dentex, grouper, moray, barracuda and amberjack over rock — with bluefish and bonito taken from the rocks on lures, which is a genuinely pelagic proposition from the shore. The blue water offshore holds the big-game fishery the island is internationally known for.

What fishing here is like

A single steep volcanic island where the deep water starts immediately and the fishery is layered vertically rather than spread horizontally. Shore fishing from lava rock and harbour walls; a small-boat artisanal fishery working depths a shore angler cannot imagine, within sight of the coast; and a big-game charter sector on the blue water beyond.

The culture is Portuguese and island-Atlantic, built around a working fishing town rather than around recreational angling, which is the opposite balance to most European destinations of comparable size.

What you can target here

One entry per fish, grouped by how you would be fishing — because the answer is a different one from the rocks and from a boat. Each entry says how strongly the sources support it and how much evidence sits behind it. These are documented catches, not a forecast, and none of it is a statement that you may fish any particular ground.

From the shore · 22

Also documented from the shore: White seabream · Greater amberjack · Bluefish · Atlantic bonito · Dusky grouper · Atlantic mackerel · Atlantic chub mackerel · Atlantic lizardfish · Big-scale sand smelt · Canary damselfish · Common pandora · Diamond lizardfish · Great barracuda · Lesser weever · Madeira rockfish · Ornate wrasse

From a boat · 1

Spearfishing · 1

What these strengths mean
Regular local target
Fishing sources describe this as a normal local target here, not merely as caught.
Repeatedly reported
Several independent public accounts. Enough to say it happens more than once; not enough to call it a fishery.
Recorded here
At least one credible public account of this species being caught here. That is all it means.
How breadth is counted
A fish documented at six marks is shown as six marks: breadth never raises the strength on its own. A fishery account describes the fishing; a recorded catch reports one specific catch. How evidence is weighed.

Also caught across this area

Fish documented across this area but not at any of the named places above — from area-wide fishing sources and dated catch accounts that do not name a single spot.

Caught in this area

Documented being caught in this area, without being described as something people set out for.

Where this comes from
  • Atlantic blue marlin — caught in this area. One source describes it as a target here; a second independent account is needed to call it a regular one.
    • Operator-published information for the Macaronesian services, read on 29 August 2026 — The named operators themselves — charter businesses in Madeira, the Azores, Tenerife and Gran Canaria, and a Tenerife tackle shop, each read on its own website
  • Swordfish — caught in this area. One source describes it as a target here; a second independent account is needed to call it a regular one.
  • Wahoo — caught in this area. One source describes it as a target here; a second independent account is needed to call it a regular one.
    • Operator-published information for the Macaronesian services, read on 29 August 2026 — The named operators themselves — charter businesses in Madeira, the Azores, Tenerife and Gran Canaria, and a Tenerife tackle shop, each read on its own website

None of this says you may fish anywhere or take anything: licences, protected species, minimum sizes and closed areas are set by the local authority. How evidence is weighed.

How people fish here

6 methods are recorded on the places documented here, counted from those places themselves rather than from what is practised in the country. Each opens a full guide to the technique.

  • Spinning

    Recorded at 8 places here, over bay, rock platform, cove, harbour wall.

    Casting an artificial lure and retrieving it so that it moves like something alive — the most direct form of lure fishing.

    Documented on the same ground: Bluefish, Bogue, Derbio, Greater amberjack, Mediterranean parrotfish, Red porgy.

  • Float fishing

    Recorded at 7 places here, over bay, cove, harbour wall, island.

    Suspending a bait at a controlled depth beneath a buoyant indicator — the most visual, most controllable and most widely applicable method in angling.

    Documented on the same ground: Bogue, Derbio, Mediterranean parrotfish, Red porgy, Saddled seabream, Salema porgy.

  • Ledgering

    Recorded at 5 places here, over bay, cove, harbour wall, island.

    Fishing a bait on the bottom held by a weight, with no float — the simplest way to fish at distance, in depth, or in wind.

    Documented on the same ground: Bogue, Derbio, Mediterranean parrotfish, Red porgy, Saddled seabream, Salema porgy.

  • Jigging

    Recorded at 3 places here, over rock platform, headland.

    Working a weighted lure with a rising-and-falling motion, usually vertically, so it behaves like a wounded or fleeing baitfish.

    Documented on the same ground: Bluefish, Bogue, Derbio, Greater amberjack, Mediterranean parrotfish, Red porgy.

  • Light rock fishing

    Recorded at 3 places here, over harbour wall, pier, rock mark.

    Ultralight lure fishing from the shore with tackle rated in single grams — a discipline that catches the fish everybody else steps over, and one FishingHQ held every component of and had never named.

    Documented on the same ground: Bogue, Derbio, Mediterranean parrotfish, Red porgy, Saddled seabream, Salema porgy.

  • Drop shotting

    Recorded at 1 place here, over harbour wall.

    A finesse rig with the weight below the hook, letting a small soft plastic be worked in place, off the bottom, without moving anywhere.

    Documented on the same ground: Bogue, Derbio, Mediterranean parrotfish, Red porgy, Saddled seabream, Salema porgy.

Described by sources for this area

These are the methods documented at the places FishingHQ holds here. A species listed beside a method is documented on the same ground, which is not the same as being taken that way — where a source establishes the method a fish was caught on, it is stated on that place’s own page. All fishing methods.

Baits and lures for these fish

The methods, baits and lures each of the fish above is commonly taken on, from that fish’s own page. This is what works for the fish, not a report of what people use on this particular water — local knowledge and the conditions on the day still decide.

Methods

Also: Saltwater fly fishing · Shore diving

Baits

Lures

The fishing year here

The months the places and accounts under this area actually name, tightest season first. This is “observed in these months” rather than a season: a species whose months nobody recorded is not listed, because a gap in the evidence is not a year-round fishery.

Fishing services here

Businesses FishingHQ has researched, each from what it publishes about itself. Listed by name, not ranked and not recommended — and none of it means a trip is running or a shop is open today. Ring before you travel.

Charters and fishing trips (2)

  • Katherine B Sport Fishing

    Charter and fishing trips · Madeira

    A big-game boat working Madeiran water for blue marlin and tuna, under a skipper with a long published record in the fishery, and tagging and releasing its billfish.

    Checked against the operator's own information, last checked 2026-08-29.

  • Sport Fishing Madeira

    Charter and fishing trips · Funchal, Madeira · leaves from The Funchal waterfront

    The vessel Balancal out of Funchal, describing itself as a big game and deep sea charter, and running a shorter bottom fishing trip for people who want to fish rather than to hunt a marlin.

    Checked against the operator's own information, last checked 2026-08-29.

Every fishing service FishingHQ lists · Tell us about one we have missed

What dominates

Shore fishing from lava platform, harbour wall and mole for bream, parrotfish, moray and wrasse, mostly on light line because the water is clear. Spinning and popping from the rocks for bluefish, bonito and amberjack, one of the few European coasts where a pelagic fish is a realistic shore target. Offshore trolling and big-game fishing over deep water reached in minutes rather than hours. Bottom fishing and jigging on the slope. Spearfishing is practised and regionally regulated.

The water available

Lava rock coast — platform, boulder, cliff and natural pool — around almost the whole island, with the volcanic pools at Porto Moniz the best known. Very little sand, and what there is at Porto Santo is a single long calcareous beach unlike anything on the main island. No shelf worth the name: the slope falls steeply within a short distance of the shore and reaches a thousand metres on the doorstep. No estuaries and no permanent rivers; fresh water runs in short mountain streams and in the levada channels.

How the rules are structured

Madeira is an autonomous region of Portugal with its own fisheries administration, and recreational sea and underwater fishing are licensed regionally rather than by the mainland directorate. Species, size, quantity and gear measures apply and change, and the marine protected areas around the archipelago — including the Desertas and Selvagens reserves — constrain access independently of any licence. Nothing on this page should be read as a current position: establish licensing, protected-area boundaries and any spearfishing restriction with the regional fisheries directorate before fishing. FishingHQ does not state what any current rule is.

Who to ask

  • The Regional Directorate for Fisheries of Madeira, for recreational licences, sizes and species rules
  • The managing authority of any marine protected area or nature reserve, whose zoning governs what is permitted inside it
  • The regional forestry and nature-conservation authority, for the levadas and the mountain streams
  • Harbour and port authorities, for access to quays, moles and slipways

Words you will meet

Espada
The black scabbardfish, Aphanopus carbo. A deep-slope fish taken at eight hundred metres and more on vertical longlines, and the species the island's commercial fishery is built on. Not a rod-and-line proposition.
Levada
An irrigation channel cut along the mountainsides to carry water from the wet north to the dry south. Walking routes rather than fisheries, and under conservation administration.
Poça
A natural pool in the lava coast. The Porto Moniz pools are the best known, and a poça is a feature of the ground rather than a mark in itself.
Xavelha
The traditional open fishing boat of Câmara de Lobos, and the reason the bay looks the way it does in every painting of it.

Conditions and hazards

The north coast is the hazard. It faces the prevailing wind and the open Atlantic with no shelf to take the energy out of the swell, and it is cliff-bound for most of its length, so a rock position there is exposed in a way the sheltered south coast never suggests. People are washed from rock on Atlantic-island coasts regularly and Madeira is no exception.

Lava rock is abrasive, undercut and holed, and a fall onto it causes worse injury than a fall onto smoother rock. Footwear matters more than usual.

Deep water immediately offshore means somebody entering the water is out of their depth almost at once and frequently in current. Sun and dehydration are constant at this latitude and degrade judgement before they produce symptoms.

Places within this area

Publicly documented fishing geography. FishingHQ describes what the ground is; it does not say whether you may fish it, and every one of these sends that question to the body that holds the answer. Browse every place in this part of the world.

Who to ask before fishing any of these

FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Madeira is an autonomous region of Portugal with its own fisheries administration, and recreational sea and underwater fishing are licensed regionally rather than by the mainland directorate. Species, size, quantity and gear measures apply and change, and marine protected areas around the archipelago constrain access independently. Check the current position with the regional fisheries directorate before going.

  • Ribeira Brava, Madeira

    Harbour wall · Salt water

    A town at the mouth of a deep ravine on Madeira's south coast, with a small harbour and a promenade built out over a shingle and boulder foreshore below steep valley sides.

    On the sheltered southern coast, and further sheltered inside the harbour arm. The wind that decides whether this coast or the north is fishable comes down the ravine as much as off the sea.

    Particular to this ground: boat traffic and being seen, sun, dehydration and fatigue.

    Severe hazards of Madeira apply here: cliffs and rock platforms.

    Particular to this water: This is an owned and operated structure. Whether angling is allowed on it, when, from where and on what terms is the operator's decision, is frequently seasonal, and changes without notice.

  • Porto Novo, Madeira

    Pier · Salt water

    A concrete pier running out below cliffs on Madeira's south-east coast, east of Funchal, over a shingle and boulder foreshore.

    On the sheltered south coast under high ground, and open to whatever southerly swell runs along it. The cliffs behind mean the wind at the pier is not the wind on the island.

    Particular to this ground: drowning and immersion, sun, dehydration and fatigue.

    Severe hazards of Madeira apply here: cliffs and rock platforms.

    Particular to this water: This is an owned and operated structure. Whether angling is allowed on it, when, from where and on what terms is the operator's decision, is frequently seasonal, and changes without notice.

  • Porto da Cruz, Madeira

    Rock mark · Salt water

    A north-coast village below the Penha de Águia, with a black shingle beach and rock at either end of it, the western end being the ground an angler works.

    Fully open to the northern Atlantic. Madeira's north coast takes the swell the south does not, and the practical planning here is which coast the wind allows rather than which mark is best.

    Particular to this ground: cliffs and rock platforms, drowning and immersion, sun, dehydration and fatigue.

  • Câmara de Lobos

    Bay · Salt water

    A small bay under a headland on Madeira's south coast, with a shingle landing for the open boats, rock platform on both flanks and the submarine slope falling to abyssal depth a short distance offshore.

    Sheltered by the island's mountain spine from the prevailing north-easterly, which is the whole reason a small-boat fishery works from an open bay here.

    Severe hazards of Madeira apply here: cliffs and rock platforms.

    Particular to this water: A working fishing harbour with an active small-boat fleet. Where a person may stand on the quay or the landing is the harbour authority's decision and is not a matter of public right.

  • The Funchal waterfront

    Harbour wall · Salt water

    The seawall, marina and cruise quay of Madeira's capital, built along a steep-to shore where the ground falls away from the wall itself rather than shelving out.

    On the sheltered south coast in the lee of the mountains, which makes it the most consistently fishable urban shore on the island.

    Severe hazards of Madeira apply here: cliffs and rock platforms.

    Particular to this water: A working commercial port and marina. Access to quays and walls, and whether angling is permitted from them, are the port authority's decisions and change with vessel movements.

  • Machico

    Bay · Salt water

    A bay at the eastern end of the south coast with an artificial sand beach at its head, rock on both flanks and the island's main airport on the cliff above.

    Open to the east and south-east rather than to the prevailing wind, so it behaves differently from the rest of the south coast in an easterly.

    Severe hazards of Madeira apply here: cliffs and rock platforms.

  • Ponta de São Lourenço

    Headland · Salt water

    The long, narrow, treeless peninsula running east from Madeira's eastern end, a spine of eroded volcanic rock dropping in cliffs on both sides with deep water and strong streams round its point.

    Exposed on both faces with the north side taking the full prevailing wind and Atlantic swell. The peninsula is a nature reserve and the ground is open and unsheltered along its whole length.

    Particular to this ground: cliffs and rock platforms.

    Particular to this water: The peninsula is a protected natural area with waymarked routes and constraints on where people may go. Those are the reserve manager's and are independent of anything about fishing.

  • Porto Moniz

    Rock platform · Salt water

    A lava platform at the island's north-western corner, holding the natural volcanic pools the village is known for, with broken rock and deep water immediately beyond them.

    The most exposed corner of the island, taking the prevailing north-easterly and Atlantic swell on a coast with no shelf to reduce it. The pools are calm and the rock beyond them is not.

    Particular to this ground: cliffs and rock platforms.

4 more places in this area

  • Seixal

    Cove · Salt water

    A small north-coast settlement under vertical cliffs, with black volcanic sand, a natural pool cut into the lava and rocky bays either side of the point.

    North-facing under high cliffs, taking the prevailing wind and the Atlantic swell with the cliff offering no lee at water level.

    Severe hazards of Madeira apply here: cliffs and rock platforms.

  • Paul do Mar

    Rock platform · Salt water

    A narrow shelf of boulder and lava under the cliffs of Madeira's western end, reached by a road tunnel, with deep water close in and a long fetch to the south-west.

    A west-facing shelf under high cliffs with a long Atlantic fetch and no shelter, and swell that arrives without local warning.

    Severe hazards of Madeira apply here: cliffs and rock platforms.

  • Porto Santo

    Island · Salt water

    The low, dry, sedimentary island forty kilometres north-east of Madeira, with a single nine-kilometre calcareous sand beach along its south side and rock at both ends — the only substantial sand in the archipelago.

    Low and open with no mountain spine to shelter either coast, so it has no lee in the way Madeira's south coast does.

    Severe hazards of Madeira apply here: cliffs and rock platforms.

    Particular to this water: The island is reached by ferry from Funchal or by air, and its waters carry the archipelago's protected-area framework. Access and any restriction are the regional authorities' answers.

  • The Desertas

    Island · Salt water

    Three uninhabited cliff-bound islands running north to south twenty-five kilometres south-east of Madeira, a strict nature reserve with deep water and strong streams between them and the main island.

    Unsheltered cliff-bound ground in open Atlantic water, with the channel between the islands and Madeira running hard.

    Particular to this ground: boat safety.

    Severe hazards of Madeira apply here: cliffs and rock platforms.

    Particular to this water: The Desertas are a strict nature reserve and the last stronghold of the Mediterranean monk seal in the archipelago. Landing, approach and any activity in the surrounding waters are controlled by the reserve authority, and no part of this record should be read as suggesting the ground is open.

Safety

Cliffs and rock platforms — Can cause serious injury or death

The north coast is cliff-bound and takes Atlantic swell with almost no shelf to dissipate it, so waves at exposed platforms are larger and less regular than the wind suggests. The sheltered south coast on the same day gives no warning of it.

What reduces it: Check swell rather than wind, and check it for the coast you are going to rather than for the island. Watch a platform for a sustained period before committing. Never fish a position you could not leave immediately.

Slips, trips and falls — Can cause injury needing treatment

Lava is sharp-edged, undercut and full of holes. Falls produce worse lacerations than falls onto smoother rock and ankles are turned in the voids.

What reduces it: Substantial footwear with a stiff sole and real grip. Move deliberately and test ground rather than trusting it. Do not cross broken lava with both hands full.

Sun, dehydration and fatigue — Can cause injury needing treatment

High ultraviolet year-round, reflection off water and pale rock, and long sessions with no shade on exposed coast.

What reduces it: Cover up rather than relying on sunscreen alone, wear polarised glasses and a hat, and drink steadily through the session rather than when thirsty.

Precautions that always apply here

  • Check the tide before you go and know your exit route. Being cut off is the commonest way a shore session becomes a rescue.
  • Tell somebody where you are going and when you expect to be back.
  • Carry a charged phone in a waterproof case, or another means of calling for help.

Further safety reading

  • Rock platform and cliff safety — No shelf means Atlantic swell reaches the north coast having lost very little energy, and the sheltered south coast on the same day gives no warning of it. The two coasts are a different hazard, not a different amount of the same one.

Check the rules before you fish

Fishing laws, bylaws, access rules, seasons, bait restrictions and permitted methods vary by location and can change. Check the current rules from the relevant authority and the water you intend to fish before fishing.

Check with:

  • Current national or regional law for where you are fishing
  • Current local bylaws
  • The relevant fisheries authority
  • The landowner, club or fishery whose water it is
  • Any restrictions specific to the species or the method you intend to use

Sources and evidence

  • FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Distribution and habitat association of the species named as characteristic of these waters.Background and mechanism onlyPassage read and verified
  • General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practice and local fishing character for these waters, recorded as practitioner consensus rather than as tested fact.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Why the 2 connections on this page are here, and the sources

How people fish here

What experienced anglers do — 1 connection

Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.

  • Sea fishing

    Placing the archipelago in the discipline its fishing belongs to.

    • General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practice and local fishing character for these waters, recorded as practitioner consensus rather than as tested fact.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • Fishing Madeira, and jigging and popping the Azores islands — GT Fishing (Practitioner report)Relied on for: That the Madeiran coast is fished from the shore and from boats for the species and by the techniques its destination guide names.FishingHQ's interpretation of what it saysPassage read and verified

Safety reading

Official guidance — 1 connection

Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.

  • Rock platform and cliff safety

    The hazard that defines this coast, and the specific way the island's shape hides it.

    • RNLI water safety guidance: cold water shock and Float to Live — Royal National Lifeboat Institution (Water-safety or diver-training authority)Relied on for: That exposed rock platforms are reached by swell generated by distant weather without local warning, and that observation before committing to a position is the primary control.States this directlyPassage read and verified

How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy.

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