Hi!

I grew up in South Africa on the Cape South Coast. We had sandy beaches and rocky shores to choose from, lots of fish and simple rigs. Fishing was one of my favourite activities as a kid and teenager. Our deepfreeze was always stocked. Roll on the years with pretty much no fishing and I have retired to a small mid-Atlantic island called Terceira in the Azores archipelago. It's Portuguese.

This is a spectacular spot and I am thoroughly enjoying all aspects of the local environment.......except, I can't seem to reel in the fish!

The island is volcanic, so the shoreline is almost entirely rocky. I have tried a few rigs with sinkers (lots of tackle lost) and floats. I have tried squid, pilchard and shrimp as bait. So far I've caught one needle fish, two blacktail seabream, a conger eel and a triggerfish - all undersized and returned to the sea.

So, what I am after, is some advice on setups and baits from anyone who might have some idea as to how I might return from and expedition with more than an empty bait bucket.