Mission accomplished!

Hearing reports of numerous bluemouth being caught recently on a charter boat running out of Burghead, I booked a couple of places for myself and my mate Nick out with skipper Barry of Moray Firth Fishing Charters on Saturday. With a nasty storm on the way, it was touch and go whether or not the trip would be cancelled, but in the end it went ahead. We drove up the evening before and stayed in a hotel so that we wouldn’t have to make the four hour drive up there early in the morning on the day. It was a good decision and as the boat didn’t depart until 10:00 we were up, had breakfast and headed down to the harbour early, feeling well rested and were both raring to go. 

I had a short stroll on the beach to take a look at the rotten remains of an old boat. 

I’m not sure why, but I had a really good feeling about the trip. Over thirty bluemouth had been caught over the last two rough ground trips, and when I told Barry I was hoping to catch one, he boldly told me I was guaranteed to catch one. Within an hour of reaching the rough ground mark, about ten miles to the north of Burghead, he was proved right. Fishing mackerel strips close to the rocky bottom, after catching a few cod, ling, poor cod and pouting, I saw a bright red rockfish coming to the surface and very quickly swung it up into the boat. 

My first ever bluemouth, also known as the blackbelly rosefish. Much more importantly though, I’d caught my one hundredth species of fish in Scotland!

Mission accomplished! A small specimen, but I was over the moon!

I’ll be honest, I would happily have headed back to dry land there and then. Not because I had caught what I’d wanted, but because the sea was pretty rough and the boat was rolling around as it drifted, making fishing pretty challenging, and at times, quite uncomfortable. One person was soon suffering with sea sickness and decided to stop fishing. I don’t know how more people didn’t get ill to be honest. Being so far off shore in a strong southerly wind, it was very rough. Probably the roughest sea I’ve ever fished afloat in! As the day went on, a steady stream of fish were boated. I think everyone on board caught at least one bluemouth, Nick caught a few and I ended up catching five in total. In addition to lots of ling and cod I also caught some nice male cuckoo wrasse and a solitary short spined sea scorpion. 

Bluemouth weren’t the only colourful fish down there.  

I was hoping to catch a really big short spined sea scorpion, but this small one was still most welcome. 

Towards the end of the trip, we decided as a group to head back in an hour early. I think the swell had taken its toll on most. Despite the difficult conditions, it had still been an enjoyable day out with Barry, and I’d caught my one hundredth Scottish fish species. So what now? Having reached this personal milestone, I’ve every intention to keep trying to add further species to my Scottish tally. Next year though, I’m going shift my focus a little and spend time trying to add to my UK saltwater species tally. I’m currently on eighty six and I sure you can guess what my target is? No doubt a few trips to the south coast of the UK will be on the cards, although I can still catch new Scottish species that will also add to my UK tally too. 

Tight lines, Scott.