Fishing from the shore in Malta is free and needs no licence for personal use. You can stand on almost any stretch of rock with a rod and nobody will ask you anything.
Selling what you catch is a different matter and needs registration, but that is not what most people are doing.
Where people fish from the shore
- The breakwaters and quays at Marsaxlokk and Marsascala.
- The rocky coast around Delimara and St Peter’s Pool.
- Ĝħajn Tuffieħa and the northwest headlands, best when the sea is flat.
- The Sliema and Ta’ Xbiex fronts, which are busy but productive at night.
Early morning and the hour after sunset are the two windows. The middle of a hot day is a waste of time.
Lampuki season
Lampuki, the dorado or mahi-mahi, arrives from late August and runs to about December. It is the fish the whole island eats in autumn and the one on every menu at this time of year.
Traditional boats catch it under floating palm frond rafts called kannizzati, which give the fish shade to gather under. The rafts are laid out at sea and worked in rotation.
Buy it whole at the Marsaxlokk market on a Sunday morning, or eat it as a pie, which is how most Maltese households have it.
Going out on a boat
Charter boats run from Marsaxlokk, Sliema and Bugibba. Half a day with rods, bait and a skipper is normal, and most will cook or bag what you catch.
Book a day or two ahead in summer. In winter trips run only when the sea allows, so expect cancellations.
Two rules
Spearfishing with a compressed air gun is not allowed, and there are size limits on several species.
Marine protected areas exist around parts of the coast. Check before you fish somewhere unfamiliar.
