If you are staying in Sliema or St Julian’s, the fishing boats are closer than you think, but they do not leave from Sliema itself. They sit across the creek in Gzira and Ta’ Xbiex, on the same stretch of water you look at from the Strand. Two Reelzy boats work from there, Fishingmalta in Ta’ Xbiex and Hooked Malta in Gzira, and both are reachable on foot from Sliema Ferries or by any bus heading round the harbour towards Valletta. The exact pontoon comes with your booking confirmation, so the thing to sort first is which boat and which start time suit you, then the walk takes care of itself.<\/p>\n
Sliema sits on a peninsula. The side facing Valletta is Marsamxett Harbour, a long inlet that narrows into Sliema Creek, then Lazzaretto Creek behind Manoel Island, then Msida Creek at the head of the harbour. The Strand, the seafront road where the Valletta ferry and the tour boats tie up, runs south from Sliema Ferries into Gzira without a break, and Gzira runs into Ta’ Xbiex. Manoel Island is joined to Gzira by a short bridge. Everything we are about to describe is on that one flat seafront. If you can see Valletta’s bastions across the water from your hotel, you are already looking at the harbour the boats fish out of.<\/p>\n
Fishingmalta<\/a> is in Ta’ Xbiex, the marina district at the far end of the Gzira seafront. Skippers Chris and Daryl run a 33 foot Targa with GPS, a fishfinder, a toilet and an ice box, and their trips are the easiest fit for someone staying in Sliema without a car. There are two listed departures: a Fun Reef Fishing Tour at midday that lasts about four hours, and a Deluxe Combo Tour that leaves early in the morning and runs about five hours. Both can be booked as a seat on a shared trip for up to ten people, which suits a couple or a solo angler who does not want to charter the whole boat, or privately for a group. Fuel, permits, tackle, bait and drinks are included, and the fishing is a mix of trolling offshore and bottom fishing on the reefs, so a mixed group gets something for everyone.<\/p>\n Hooked Malta<\/a> is Captain Nigel’s 25 foot Ranieri Evo in Gzira, for up to five, and it is a different kind of day. The boat is set up for big game, with outriggers, downriggers and heavy tackle from the big names, and the listed trip is four hours from nine in the morning. Bluefin tuna and little tunny are the targets, on dead bait, and a little tunny of ten to twenty kilos is a proper fight on the lighter gear before anything bigger turns up. There is a toilet on board, you can keep the catch where the rules allow it, and the crew will clean it for you. Children are welcome from about ten years old. This one is a private boat, so it suits a group of friends or a family who want the boat to themselves.<\/p>\n A third option sits across the harbour in Floriana: Adele II<\/a>, an Axopar 37 with an air conditioned cabin and a licence to fish out to twelve nautical miles, for up to eleven. Its listed trip is a full twelve hour day from eight in the morning, so it is a different commitment and a taxi ride rather than a walk, but if you have a day to give it and a bigger group, it is the comfortable way to spend a long day offshore.<\/p>\n The rest of the Malta fleet is further out: Aquaholic in St Paul’s Bay, Mister Fish in Marsascala, and a Gozo skipper. All of them are on the Malta charters page<\/a>, and any of them is reachable by bus or taxi from Sliema, but for a morning’s fishing without a car the two harbour boats are the sensible choice.<\/p>\n From Sliema Ferries, walk south along the Strand with the water on your left. The Gzira seafront is the same road, and in about a quarter of an hour you reach the bridge to Manoel Island, which is the Gzira end of things. Keep going and the road bends into Ta’ Xbiex, where the yacht marina and the Fishingmalta berth are, roughly half an hour from Sliema Ferries at an easy pace. It is flat the whole way and there is a pavement along the water, so it is a pleasant walk even with a cool box.<\/p>\n From St Julian’s or Paceville, add the promenade from Spinola Bay round Balluta Bay to Sliema Ferries first, which is another half hour or so along Tower Road, or take a bus to Sliema Ferries and start from there. Buses between Sliema and Valletta run along the Gzira and Ta’ Xbiex seafront, so for an early start you can ride three or four stops instead of walking; the Malta Public Transport journey planner at publictransport.com.mt<\/a> gives the stop names and times. A taxi or ride hailing car from any Sliema hotel to Ta’ Xbiex is a few minutes outside rush hour.<\/p>\n For the early Fishingmalta departure, plan to be on the pontoon ten minutes before the time on the listing. Early morning in Gzira is quiet and there is little traffic, so even the walk works, and you will see the harbour at its calmest. Tell the skipper your hotel when you book and they will say exactly which pontoon to stand on, because marinas have several and the right one is not obvious from the road.<\/p>\n If you are arriving by cruise ship rather than staying on the island, the logistics are different, because the ships berth in the Grand Harbour on the other side of Valletta. We wrote that up separately in our guide to a fishing trip from Valletta cruise port<\/a>.<\/p>\n Malta fishes all year, but what you are likely to catch changes with the season, and it is worth matching the boat to the month before you book. Bluefin tuna<\/a> pass the islands from late spring into July, which is when Hooked Malta’s big game set up earns its keep, and little tunny keep the rods bending for longer than that. From mid August the lampuki<\/a>, the Maltese name for mahi mahi, open up and are best into November, taken trolling offshore around floating cover, which is the sort of day Fishingmalta’s Deluxe Combo Tour is built for. The reef trips fish all year for bream, pink snapper, scorpionfish and the other table fish that live on the ledges, and amberjack and dentex hold over the wrecks from late spring into winter. The full calendar, with the legal dates, is in our Malta fishing seasons guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n Who keeps the fish is a question to settle before you go rather than on the way back in. Both harbour boats list guests keeping the catch and welcome release too, and bluefin have their own rules, which our post on keeping fish on a Malta charter<\/a> goes through. If you are hoping to take fish back to a self catering flat in Sliema, bring a cool bag for the walk home.<\/p>\n Marsamxett is sheltered, which is why the boats live there, but the fishing happens outside it, and Malta’s wind decides the day. The north easterly, the gregale, is the one that stops trips on the east side; a westerly often leaves the east coast fishable. Skippers do not take guests out into a sea that will spoil the day, so when the forecast is bad they move the trip to another day or to the sheltered side of the island, and your deposit follows the trip rather than vanishing. Our cancellation policies<\/a> explain the mechanics, and our post on a Malta fishing trip cancelled by bad weather<\/a> covers what usually happens in practice. If the trip matters to you, book it for early in your stay so there is a spare day to move it to.<\/p>\n A morning on the reef is the right first trip for a child: short, close to the coast, with small fish biting steadily rather than one big fish that may not come. Fishingmalta’s midday reef tour and Hooked Malta’s four hour morning both welcome children, Hooked Malta from about ten years old, and both boats have a toilet, which matters more than anything else on a four hour trip with a child. We covered ages, seasickness and what to pack in fishing in Malta with kids<\/a>.<\/p>\n Non slip shoes with a rubber sole, because a wet deck is a wet deck even on a calm day. A light jacket for the run out, even in summer, and in spring and autumn a long pair of trousers and layers you can take off. A hat, sunglasses and sunscreen, because there is no shade on the reef. Snacks if you are the sort who gets hungry, since the harbour boats provide drinks but not lunch, and a cool bag if you hope to take fish home. You do not need a fishing licence; rod and line fishing in Malta needs no personal licence and the boat holds the permits it needs.<\/p>\n Decide first whether you want a seat or a boat. A couple or a solo traveller books two seats on Fishingmalta’s shared reef tour, which keeps the cost per person sensible and puts you with a few other anglers for the morning. A group of four or five who want the boat to themselves, or who want to chase tuna in season, books Hooked Malta’s private morning. Either way, open the listing, pick the date, and put your hotel name in the message to the skipper so the directions come back with the confirmation. Then it is a walk along the Strand with a rod waiting at the other end.<\/p>\nGetting there on foot or by bus<\/h2>\n
What you fish for, month by month<\/h2>\n
Weather, cancellations and the wind<\/h2>\n
Taking children<\/h2>\n
What to bring and what to wear<\/h2>\n
Booking it from your hotel<\/h2>\n