I live in Malta and spearfish here throughout the year.
Mr. X: whatever local said they've never seen a sea bass must live under a rock, they're pretty popular between January to around now while the water is cold, choppy.
Though yes, Malta is heavily overfished by fisherman, with nets all year around so close to shore etc.
naturalsynthetic: what is it that you actually need help with?
What depths are you diving?
Shallow water diving you'll most likely be seeing a few species of seabream, cuttlefish, octopus. Barracuda could also be found. If you dive deeper, you could get a Dusky Grouper, Brown Meagre etc. Make sure Dusky Grouper are above the legal size (45cm/2.5kg).
Now that the water is getting warmer you can also expect a few Blue Runners A.K.A Mediterannean Trevally, and also Amberjack start too.
Depends on depths, and mostly luck. As I mentioned, Malta is HEAVILY overfished so dont expect too much.
www.youtube.com/lawstraljan16 for some videos of mine spearfishing in Malta.
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