Even more species hunting adventures on Crete: Part 1.

At the end of September last year, I headed off to Crete for a fortnight to chill out with my partner Lillian and do some fishing. After two years without a foreign holiday, we were both looking forward to getting away again immensely! We've visited the island three times together in the past, and I've been allowed to take my trusty HTO Rock Rover to do some species hunting the last two times. You can read about those two adventures by clicking on the links below.

Species hunting adventures on Crete

More species hunting adventures on Crete

As our accommodation was in Koutouloufari, up in the hills above Hersonissos, we stayed in that vicinity for the first few days of our holiday and explored on foot. As a result, my first few fishing sessions were all around Hersonissos Harbour. I've fished there before, so had a rough idea what I could expect to catch. A friend of mine, who'd been on holiday there a few months before me, had spotted a lionfish slowly cruising about in the rocks behind Hersonissos Harbour, so the whole time I was fishing there I was keeping an eye out for them.

A drop shot rig with a small hook baited up with Gulp! Angleworm being worked slowly back towards me along the bottom. It's my go to "catches most things that swim" rig.

Inside the harbour over the mixed ground, I caught my first species of the trip, a marbled rabbitfish.

This was followed by lots of yellow spotted puffer...

...and a solitary slender goby.

Over the mainly sandy areas just outside the mouth of the harbour, I caught a couple of pearly razorfish...

...and a small wide eyed flounder.

I also had one session after dark too, which produced some nocturnal species in the shape of...

...a salema...

...a black scorpionfish...

...and several ruby red cardinalfish.

Whilst sitting having lunch in Hersonissos a few days into the holiday, we experienced our first earthquake in the form of mild tremors that only lasted a few seconds. The epicentre had been on the south coast of the island, a distance of over 40km from us, so it was quite incredible to think that we had felt it from so far away!

On the way back to our accommodation, we passed this badly cracked road. Nothing to do with the recent seismic activity, but I couldn't resist a photo opportunity.

After a few days we picked up a hire car and hit the road, heading west to visit CRETAquarium, because catching lots of fish just wasn't enough, I love to look at them in tanks too! There were a couple of exhibits containing potentially dangerous fish that I was pretty keen on catching before the holiday was over. From the sea though!

Lots of highly poisonous lionfish have now moved into the waters around Crete. I really wanted to catch one!

So has another Red Sea migrant, the silver cheeked toadfish, a large species of puffer that has highly toxic flesh. I have a love/hate relationship with puffers, but catching one of these would also be awesome!

During our last trip to Crete, we visited Kournas Lake, the only freshwater lake on the island, where I made a failed attempt to catch a goldfish. We headed along there for a day trip, so I could have another go, stopping off in Giogioupoli on the way there to briefly annoy the resident fish in the river that meets the sea there.

Giogioupoli Harbour is a great little spot to catch a wide variety of different species.

Having caught a few of its residents already, I focused my efforts on adding to my trip tally and did so in the shape of a large rusty blenny...

...and a (not so giant) giant goby.

We then headed up to Kournas Lake, a very popular spot where you can swim, hire a pedalo and freeline bread for the resident goldfish.

Mission accomplished! The biggest of three that I caught.

The goldfish were easily my favourite captures of the trip at that point, not just because they are beautiful, but also because it was actually quite a challenge catching them. Trying to control your drift on a pedalo is tricky, especially whilst fishing at the same time. They're definitely not the most manoeuvrable of fishing platforms! The task was made even trickier by the hungry water fowl and terrapins that were also keen on eating my bread flake too!

By that point we were about midway through the holiday, having a nice time and my species hunt was going very well, although I'd not caught anything new. Perhaps I'd get lucky during the second half of the trip? Any new species would be very welcome, but most of all I really wanted to risk getting stung by a lionfish!

Tight lines, Scott.

Click here for the next part.

Species hunting adventures on the River Ebro and Catalonian coast : Part 2.

On the forth day of our trip we went down the Ebro in the afternoon to try for largemouth bass again. We had successfully avoided the morning's heavy rain, were hopeful that the remaining cloud cover might improve our chances and at the first bay Martin was in almost straight away. After that though the bites dried up quickly.

Martin's white bodied red tailed Berkley Ripple Shad proved deadly once again. 

At the second bay we fished my first cast produced a fish. It was clear however that the resident largemouth bass very quickly became much more cautious once a few lures had been cast into their midst. 

A bit bigger than my first one the previous day. 

After catching a second largemouth bass, that was almost as small as the one I caught the day before, we moved down river again to try a third spot, the one where we had seen the fish sunbathing the previous day, but couldn't locate any of them. In the afternoon we targeted perch and zander but things were tough and we only managed a few perch between us. To the west the sky was still dark grey and we could hear thunder and see the odd lightning strike. More heavy rain was forecast for later in the evening so we headed to a bridge to fish for zander that we could shelter under if the rain did start and was particularly heavy.

All our efforts were rewarded eventually. 

A small black Lunker City Ribster nose hooked on a drop shot rig and given the odd twitch is a good leech look alike.

The rain in Spain is mainly a couple of bends up the river.

As light faded later that evening we had high hopes but the fishing was pretty hard going. On the bright side the forecast rain didn't materialise and whilst I hooked two zander frustratingly both managed to throw the hook. 

That night I was in two minds about what I wanted to do the following day. Despite Lee working very hard to put us onto fish and plenty of them regularly showing on his fish finder, Martin and I were really struggling to catch them. I felt that I needed a break and the draw of the coast and the prospect of some relatively easy fishing was quite appealing. I ran this idea past Martin after a few tapas and beers in the hotel bar that night and got the green light to bugger off on a solo mission the following day while he persevered on the Ebro with Lee in the hope that he would be rewarded with a big zander.

In the morning I said goodbye to Martin and Lee and made the drive to the coast. I headed to the rocks down the coast opposite the harbour breakwater at L'Ametlla de Mar. 

I liked the look of this area when Martin and I had fished from the end of the breakwater opposite. 

Starting off with the idiot proof Angleworm on a drop shot rig I was getting plenty of bites and catching fish from the first cast. All of them were the same species though, rainbow wrasse. 

The area was full of these. 

Working my way along the rocks trying different areas I kept catching them, my bait rarely being on the bottom for a few seconds before being attacked. To try and catch something else I tied on a small metal which I cast out and worked back towards me, jigging it as close to the rough volcanic rock sea floor as I dared. This eventually produced a take from a greedy common comber. 

Using an assist hook helped minimise snagging although I did still loose a couple of metals. The crystal flash dressing on them is also probably an added incentive for fish to bite. 

Moving around to another spot I tried some other soft plastics on a drop shot rig. This produced a few more bites and as well as a few more rainbow wrasse I caught my first painted comber of the year. 

IMA Trilobite, another strongly scented lure, is always a good choice for wrasse and comber species. 

Switching back to Angleworm for a while then saw me catch a goby from close in amongst the boulders. 

At first I thought this might be a red mouthed goby. I'm now pretty sure it is the closely related slender goby. 

Highly defined black lines of sensory papillae on the face can be used to identify some species of goby which is useful. 

By the middle of the afternoon it was very hot and the action slowed down so I jumped back in the car, turned up the air conditioning and headed further down the coast to the next big harbour in L'Ampolla. Fishing from the rocks at the back of its breakwater saw me getting lots of bites and landing a few small but feisty fish. The ground out past the rocks was very clean and all fish came from close range although this meant I lost a fair amount of end tackle. 

I'm pretty sure this is a juvenile gilthead seabream.

This common comber swallowed an Aquawave Ami. 

A common two banded seabream. Even these fairly small bream gave a good account of themselves on the tackle I was using.

After a while a shoal of small bass came along from my left. They were hugging the rocks and I soon caught one on a small paddle tail fished on a jighead but it managed to flip out of my hand as I took a photo. Switching to a 10g Savage Gear Sandeel and working my way along the rocks casting it out and retrieving it slowly up through the rocks saw a second caught before I decided to pack up and head back to Caspe. As I left a barracuda appeared and cruised along the rocks. Perhaps that's what the bass were avoiding. I was tempted to rig up again but it disappeared out of sight and I had a long drive to make.

My second bass of the day and my last fish from the sea. 

Over dinner Martin told me about his day, another tough session unfortunately in terms of numbers but his efforts had been rewarded with a 6lb 6oz zander which was a new personal best for him so in that respect his perseverance had paid off.

Martin's new PB zander.

Enjoying a few more drinks we discussed our final session on the Ebro the next day and decided we would focus on zander again making an attempt to refine our approach slightly to maximize our chances. Launching the next day, feeling quite relaxed after my day on the coast the day before and ready to face another potentially difficult day's fishing, I jokingly said that my expectations for the final session were to enjoy a day out on the river, top up my tan and if we caught any fish it would be a bonus. We fished around a bridge and along a rocky shoreline that is a known zander holding area but it was quite windy and things were tough again.

I relaxed and let the motion of the boat do all the work. 

Despite my lazy approach I managed to catch one small zander, my stinger placed right in the tail of my lure doing its job. Plenty of fish were showing under the boat but they just didn't seem to be interested in anything we threw at them. Martin retained his focus a bit better than I did and using a Gary Yamamoto Swim Bait that Lee gave him eventually hooked a couple of zander only for them to throw the hook. The second one was a big fish, perhaps even into double figures. Martin vented his anger with a short colourful outburst that echoed under the bridge. This would have been a rotten way to end the trip but I was glad when he hooked a third zander and this time it didn't come off. 

Martin hooks a third zander. 

It had engulfed the lure and was well hooked on the jighead. 

At just over 6lb it was a nice fish and it would turn out to be the last fish of the trip. 

Meeting up with Lee later that night in the hotel bar we reflected on a hard week's fishing over a well earned drink. It may have been difficult at times but it had also produced some nice fish and good memories. I don't think I could be a guide. Lee knew the river like the back of his hand and worked extremely hard, gave us great advice, the use of his catfish gear and the odd lure too. Most of the time plenty of fish were showing on his fish finder. It wasn't his fault that the fish didn't want to throw themselves onto our hooks or threw our hooks once they were on them. It must have been very frustrating week for him too. He's a lovely guy and whilst my holidays are all used up for the foreseeable future I'd definitely go back and go out fishing with him again. I think next time I'd like to mix it up and do some pellet fishing for carp and catfish from the bank too though, especially if lures weren't tempting the fish. Martin on the other hand will no doubt have a few nightmares about the zander that got away and as he has his heart set on a double figure fish he might be going back later in the year. All in all it was a great trip (late night mountian road ibex close encounters and embarrassing baitcasting setup mishaps aside).

Here's a summary of everything I caught, new species are in bold.

From freshwater...

1. Largemouth Bass x 3
2. Perch x 22
3. Wels Catfish x 4
4. Zander x 4

From saltwater...

1. Annular Seabream x 10
2. Bass x 2
3. Black Scorpionfish x 1
4. Common Comber x 3
5. Common Two Banded Seabream x 1
6. Damselfish x 3
7. East Atlantic Peacock Wrasse x 1
8. Gilthead Seabream x 1
9. Lesser Weever x 1
10. Painted Comber x 1
11. Rainbow Wrasse x 15
12. Ringneck Blenny x 8
13. Saddled Seabream x 7
14. Slender Goby x 1
15. Striped Red Mullet x 1

As ever fishing with Martin and watching him have the odd meltdown was a real pleasure and I'm looking forward to fishing with him again in the near future with a day afloat out of Port Logan in the pipeline and an evening targeting three bearded rockling also on the cards a bit later in the year.

Tight lines, Scott.

Species hunting adventures on Zakynthos : Part 3.

Early last Saturday morning I didn't go fishing and just got up with Lillian. After breakfast we went to Zakynthos Town and had a walk around. I was allowed to fish in the harbour for an hour or so and thought this might be a good spot to try and catch some blennies and gobies. Fishing a split shot rig straight down the harbour wall I didn't have any luck locating either but I did catch a few wrasse and seabream including some annular seabream which was an addition to the trips species tally.

At first glance it could easily be mistaken for its white or saddled cousin. The yellow pelvic and anal fins are the feature to look for on the annular seabream.

We then headed to a Ceramic Art Studio to have a look around and buy a couple of souvenirs. We were welcomed by the owner and given a glass of home made lemonade to enjoy while we looked around which was lovely in the afternoon heat. Lillian picked out a couple of things she liked and we bought them before heading back to Porto Roma.  After lunch we headed up to St Nicholas beach to have a swim and a snorkel around Vasilikos Cape.

Who needs a fish finder?

Whilst doing this I spotted a few fish that I hadn't caught. Small groups of Salema, large shoals of sand smelt and a solitary Atlantic lizardfish were all down there as we swam around as well as lots of wrasse, seabream and striped red mullet.

Swimming around was quite tiring and when we went back to the apartment Lillian fancied a nap so I drove back to Vasilikos Cape to try and catch a salema or an Atlantic lizardfish. Fishing in the areas where I had seen them things were very slow and I only manged to catch four fish. One of them was a small Atlantic lizardfish though so I was happy enough. One more species left to reach my target of twenty.

Towards the end of this session my fishing was interrupted at one point by what I thought was gunfire. Rather confused I looked up towards the small church to see that sure enough someone had fired what looked like a rifle three times out over the sea. Walking along towards the church at the end of my session I realised that a wedding had been taking place and the gunfire must have been part of the ceremony.

The next day I got up early and decided to head down to Porto Roma beach for a change. Fishing small soft plastic paddletail lures in conjunction with a caro I started at the harbour and worked my way along the beach as the sun rose. Sadly this did not produce any takes so I headed onto some rocks at the far end and had a few casts over a submerged reef off to my left. Again this didn't result in any action so I switched to Angleworm on a drop shot rig. First few casts with this and I caught a painted comber and an annular seabream. These were followed by a rainbow wrasse and a white seabream. Then I spotted a small fish moving across the sand in front of the rock that I was standing on. I was fairly sure it was a goby. Rigging up a split shot rig and #22 hook as quickly as I could I started twitching it along the bottom in the area where I'd seen the small fish but could no longer see it. As I lifted the rig up off of the bottom however a few small weevers appeared from beneath the sand and attacked my tiny piece of angleworm.  Jigging my rig up and down disturbing the sand it didn't take too long to hook one and I lifted it out to be pleasantly surprised to find out that it was the lesser variety.

My 20th species of the trip. Mission accomplished!

Trying for a bit longer to see if I could catch a goby I caught two more lesser weevers before heading back up to the apartment. On my way back along the beach I heard a strange noise and looking along the beach I could see a dog at the far end plodding along and pausing to howl in a most peculiar manner. The noise it was making whilst still distinctly dog like was oddly familiar and then I realised it sounded rather like a cockerel crowing. The confused canine headed up the road as I was putting my stuff into the car but I soon caught up with it.

I was sure that this dog thinks it's a cockerel!

Over breakfast Lillian and I discussed our plans for the day. Lillian still had a few things that she wanted to do and as she loves castles there was a Venetian Fort on her list so off we went to the small village of Bohali to explore it. I must admit I'm not a big fan of wandering around old ruins but when we got up to the fortress the views from its walls high above Zakynthos Town made it worthwhile.

A lovely view. A few clouds rolling by but to be honest it was nice to get a break from the midday sun.

There were also quite a lot of butterflies fluttering about and a few lizards running around to keep me interested while we wandered around the crumbling remains of the fort.

This butterfly was camouflaged rather well against the lichen on this rock.

Eddie was rather quick and it was hard to get close enough to get a photo.

Next on Lillian's to do list was a trip to Xigia beach. Located on the eastern side of the island this small beach is flanked on either side by cliffs. Spring water containing collagen and sulphur is said to enter the sea nearby so a swim from this beach is said to be good for your health. The down side is it smells of rotten eggs. Off we went but before we got there we stopped at Alykes for lunch. This gave me the chance to fish in the River Skourtis which runs into the sea there although there are no freshwater species in it as far as I'm aware.

There was no current to speak of due to the lack of rain water and as far as I could tell the river is really just a channel that runs inland that is full of seawater. It is also full of mullet but rather than get frustrated trying to catch one I fished small soft plastics on jigheads and small hard lures. After a couple of follows I hooked a small fish that turned out to be a small spotted bass, my forth new species of the trip.

Only slightly bigger than the last bass I caught.

I then caught a striped red mullet and a white seabream before putting my gear back in the car and we wandered upstream to find somewhere to eat. As we crossed over a small stone footbridge I spotted a rather big blenny sunning itself on a ledge on the side of the bridge and permission was given to go back to the car and get my gear. Soon back at the bridge, Lillian had been watching the fish and had spotted a few more so I started lowering small pieces of Angleworm down in front of them. To my surprise the big blennies just turned their noses up at it and swam off into the nearest crack. My disappointment and frustration was soon forgotten however when a smaller, darker blenny appeared from one of these cracks and eagerly swallowed my offering. I was most pleased to discover that it was a rather beautifully marked peacock blenny meaning I had achieved my other target for the trip of five new species.

This species was also recently added to my "most wanted" list so I was very excited to catch it.

Waiting until the bigger blennies reappeared before presenting my tiny lure to them they carried on taking exception to my efforts to catch them. I did however catch a couple more peacock blennies and a few slender gobies before giving up on the big ones and heading off to lunch.

I've caught these before but at the time thought they were juvenile giant gobies. Not really a new species but I'll add it to my lifelist as it should have been in it already. 

After trying some tasty village sausage, a spicy dip called Tyrokafteri made from Feta and green chilli and yet another Greek salad we headed up the coast to the foul smelling swimming spot. The beach was rather busy despite being very pungent so to try and escape the gathered masses and the smell I did a bit of snorkeling further out while Lillian opted to have a swim closer to the shore.

Who let rip?

Visibility wasn't great due to all the health giving particles suspended in the water but I did see a few wrasse and a couple of wide eyed flounders which was pretty cool. After a while we'd had enough so we got out and headed further north to Agios Nikoloas for the second time. I had an hour or so fishing at the back of the harbour again. Metals and hard lures didn't produce another amberjack or anything else for that matter so I switched to a drop shot rig and caught a few seabream, a couple of painted combers and a parrotfish before landing a wrasse I'd never caught before.

A bit of research when I got home later would make me reach the conclusion it was a female East Atlantic peacock wrasse.

This took me to twenty four species for the trip. I then caught a few more fish before hooking something that put a nice bend in my rod. Bullying it up away from the rocks I was surprised to see a small goldblotch grouper appear.

These are very fiesty for their size.

I caught a second shortly afterwards before we headed off to enjoy a lovely evening meal. On the way to the taverna we passed a shop selling nets which reminded me of the amberjack I lost. Posing for a photo I picked one up and pulled a sad face. I didn't spot the praying mantis on it until I put it back down again. We both found this very funny as we checked the photograph of me only to realise it was right next to my face on the net.

I really need a travel net.

Always wanted to see one of these fascinating insects. Very aggressive as I soon discovered when I put my hand near it, lashing out at me with its front legs/weapons!

Relaxing by the waters edge in out chosen taverna more Greek salad was accompanied by swordfish and grilled squid before we made the drive back to our apartment.

On Monday I just got up with Lillian and after breakfast we headed to the small turtle rescue centre that is being established near the nesting beach of Gerakas.

If the turtles actually grew this big then they'd probably have the beaches to themselves. 

Whilst people can visit most of the turtle nesting beaches there are controls in place to try and minimise the impact this has on the turtle's breeding activities and a National Marine Park had been established within which there are restrictions on human activity. There is ban on fishing within this area, including fishing from the shore that runs from the peninsula to the east of Porto Roma all the way around the southern end of the island to the peninsula to the west of Keri. 

Afterwards we headed to Zakynthos Town to have a walk around, send our postcards and to have some lunch.

The church of Agios Dionisios sits near the harbour.

On the way back to our apartment we stopped in Argassi for a quick game of crazy golf.

I won but Lillian did manage a hole in one.

Having not fished all day I was suffering from withdrawal symptoms so after yet another home made Greek salad on the balcony we headed back to Zakynthos Town harbour in the evening and I fished on the large breakwater. Fishing into the deep water next to the pier that projects out half way along the inside didn't produce anything so we moved to a flat concrete platform on the outside and I fished into the open sea. 

Once again I gave some small metals a go to try and cover more water.

The water here was deep but chucking small metals around and working them at different depths for a while didn't produce anything so I tried fishing close to the bottom with drop shot tactics. After a while this produced a couple of seabream, a common pandora and an Atlantic lizardfish. 

Atlantic lizardfish have an impressive set of needle like teeth.

When we headed back to Porto Roma it was a lovely still night so we went down to the small jetty for half an hour and I cast my drop shot rig around the bay. Things were very slow and I only caught a single saddled seabream before we headed up the road to bed. Perhaps the flat calm sea and moonlight weren't the best conditions to fish in relatively shallow water. 

During the night I woke and heard a strange continuous noise. At first I thought our air conditioning unit had developed a fault but getting out of bed and waking up a bit I realised it was raining rather heavily. Quite surprised I woke Lillian so she could have a look. When we opened the shutters to our balcony the sky was illuminated by lightning followed by it's accompanying thunder. The power in our room went off briefly then returned. Before we flew out the forecast had been for sunshine for the entire duration of our holiday and I never thought to see if that had changed. A quick check revealed rain was forecast for spells the next day.

Tuesday was our last full day on the island and having done most of the things on Lillian's list and achieved my species hunting targets we decided to go for a drive up the mountainous western coast of the island and just stop if we saw something interesting. When we left the apartment it was dry, the sun was out but the power was off again. Driving up towards Argassi we saw a sign for Daphni Beach and Lillian recalled wanting to visit it but couldn't remember why so we headed up through the hills towards it. On the way to the beach we found a turtle information centre and had a look round. The power was off inside but the volunteer working there opened a few windows shutters and this provided us with enough light to read the information and look at the displays.

As we were not able to watch some of videos that were part of the exhibition, the volunteer kindly gave us a short talk. The power came back on half way through that so when she was finished we got to watch the videos anyway. It was interesting to learn more about the turtles and the centre is well worth a visit if you are on Zakynthos. We then popped down to see the beach before we drove across the island to the west coast. Passing through the small picturesque mountain village of Agalas we saw a sign for the Damianou Caves so went up there for a look.

The Damianou Caves. Information on these was non existent other than a few signs pointing the way. The walk down to them was nice though and the view out from them was lovely. I wondered if anyone had ever lived in them. 

Afterwards we had lunch in the nearby taverna. Then we headed up the coast enjoying more of the scenery before driving east to head to Alykes. I wanted one final fishing session to have another go at catching the big blennies.

By the time we arrived in Alykes the sky looked like it could open up at any moment and drench us.

Stopping at a shop to buy some raw shrimps on the way we parked up next to the stone foot bridge and I quickly spotted a big blenny, shelled a shrimp and tossed the head and shell in to see if it was hungry. Sure enough it may have turned its nose up at a piece of Gulp! the last time I tried to catch it but it couldn't refuse a delicious shellfish snack and promptly snaffled it before swimming into a crack. Setting up a split shot rig I baited a #18 hook with a small chunk of shrimp and lowered it down close to a second big blenny. As with my previous attempts here the slender gobies proved to be much more eager though and a few of them got to my bait first before I finally managed to get my bait close enough to the big blenny for it to grab it.

A big chunky plump rusty blenny. The final addition to my trip species tally was a bit of a fussy eater.

I carried on fishing for a little while longer and caught a few more. Happy to catch some blennies as my final species of the trip we headed back to the apartment. In the evening we went down to Porto Roma for a nice meal. Shortly after ordering our food the nice view accross the bay disappeared in a torrent of rain which made us both laugh. We'd been lucky and had avoided the rain all day. Because I didn't have to drive I had a few beers and our grilled prawns and octopus in vinegar followed by moussaka and grilled steak was excellent as was, you've guessed it, the last Greek salad of the trip.

Flying home on Wednesday afternoon, we just had a lie in and after packing our stuff and saying goodbye to the apartment owner we drove to the airport. The end of a holiday is always tinged with sadness but we'd had a great time. As well as seeing a lot of Zakynthos and its attractions I had done a fair bit of fishing and had achieved the species hunting goals I had set myself. Twenty six species caught including six new ones wasn't bad especially as the fishing was a bit slow at times. Here is a summary of what I caught, the new species are in bold.

1. Annular Seabream x 7
2. Atlantic Lizardfish x 2
3. Axillary Wrasse x 1
4. Cardinalfish x 2
5. Common Pandora x 2
6. Damselfish x 2
7. Dusky Rabbitfish x 1 
8. East Atlantic Peacock Wrasse x 1
9. Five Spotted Wrasse x 2
10. Goldblotch Grouper x 2
11. Greater Weever x 7
12. Lesser Weever x 3
13. Madeira Rockfish x 4
14. Mediterranean Rainbow Wrasse x 12
15. Ornate Wrasse x 16
16. Painted Comber x 6
17. Parrotfish x 3
18. Peacock Blenny x 3
19. Rusty Blenny x 4
20. Saddled Seabream x 5
21. Slender Goby x 9
22. Spotted Bass x 1
23. Striped Red Mullet x 4
24. Striped Seabream x 1
25. White Seabream x 7
26. Wide Eyed Flounder x 1

Having caught lots of nice colourful fish if pushed I'd probably say my favourites were the peacock blennies with their beautiful blue markings and the fiesty little goldblotch groupers. However by some distance my best catch so far is still Lillian.

I don't think anyone else would tolerate my fishing obsession the way she does and at times she actually encourages me. I'm a very lucky man indeed.

I really enjoy fishing abroad and fortunately it won't be too long before I get to do some more. I'm off to Menorca next month for my first ever week long hardcore fishing trip to the Mediterranean with my mate Lee. I can't wait!

Tight lines, Scott.