Fishing at Capo Promontore (Premantura), Istria

Premantura is the southernmost tip of Istria, the one that divides the Gulf of Kvarner from the northern Adriatic. From Italy you get there along the Istrian coast and finally through the town of Pula.

Capo Promontore (Premantura in Croatian) has an inner side, facing Medulin and therefore the Gulf of Kvarner (east), and an outer side, facing the open Adriatic (west).

Premantura, inner side:
Mixed bottoms (mud, sand, posidonia and rocks), not too deep (max 10/12 m) and low rocky shores that are easy to reach by car. Along the inner side of the cape, the interesting fishing spots start already in the most sheltered part, towards Medulin, near the Runke and Stupiče campsites, and then continue south to the far end of the cape. The whole inner side is made up of small coves with sporadic beaches and bays with low, comfortable rocks. Apart from a few individual spots, this whole side is fairly good for fishing; from April to December you can catch gilthead bream, white seabream, common pandora, common dentex, eagle rays, common stingrays, smooth-hounds and leerfish.

Premantura, outer side:
Deep bottoms, even 30/35 m and more, very rocky; the sandbanks near the shore are easy to spot thanks to their light colour, which contrasts with the dark blue of the sea. Reaching the fishing spots on the outer side of the cape is not always easy; sometimes you have to leave the car several hundred metres from the sea and go down steep, slippery slopes.
Towards the tip of the cape, still on the outer side, there is a very interesting spot: along this stretch of coast, facing a small island and the larger one with the Porer lighthouse, there is a very wide and comfortable rocky shelf for fishing, with deep water and very strong currents, where, using live bait, you can catch dentex and leerfish, while with the classic baits, Rimini worms, bibi worms and murex, good-sized gilthead bream and white seabream are not rare. Huge conger eels graze at night: bait with sardines and live baits to tempt them.
A sinker you can afford to lose is almost a must on the whole outer side, because of the frequent rocks and the chance of hooking big fish.

Capo Promontore is exposed to all southern winds; with the libeccio (south-west wind) the inner side is a little more fishable, while it is almost impossible with the bora; the outer side, if you find a well-sheltered spot, allows fishing even with this wind. Big, violent storms are not rare and make the area completely unusable.

You get to Capo Promontore by driving through the village of the same name; the whole cape, more than 4 km long and more than one wide, is a tangle of dirt roads going down to the coast. In autumn, for about ten days, the whole cape is used by the Croatian Army for military exercises and is therefore closed to any activity. In summer (from mid-June to mid-September or so), to enter by car you have to pay a sort of “park entrance fee” of about 3/4 euros, and during this period you are not allowed to park the car overnight.
The cape is very wild and encounters with wild animals (foxes, pheasants, hares…) are not rare, so be careful at night and bring enough lighting. From Italy it takes about 1.5 hours by car (155 km).