John Dory Fishing off Korčula, Croatia

Fishing charters in or around Croatia is a bit different than the States. I hired a charter out of Korcula to fish the waters of the Adriatic Sea. To my knowledge, he was the only for hire fishing charter in Korcula. His primary business is commercial fishing and it showed throughout the charter. It was just Capt Mihovil (Michael) and myself aboard his 32 foot cabin cruiser.

Not knowing any better, I wanted to target bluefin, Capt Michael had other plans. You don't get to keep your catch and restaurants aren't interested in cooking your catch. Besides, I didn't have a cooler and there's no local seafood processor; This ain't Alaska!

The John Dory season had just started heating up and I guess they only get 1 or 2 months of this fish while they're mating. So we fished for John Dory. This was bottom fishing at its finest, drifting back and forth across the reef of protected waters. John Dory, I would learn, are a delicacy throughout Europe and one of the most sought after fish by Europe's finest chefs.

Needless to say we put a whoopin' on their asses and Capt Michael was pleasantly surprised. We put 31 of them in the box.

And while I didn't get to keep any of my fish or even eat one, Capt Michael got what he said was 1,400 Euros worth of fish. For this he cut the price of my charter in half.