Species hunting road trip: Swanage Pier.

On day four of my road trip I headed along to Swanage Pier to try and catch a Baillon's wrasse and also perhaps, if I got incredibly lucky, a black faced blenny. I got there before the pier opened, had some breakfast, and had a quick walk around. It wasn't a particularly nice day weather wise, but I was hopeful that the sun would arrive later on, along with lure fishing devotee and fellow species geek Adam Kirby, who was driving down to fish with me.

Swanage Pier on an overcast morning.

Things got off to a fairly predictable start. Fishing small pieces of ragworm on Swanage Pier is always going to produce a lot of corkwing wrasse, and by the time the clouds had lifted, and the sun was beaming down, I'd caught dozens of them, as well as the odd tompot blenny. Eventually I caught what I came for, a Baillon’s wrasse. 

Corkwing wrasse are the most common species under Swanage Pier. In my experience, anyway!

Tompot blenny are also present in good numbers. I find they seem to feed for short spells. You'll catch a few in quick succession, then you won't catch them for a while.

Not so common but still usually present are the pretty Baillon’s wrasse. This one was my first of 2023!

Straight away, I changed my rig slightly to see if I could get extremely lucky and catch a black faced blenny. Taking off my size #10 hook, I tied on a tanago hook and baited it with the smallest pinkie I could find in my tub. This produced bites immediately, but the culprits were tiny black bream, and lots of them! Sporadically I'd catch a rock goby too or a small corkwing wrasse!

There was clearly a large shoal of voracious juvenile black seabream under the pier. 

One of the rock goby I caught. This one with a prominent "custard" tip to its first dorsal fin.

Early in the afternoon Adam arrived, and after we had a quick catch up chat he set about catching a Baillon’s wrasse of his own. After trying a variety of artificial baits and lures, and catching a lot of other fish, he was over the moon when he eventually caught one on an Aquawave Ami, a tiny stretchy soft plastic lure that resembles a shrimp. 

Adam’s lure caught Baillon’s wrasse was taken on an Aquawave Ami fished on a simple split shot rig.

We carried on fishing away and talked about meeting up again later in the week further along the coast in Cornwall. When the pier closed at 17:00 we went for a walk around to the point at the end of the bay. As we went, I scanned the submerged rocks around a few small stone piers for small black and bright yellow fish, but didn't see any of them. Adam spent some time fishing creature lures on a Texas rig over the shallow rocky ground and caught a few ballan wrasse. I messed about in some rockpools, still hoping to locate a black faced blenny, but all I tempted with my pinkie on a tanago hook were some tiny corkwing wrasse and common blenny. Shortly after that, we decided to call time on another great day's fishing in Swanage. I always enjoy meeting up with Adam, fishing with him and talking about fishing. I was looking forward to meeting up with him again soon and told him I'd let him know what my plans were once I got to Cornwall and had formulated them so that he could hopefully meet up with me again!

Tight lines, Scott.

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Chance encounter.

Last month I spent a week camping and fishing on the south coast. My trip was split into two halves with the first three days being spent in Dorset. On two of those days I had booked myself a space aboard Weymouth skipper Colin Penny's boat Flamer IV. On both days we were due to spend some time drifting over the famous Shambles sand banks and I was hoping to catch my first ever brill while doing so. Sadly however the first day's fishing was very poor and due to a deterioration in the weather the second day was cancelled. Obviously this was a major disappointment but I ended up driving along to Swanage Pier twice where I relaxed, kept things simple and enjoyed a couple of fun sessions fishing rigs with small hooks baited with ragworm on ultralight tackle. On my first visit the end of the pier was off limits due to restoration work being carried out but fishing further up than I usually do I was still hopeful something odd might turn up, with a black faced blenny at the top of my wish list. I caught no little surprises though and the main species caught by some distance was corkwing wrasse. If I said there are lots of them underneath Swanage Pier it would be a massive understatement! In amongst the endless corkwings, the odd tompot blenny and a few dozen pouting I did manage to catch a few Baillon's wrasse too which brought a smile to my face. With their colourful markings I think they just pip the rock cook to the title of the nicest looking of the wrasse species that can be caught in the UK.

A great example of the stunning markings on the head of a Baillon's wrasse.

Swanage Pier is the only venue that I'm aware of in the UK where these can be caught with any reliability and I even managed to catch the same one three times during my first day there. It had a small deformity just behind it's left eye in case you're wondering how I know it was the same one. I dare say if you took good photos you could use their facial markings to identify individual fish.

Arriving to begin my second session the end of the pier had re-opened and walking down the steps onto its lower deck there were already a few people fishing in the open area in the middle of the deck. As I got closer I thought I recognised an angler that I knew but had never met in person before so I went over and said hello. The person I'd accidentally bumped into was Adam Kirby, an angler with over thirty years' experience in several disciplines who now focuses on lure fishing.

Adam with an impressive lure caught grey gurnard.

Adam currently contributes to Sea Angler magazine and is a member of the Prostaff team with UK tackle company Tronix. He is also very passionate about light rock fishing in it's purest form and recently published the 500th post on his excellent "Light Rock Fishing" blog. More important than any of that though I'd also been told by several mutual friends who had already met him that he was a really nice guy and I'm happy to report that he is! We got on very well and enjoyed fishing together, talking about fishing and species hunting too. Adam also caught a Baillon's Wrasse whilst he was on the pier but with a little more skill and finesse than my lazy efforts with bait, catching it on a tiny Mushi creature lure mounted on a equally tiny jighead worked slowly along the bottom.

Baillon's wrasse light rock fishing style!

Pretty soon it was time to leave as the pier was being closed for the evening. On the way back to the car we carried on chatting and exchanged some mark information for various species. It was a real pleasure meeting Adam, the chance encounter being the highlight of my stay in Dorset really and I hope we can fish together again in the future.

Tight lines, Scott.

The best laid schemes o' fish an' men.

On Sunday the 13th I headed down to Cornwall with my good friend and fellow species hunter Ross. He booked three days out on Penzance skipper Chippy's charter boat Bite Adventures earlier this year and I had eagerly reserved a space when he asked me if I wanted one. Subsequently the two of us decided to stay down on the south coast to do a bit more species hunting and extended our trip to last a full week. Joining us for the first three days to fish on the boat were two of Ross's mates from his University days whom both brought along their dads. The rich waters Chippy operates in offer anglers the opportunity to catch a wide variety of species including some that aren't really found elsewhere around the UK coastline so we were all looking forward to hopefully catching some of our favourites or species that we had never caught before. Personally I had the following little list of species I was looking forward to perhaps catching, some of which are amongst my "Most Wanted" targets.

1. Black Faced Blenny
2. Brill
3. Dover Sole
4. Gilthead Seabream*
5. Greater Weever*
6. Grey Triggerfish 
7. John Dory 
8. Meagrim Sole
9. Porbeagle
10. Red Seabream
11. Reticulated Dragonet
12. Thin Lipped Grey Mullet 

* I've caught these before but not in UK waters.

Spirits were high leading up to the trip but as has been the case many times this year the weather threw a spanner in the works. On the way down the M5 Chippy called Ross to tell him that the strong south westerly winds that had been blowing and were due to continue the following day meant that our first day out on the boat was cancelled due to the swell that was running. Tired from the journey down and after a drink in the holiday complex's bar we all went to bed fairly early. As we were staying in Hayle, in the morning Ross and I went and had a look at the pool there that is famous for producing gilthead seabream after picking up some supplies, tackle and bait. It looked promising but as the tide was on its way out we decided to head elsewhere. The rest of the lads decided to stay locally but Ross and I drove east to Mevagissey to seek shelter and spend a couple of hours targeting mini species. It's one of our favourite marks to fish and on a good day can easily produce over a dozen species. Upon arrival we found the sea to be nice and flat with the wall behind us on the breakwater offering us a little protection from the wind and the odd light shower. Fishing on the bottom with small sections of ragworm we were hopeful that we might get lucky and catch a reticulated dragonet. None turned up but we had an enjoyable session catching mainly wrasse to begin with.

A nice colourful corkwing wrasse was my first fish of the trip.

We caught a few ballan wrasse too.

Ross was also after a common dragonet and a long spined sea scorpion for a species hunting competition he is taking part in this year. Both are common captures at Mevagissey and Ross soon got comfortable at a spot he's caught them both at before.

Ross was fishing using a light feeder rod and was soon getting tiny knocks from something small. After borrowing some #18 hooks from me he eventually caught the culprits, tiny common dragonets and shortly afterwards he caught a long spined sea scorpion too.

Before we left Mevagissey Ross got another call from Chippy to say that the boat was cancelled again the following day as the swell hadn't died down enough for it to be worth going out. Not great news but Chippy was almost certain that we would get out on Wednesday as the wind was forecast to change direction and the swell would calm right down as a result. Ross was keen to catch a lesser weever for his species hunt competition so I suggested we head north to Charlestown, a lovely little harbour that holds lots of them. We both caught one on our first cast.

Normally I visit St Ives for lesser weever as the numbers of them there hiding in the fine golden sand are quite incredible but Charlestown is also a very good place to catch them. With so many around unhooking them soon becomes a pain so I debarb my hooks and try to shake them off using my forceps.

Fishing away we also caught a lot of pin whiting, a few corkwing wrasse and the odd blenny. Sand smelt were also about in great numbers and I decided to keep a dozen or so to have for my dinner. I've never eaten them before but my friend Dimitrios had told me they were tasty coated in gram flour and fried so that's exactly what I did when we got back that evening. Dusted with a little paprika and finished with a generous squeeze of lemon juice they were indeed most delicious!

The next day the rest of the lads did their own thing again and headed to the south coast whilst Ross and I went east again. This time we went to Falmouth to target thick lipped grey mullet. Some bread ground bait was thrown in at our chosen spot and while we waited on the mullet to arrive we fished ragworm on the bottom. This soon saw a few ballan wrasse being caught. When the mullet began to arrive we free lined bread for them, sight fishing in the crystal clear water. Ross managed to get his bread to sink very slowly, this soon had plenty of mullet mouthing it and when one greedily swallowed the generous flake he was fishing he quickly struck and set his hook. Landing the fish was tricky as my net didn't quite reach the water but by laying on my stomach and outstretching my arm Ross lifted the fish up a few feet and I swept the net across scooping it up.

A nice Falmouth thick lipped grey mullet for Ross.

Keen to get one myself it didn't seem to matter how much I squeezed my bread to remove the air my bait just didn't want to sink. Ross told me he had one of my #10 hooks on which is what I was using too so I was slightly bemused but when he showed me how he was pinching on his bread to get it to sink slowly I noticed that he had in fact taken a #6 from my box instead and quickly tied one on myself. My buoyancy issues were rectified straight away and shortly afterwards I was soon into a mullet myself which Ross netted nicely for me. 

Slow sinking bread flake was a killer presentation.

Ross caught two more before we decided to head off to Fowey to try for some flatfish. Ross was keen to catch a flounder for his species hunt whilst I fancied trying for a topknot just because they are cool but the estuary was fairly coloured up from all of the recent rain and neither of us got what we were after. Instead we ended up catching a few goldsinny wrasse and a few gobies before driving back to Hayle.

These goldsinny didn't seem to mind the murky water.

Driving down to Penzance the following morning our gear was quickly loaded onto Bite Adventures and off we went. On the way to our first stop Chippy told us about recent catches including some incredible days he'd had catching lots of blue and porbeagle sharks. The weather meant that we wouldn't get an opportunity to go out to the grounds where they had been caught though and we would be restricted to fishing mostly inshore. Our first stop of the day was fairly close in drifting over nice clean ground. Ross and I were both keen to catch a greater weever as we had never caught one in the UK before. The rest of the lads had other species they were keen to catch and some got theirs fairly quickly when some turbot, plaice and gurnards were boated. I wasn't having much joy at all but after a few drifts where all I picked up were mackerel I hooked what I thought was another one only to see a greater weever appear.

I was just happy to catch something other than a mackerel! I could tell Ross was a little jealous and hoped he would get one too.

A few more were boated by the other lads and Ross was reminded by Chippy how easy it was to catch one every time one was brought onboard. After a few more drifts we tried fishing further offshore to target John Dory but the boat was drifting too fast and we were struggling to hold bottom. Heading back inshore again Ross resumed his search for a greater weever. We were also all hopeful that a meagrim sole might get boated. None were but after a few other flatfish, gurnards, whiting and a solitary cod were caught Ross finally got his first UK greater weever.

It'd only taken Ross three years to finally catch one. Often having to watch others get them on previous trips. 

As the afternoon progressed I was still having quite a poor day in terms of the variety of species I was catching but was hopeful that we would end the day trying to catch red seabream, a species I've never caught before. Unfortunately Chippy soon told us that the ground where they were found would be unfishable due to the wind so we ended the day fishing inshore and catching a few wrasse over rougher ground before heading back to port. It had been a good day out in the boat and whilst I hadn't caught that many different species between the six of us seventeen had been boated. A few had been kept and that evening the six of us enjoyed a superb meal made with them along with a few cold drinks.

In the morning we all got our gear sorted and packed our cars. Ross and I said goodbye to the rest of the lads and drove along to Dorset for the second half of our trip. A few hours later we arrived in Weymouth, where we would stay for the next three days. After dropping some stuff off at our B&B we fished in the harbour for thin lipped grey mullet using light gear and modified Mepps spinners with a few added beads and a bit of Isome on the hook but the water was very coloured from all the recent rain and we didn't have much joy really.

In the evening we picked up some fresh bait and headed to West Bexington to fish Chesil Beach for Dover sole. Stretching for eighteen miles Chesil Beach is quite spectacular and after trudging along the shingle for a while we reached a spot that looked the same as the rest of the beach. Ross assured me however that he'd fished there before and had caught a lot of fish.

Miles of shingle to our left.

Miles of shingle to our right.

We had soon set up a rod each and cast out our baits into the surf. Things were slow to start with so we got comfortable next to our tripods and waited for bites. Things didn't really pick up until after dark and even then all we caught were tiny pouting, there presence only discovered upon reeling in to check our baits. I also managed a solitary dogfish before we decided to end a frustrating day's fishing and headed back to Weymouth.

Ross diligently watches his surf rod.

A few little pouting took our ragworm baits after dark.

The next day we headed along to Swanage Pier, a venue I really enjoy visiting. Arriving fairly early it was quite a nice day although some rain was forecast for the afternoon. We both fancied catching some Baillon's wrasse but there was always the slim chance of a black faced blenny turning up too if we used small hooks.

Swanage Pier is a great venue for a spot of ultra light tackle mini species fun.

As usual the fish were plentiful and our ragworm didn't stay down long before being taken. Corkwing wrasse were as usual the predominant species but Ross caught a Baillon's wrasse on his third drop. We fished away and after catching a lot more corkwing and ballan wrasse as well as a few other species I caught a small Baillon's wrasse too.

It was good to find out that a few Baillon's wrasse had taken up residence under the pier again. Last year's visit didn't produce any.

In the afternoon the forecast rain started so we sheltered under the upper deck until the worst of it had fallen. More small wrasse, pouting and the odd tompot blenny making up the bulk of our catches.

What a handsome chap.The one with hair that is.

When the rain stopped we decided to bite the bullet and headed further east to Shoreham-by-sea to target Dover sole again.  Setting up on the inside of the western breakwater we both caught a tiny bass each and with not much else happening Ross decided to move to the end of the breakwater. I stayed put and just after the sun set and light started to fade one of my rods registered a small bite. I let it develop and when my rod tip nodded again I lifted the rod and slowly wound in. At first I didn't feel anything but about half way a fish shook a little. Appearing on the surface I could see it was a flatfish. Doubting I could be so lucky, for a second I assumed it was a flounder or plaice, but as it came closer I realised it was a small Dover sole and hastily swung it up the wall.

The sun sets to the west along Shoreham Beach.

My first Dover sole. They are a truly weird looking flatfish. Their mouth in particular is very odd indeed.

I shouted along to Ross and he soon came back along to join me. I let him fish the area where I had caught my fish and switched my attention to fishing on the outside of the breakwater. The next couple of hours saw us both catching a few whiting. Ross also caught a small common eel, another addition to his species hunt tally. Soon it was past the time we had agreed we'd leave but I told Ross I was happy to stay on for an extra hour. By the time the end of this hour approached Ross had three rods out and had declared he'd had his last cast when he got another bite. Reeling it in we both had our head torches pointed down on the water to see what would appear and a long flat fish soon did. Another brief nervous moment followed as he lifted up his first ever Dover sole but it was well hooked and Ross let out a shout of jubilation as his target came to hand.

Ross was over the moon and puckered up to give his Dover sole a kiss. The fish didn't seem quite so happy and undulated away as best it could.

Both very happy with getting a new species we quickly packed up and headed back to the car. The drive directly back to Weymouth took a lot less time than I had anticipated so we got back before midnight and treated ourselves to a celebratory takeaway.

When we got up the next day we decided to begin our final day's fishing by having another go for thin lipped grey mullet in Weymouth Harbour. The water clarity had improved greatly, the tide was in and there seemed to be a lot more fish around. We started off fishing with our modified Mepps baited with Isome but the fish that followed quickly turned away when they got close enough to inspect it. Ross had just made a pin point cast and was still boasting about how accurate it had been when another cast to the same area ended up landing in a small boat and he lost his only Mepps.  I gave him mine as I had a much smaller one in my bag that my lighter rod would still be able to cast. I didn't bother adding any beads but the fish seemed to prefer it that way and I soon had a few more follows. As we carried on fishing I might have been getting more interest but the fish turning away left me rather frustrated so I suggested that we try some of our leftover ragworm from the night before. This proved to be a good choice and I hooked three fish in fairly quick succession only for them all to quickly throw the hook. The ragworm we were using was in a sorry state however so I suggested we pop to the tackle shop and get some fresh ones and a smaller Mepps for Ross to use. This paid off and returning to our spot we both landed a couple of fish after a few casts.

My first ever thin lipped grey mullet. Some fresh ragworm on a modified 00 Mepps proving much more effective than Isome or poor quality worms.

Thin lipped by name.

The space between the gill plates under a thin lipped grey mullet's head is much wider than on its thick lipped cousin.

In the afternoon we spent a few hours targeting mini species further down the harbour. This produced a few wrasse, gobies, blennies, pouting and a solitary juvenile bass.

A nice chunky tompot blenny.

It was easily the nicest day of the trip weather wise and we both got burnt a little by the sun. By midafternoon we were feeling a bit tired so we decided to pack up, got the rest of our things from our B&B and after relaxing for an hour or so begun our journey back up the road. I hadn't reached my targets for the trip of twenty five species including three new ones but I think I would have had we managed to get out on the boat three times as planned. Here's a summary of what I did catch with new species in bold...

1. Baillon's Wrasse x 1
2. Ballan Wrasse x 26
3. Bass x 2
4. Black Goby x 6
5. Common Blenny x 2
6. Corkwing Wrasse x 85
7. Dover Sole x 1
8. Goldsinny Wrasse x 14
9. Greater Weever x 1*
10. Lesser Spotted Dogfish x 1
11. Lesser Weever x 12
12. Mackerel x 15
13. Pollock x 10
14. Poor Cod x 2
15. Pouting x 10
16. Rock Goby x 2
17. Sand Goby x 1
18. Sand Smelt x 22
19. Thick Lipped Grey Mullet x 1
20. Thin Lipped Grey Mullet x 2
21. Tompot Blenny x 7
22. Whiting x 22

* My first in UK waters.

So, the weather might have forced us to change our plans a few times and had prevented us from targeting some of the species we would have liked to but we made the most of things and overall it was still a great trip to the south coast. It had been great catching up and fishing with Ross again and his mates too on the boat. I guess we'll just have to go back next year for another chance to catch species like brill, grey triggerfish, John Dory and porbeagle sharks.

Tight lines, Scott.

Another superb Swanage Pier jolly.

With the summer drawing to a close I fancied one last crack at catching a black faced blenny. This of course was a convenient excuse for a trip down south to the mini species rich Swanage Pier so I asked my mate Lee if he could get a couple of days off work and would he like to go. His answer was yes on both counts!

After two trips already this year to Swanage I was hoping that it would be third time lucky and I'd catch a black faced blenny. I'm not sexist and wasn't fussy if it was a brightly coloured male (top left) or a rather more drab female (bottom right).

On Monday I headed down to Porthmadog in Wales and picked Lee up from his work, we popped to his house in Harlech to get his gear and off we went. As we were leaving Wales at about 18:30 we opted to stay in a cheap hotel on the way down so we weren't arriving in Swanage in the very early hours of the morning. After about four hours sleep we got up and completed the drive down arriving at the pier just as the gates were being opened at 8:00. It was quite windy but at least it was dry and we paid for our permits and walked out to the end of the old Victorian pier. To maximise my chances of catching the little triple finned fish I began fishing a two up one down rig in the openings in the middle of the pier, baiting my #8 Sabpolo Wormer hooks with little sections of ragworm. I also wanted to try mackerel baits too but as I didn't have any with me I would try to catch some and planned on working a metal around the pier later in the day. We both began fishing and soon had our first fish of the day. The action was quite steady with lots of wrasse taking my ragworm chunks whilst Lee's natural Gulp! Angleworm lure on a drop shot rig was initially attracting lots of pouting and pollock and after switching to a slightly smaller hook he was soon catching lots of little wrasse too including his first ever Baillon's wrasse.

My first fish of the trip was unsurprisingly one of the most prolific that inhabit waters around the pier, a corkwing wrasse.

A small pouting gets Lee of the mark. We both agreed they are quite pretty fish with their dark banding and large fins.

Lee was very pleased to get his first ever Baillon's wrasse.

After a while Lee started fishing from the side of the pier to see what was around in the open water using a small paddletail lure on a jighead fished "on the drop". This resulted in a few pollock being caught before he called me over as he had hooked something different that he thought he'd need help landing. Before I got over though the fish had made a final surge under the pier and had escaped. Having only gotten a brief glimpse, Lee wasn't entirely sure what it was but was still quite annoyed to lose it and not find out. He carried on fishing to see if he could get another but after catching a few more pollock he rejoined me, began catching lots of fish again and this seemed to take his mind of the lost fish. The rest of the morning we both had a lot of fun catching lots of fish. However, when you are having so much fun catching lots of fish it's very easy to forget that you are there to try and catch a specific species. When I hooked a small fish just before noon I got a little reminder though.

Lee fishing into the bay to try and catch another "one that got away".

 When I lifted this up I thought it might be a female black faced blenny and got rather excited for a brief moment before I realised it was in fact my first Swanage Pier rock goby.

Despite this little reminder I decided to have a break from trying to catch a black faced blenny after seeing the anglers fishing from the upper deck return a garfish. Knowing that some shirvy would increase my chances we popped into town and I got some more bait. As I'd not even tried to catch any mackerel I bought some frozen packs to make up the shirvy with. As we made our way back to the pier it started raining and by the time we got back out onto it was really windy and a large rain cloud was headed across the bay in our direction.

Rain shrouds the cliffs to the north.

A loaf of bread and most of the fish went into a bucket along with a little sea water and it was all pounded up into a sticky paste. A few generous helpings were thrown into the water next to the pier. After a short time lots of small bait fish appeared. I set up a small float and set the depth at six feet. Casting it out,  it didn't take long for a fish to take my strip of mackerel and my float slowly disappeared under the surface. Letting some line out before closing the bail arm and lifting into the fish, a pollock was soon landed.

Not a garfish but good fun on my ultra light gear.

I then watched a mackerel charging in and attacking the bait fish before quickly vanishing again. Then I spotted a garfish close to the surface quite close to my float eating some of the small bits of bread from the shirvy. Very excited by this I called Lee over and we watched it as it moved about quite slowly, eating another small piece of bread before suddenly shooting off. Hoping a few more were around I kept the shirvy going in and fished the float for a while after it had run out but all I caught were a few more pollock and by this point the rain and wind were making fishing out in the open quite unpleasant so I joined Lee under the cover of the upper deck and we caught a load more mini species. Just after Lee commented that it was odd we hadn't caught any tompot blennies yet he hooked a fish and hoisted it up. He didn't realise it was his first tompot blenny and hesitated a bit too long for my liking before swinging it in away from a potential last minute escape so I reached out and grabbed his line and pulled it in. Just as well too as it was very lightly hooked in the upper lip!

Speak of the devil and a colourful cheeky little fish with mad eyebrows doth appear!

The wind and rain continued to batter us and before long water was dripping down from the upper deck and we were pretty wet. We were supposed to be heading along the coast to Weymouth in the evening but when I checked the forecast and it said it was going to keep raining and the wind was going to get worse with gusts up to 40mph we changed our plans. Both soaked and quite uncomfortable we soldiered on until I had caught my 500th wrasse of 2013 and then we went and checked into our hotel. Both feeling pretty tired we decided to go for something to eat and to have an early night unless the weather cleared up later in which case we would pop out and fish the bay for a few hours.

My 500th wrasse of 2013 was a small female corkwing.

As per usual the forecast proved to be way off which really doesn't come as a surprise anymore and in fact it turned into a reasonably nice night with no rain at all and the wind dropping off! We headed out and decided to fish small metals to see if there were maybe any bass or perhaps scad around. We started fishing on the small stone pier at the southern end of the beach next to the amusement arcade. After a while I hooked something very small at range and was expecting a small pollock but was quite surprised to land a sand smelt that had attacked my 7g Hansen Pilgrim and was hooked cleanly in the mouth.

This sand smelt attacked a lure over half its length!

As it got dark we moved around the bay under some lights and fished over the clean sandy ground there. The tide was fully in and the water was very clear so we could see the bottom. I thought I spotted some small fish moving about over the sand which I suspected may be weevers and started jigging my lure up and down slowly. As my lure hit the bottom and puffed up some sand I was sure I could see these fish move towards it to investigate. Just as I started to lift my lure up again a small flatfish suddenly appeared from the sand and grabbed it. Quickly brought to the surface I could tell by its shape that it was a small turbot and quickly swung it up into my hand.

How cool! My first flatfish on a metal jig too.

What an aggressive little fish indeed. I kept trying to tempt the small fish and switched over to a much smaller Reins Palpuntin metal. I kept seeing them moving about but couldn't induce a take which made me start to think I was seeing things in the shifting sand as the current moved it around because weevers are very aggresive little fish. We went along to a second stone pier but when Lee got a wind knot and was struggling to sort it out we headed back along to the well lit and more sheltered spot where I'd caught the turbot. I tried again to catch one of the small fish but couldn't however my efforts were rewarded with a second turbot. By this point we were both very tired so we called it a night and headed back to the hotel.

We got up at 7:00 on Wednesday and first off we headed to the spot where I caught the turbot the night before so I could try and catch one of the mystery small fish this time using a tiny piece of ragworm on a running ledger. The tide was almost fully in again although the water was very dirty. I had no joy which makes me think I was seeing things! Lee managed to catch a small pollock before we headed along to the pier. The weather was much more settled and I decided to start by trying for a garfish again and made up some shirvy. The current was taking it under the pier though so I moved to the opposite side so it was drifting out into open water. I decided to try fishing a small metal high up in the water but after about an hour or so with nothing to show for my efforts I turned my attention back to fishing the open sections in the middle of the pier with my mini bait rig. Lee too had been struggling with lures in the open sea and joined me. Even this was much slower than the day before but the third fish I caught was a goldsinny wrasse.

The smallest goldsinny wrasse I've ever caught.

Thinks started picking up a bit more as the tide started to ebb and Lee caught a nice long spined sea scorpion. Lee thinks long spined sea scorpions are the coolest "rockfish" in U.K. waters and I can't say I disagree. We discussed the short spined variety which can grow much larger. We'd both love to catch a big one on ultra light gear as the small ones can't half tear about and we think the bigger specimens would be very powerful indeed!

100% attitude.

I then caught a common dragonet and whilst unhooking it I got spiked by the spikes on its gill covers which was quite painful. The tiny would would not stop bleeding and Lee found this very amusing. I had to make an improvised dressing using some newspaper from my ragworm wrapping and a piece of gaffer tape that I had to stick down the end of my line onto its spool to finally stop it!

This weird looking fish has nasty little spikes on its head and has a habit of thrashing around once it gets you with them.

Lee had never caught a goldsinny wrasse or a common dragonet before so he started fishing in the spot I'd caught them for a while. I went and tried a new spot to see if I could locate a black faced blenny. By this point it had turned into quite a nice day and a few other anglers had joined us on the pier. We both failed to catch the species we wanted but a steady stream of small corkwings the odd Baillon's and a few tompot blennies kept us amused.

Another Baillon's for me. The marking not so vivid as others I've caught.

After a while we both moved out to the edge of the pier to enjoy the sun whilst it was managing to break through the clouds. This move paid off and soon saw Lee catch his first common dragonet which he quickly swung in when I spotted what it was as he hoisted it up. After seeing the damage they could do he handled it very carefully managing to avoid the spikes although truth be told after he had laughed at me bleeding all over the place I was hoping it would spike him! Shortly after that I hooked a fish that put up a short but spirited little scrap, taking a little line twice before being brought to the surface. It was my first bass of the year. Quickly returned I followed it up with a long spined sea scorpion, my first from the pier.

My 75th species of 2013.

Little aliens!

After a while the sun vanished behind some clouds again and I returned to fishing the open sections in the middle of the pier. I then caught a second rock goby and again for a brief moment thought it was a female black faced blenny. Lee was still keen to get a goldsinny wrasse so I suggested we went along the coast to Weymouth for an hour or so to try and get him one at a spot where I'd caught a few of them before. Before leaving the pier we had our photo taken in the traditional seaside manner.

I may not have had a black faced blenny on Swanage Pier but this bearded lady was almost as unusual.

After an hour or so we arrived in Weymouth and were soon fishing in the harbour. We left most of our gear in the car and just took a few drop shot weights, hooks, leader and some Isome and Gulp! Angleworm. It quickly became apparent that getting through the dozens of pouting would be a problem and the line spiralling in little circles as we brought each fish up was a dead giveaway that we'd caught one. We managed to get the odd small pollock too and Lee also caught his first whiting on a lure and a couple of tompot blennies as well. The second one had a chomp on Lee's finger which took him by surprise and made him cry out which we both found hilarious. A bit of justice too I felt for him laughing at my bleeding finger earlier in the day!

A single whiting successfully battled through the pouting.

I've found tompot blennies are normally a lot less aggressive than their common cousin but this one had other ideas.

The business end that Lee was on the receiving end of.

Trying to fish tight into the walls only seemed to result in fewer pouting so I tried casting out and working my lure back close to the bottom by adjusting the depth of my rig to about an inch or so. This resulted in a single black goby and this ballan wrasse which was the final fish of the trip.

Nice way to end the trip.

We grabbed a bite to eat and then made the drive back up to Wales were I'd be spending the night at Lee's before heading back up the road in the morning. So another most enjoyable trip to Swanage was over and the rare black faced blenny had eluded me yet again. My failure to get a garfish also meant I'd not caught anything new either but I added a bass to this years tally taking it to seventy five. It was great to catch up with Lee again and we had a lot of fun. He's already talking about wanting to go back to Swanage! I can't blame him, the pier is a fantastic venue for mini species fun and the rest of the coast is also well worth exploring. We'll be back there for sure next summer. Black faced blennies may have avoided capture again but it's only a matter of time!

Tight lines, Scott.