Returning the favour.

Now and then, a fellow angler who has found this blog, or my Instagram account, gets in touch looking for more detailed information on some of the fishing spots I post about or to ask me where I would recommend they go to catch a certain species. I’ve been helped many times over the years by other anglers who have been very generous with their advice and knowledge, so I like to do the same whenever I can. Species hunter Ben contacted me last year about haddock fishing off the north coast of Scotland, and we’ve kept in touch ever since. When he told me he and a friend were coming up to Scotland from Pembrokeshire for a few days and had based some of their mark choices on my blog posts, I decided to go and meet up with them. The weather was pretty terrible while he was up here with his friend Nev, but their final day trip to Lochaline saw a slight improvement in the conditions and I got up early to make the long drive up there to fish with them. Four hours later, I arrived at the first spot. 

Logs on the logging pier in Lochaline. I found two species hunters fishing behind them in the corner. 

When I joined them, they were each had a mackerel bait out in the incredibly deep water directly in front of the pier and were fishing for mini species down the side of the pier with ragworm baited sabiki rigs while they waited for bites on their heavier gear. Both of them are taking part in species hunting competitions and were up in Scotland hoping to add to their already very impressive totals. Ben’s main target for the session was a spurdog, whilst Nev was hoping to catch a leopard spotted goby. I fished small pieces of ragworm down the side of the pier, keen to catch a quintet of UK wrasse species. I managed four of the five quite quickly, but a cuckoo wrasse proved elusive, and I didn’t catch one until later on in the day, completing the set. 

With their lovely pastel shades markings, rock cook or small mouthed wrasse were present in large numbers.

I caught lots of them in Norway recently, but this was my first Scottish cuckoo wrasse of the year.

My four hundred and fifty seventh* goldsinny wrasse of the year! *Estimated, but it feels like I've caught that many. This particular specimen had lovely golden markings on it.

While I was fishing away, chatting to Ben and Nev about fishing, species hunting and various fish species we’d all caught over the years, they both added a couple of species to their competition tallies. Ben caught a coalfish and shortly afterwards a small spurdog, and Nev caught a Connemara clingfish followed later on by a leopard spotted goby. Later in the afternoon we decided to change venue and headed around to the stone pier near the ferry terminal in the village. From this spot, Nev wanted to target a couple of small goby species and Ben was keen to try for a sea trout. Whilst Ben fished metals, Nev and I baited tanago hooks with tiny pieces of ragworm and caught a few painted goby and two spotted goby with relative ease. 

I’m not taking part in any species hunting competitions, but it was still nice to get another species ticked off for 2024 with this two spotted goby.

Having quickly caught our two target goby species, we headed further north up the shoreline, passing Europe’s only underground sand mining facility, to reach the village’s small marina. Nev and I targeted tiny fish with tanago hooks whilst Ben continued casting metals around hoping to tempt a sea trout. 

Ben fishes from the marina pontoons with small metals, hoping to catch a sea trout.

It didn’t take any of us long to catch fish. Nev and I very quickly pulled out several sand goby, whilst Ben began to supply some of the marina’s boat owners with freshly caught mackerel. 

One of several sand goby that we caught. 

Nev was over the moon to catch a sand goby as it was another addition to his competition tally. We carried on searching the sandy bottom and caught a few more species. There were lots of tiny poor cod around, and I also caught a couple of tiny grey gurnard.  

Perfection in miniature and incredibly adorable into the bargain!

The last time I visited this spot I thought I saw one of the UK’s two smaller clingfish species, so I was scanning the bottom trying to spot one of those. When I saw a small dark fish sitting motionless, I spent some time trying to catch it. It didn’t seem interested at first, moving around a few centimetres at a time before settling in a new position. Borrowing a bright pink cheburashka weight from Nev I was able to more accurately lower a tiny piece of ragworm right in front of the fish and after a while it took the hook into its mouth. Quickly lifting the fish up, I was slightly disappointed to discover it was in fact a tiny short spined sea scorpion. 

My first of the year, but not the species I thought I’d been trying to catch!

Ben had come over to see what we’d been catching before returning to the pontoons to target sea trout again. Just before we all called it a day, Nev managed to catch a juvenile short spined sea scorpion too, which was also an addition to his species hunt tally. By this point, light was beginning to fade, and we called it a day. With a ferry to catch as well as an overnight closure of the road through Glencoe and a detour increasing my journey time home, I said farewell to Ben and Nev and hit the road. It was great meeting up with them both, and I wish them success with their future species hunting. I might not be too long until Ben and I meet up again for another spot of species hunting, he’s invited me down to Pembrokeshire to try and catch my first ever UK grey triggerfish. Fingers crossed the right conditions for them materialise! 

Tight lines, Scott.