A very fishy birthday.

Another year older on the 6th and with my girlfriend Lillian working during the day I decided to celebrate by going fishing. Shock, horror! Canvassing a few folk the week running up to it to see who was available and wanted to join me, my mates Naz and Mark said they were and would so when my birthday arrived I picked them up fairly early in the morning. My choice of destination was St Abbs Head and after asking my two fishing pals if they were ok with it we decided to try a new mark that was a bit more tricky to access than the ones I've fished with various people so far this year. Once down the fairly steeply inclined path you reach a point where a step across a narrow but very deep gorge is required. I went over first and then Mark and Naz followed. We all agreed that it looked far worse than it actually was. A sign of our age I think?!

The view to the east along St Abbs Head. So many potential spots to fish. Some will be more difficult to get to though!

Once on the rock we were surprised to find another two anglers already there, tucked away down on a ledge near the water and were slightly concerned when they informed us that they been there for a few hours and had only caught one mackerel. We began fishing anyway, targeting pollock with a variety of lures. After an hour or so with no reward for our efforts and with locating a ballan wrasse in mind I decided to head around to the back of the rock to the channel of deep water that ran along and under the crack we had stepped over.

Looks wrassy. The cormorants nesting on the other side didn't seem to mind me fishing there either.

I had on a 5" Keitech Easy Shiner rigged up on a Texas rig with a #5/0 weedless hook and my first cast resulted in a few distinctive taps which pulled the lure around the hook so I quickly changed to a 10g #2/0 football jighead and put on a slightly smaller 4" Keitech Sexy Impact lure and dropped it down to the same spot. This quick change soon resulted in a nicely bent rod and I had to quickly pressurise the fish away from the thick kelp lining the edge of the rocks beneath me. With the fish soon beaten and on the surface I managed to grab my net and open and extend it with one hand and soon had my first St Abbs Head ballan wrasse unhooked and in my hands. I called to Mark who came and took a photo before having a go for wrasse himself.

My first St Abbs Head ballan wrasse. I hope it's not the last!

Unfortunately I seemed to have caught the only resident wrasse and after a while Mark returned to the open sea to try for pollock again. I decided to stay put, switched to my ultra light gear and fished a section of Isome on a drop shot rig. Searching the gully I was hoping for a special birthday treat. Unusual species like Yarrell's blenny and streaked gurnard have been seen in the area by divers but on this occasion a solitary long spined sea scorpion was my only other gift from the gully.

Obliging as ever.

I then returned to where Naz and Mark were only to find that they weren't there and two new anglers had appeared and were fishing there instead. It was quickly becoming obvious that it is quite a popular spot during the summer months! Walking over to the western side of the rock I soon found them however, they had taken the spot the other two angler had occupied as unknown to me they had left the mark so I climbed down too. It was a bit tight space wise but we managed to fit onto the ledge and fish fairly comfortably. This new spot saw Naz and I catching quite a few mackerel, despite us targeting pollock with larger lures. There must have been large shoals in the bay because I caught several on a Real Pearl Savage Gear Sandeel! For some reason Mark couldn't catch any and I started winding him up a bit. He finally caught one however and I think he was quite relieved.

Mark gets off the mark.

This continued for an hour or so with a few small coalfish with eyes much bigger than their stomachs also being caught on some metal lures and breaking up the steady string of ravenous mackerel. I caught a single pollock before the action dropped off again. After a while we decided to head back up.

Caught close in on a Real Pearl Savage Gear Sandeel. One of my favourite pollock lures. Note the mountain goat over my shoulder!

I lead the way back up.

Mark and Naz take a short break from the climb to catch breath and admire the views.

With a table booked for dinner later that evening with my girlfriend Lillian, my sister and her partner I had to be back in Edinburgh for about 18:00. It was only 15:00 when we got back to the car though so we decided to drop into Dunbar harbour on the way back so I could catch a birthday blenny. Sharing my rod and fishing Isome on a dropshot rig we took it in turns to catch them which was a lot of fun. Mark had never caught one before and was amazed how aggressive they are especially when his started biting him.

A birthday blenny!

Catching blennies on ultra light gear is great fun!

I then had a go at catching flounders and manged two before handing the rod to Naz who managed to catch one as well one his first cast. Mark was next and after a short time he soon had the technique sorted too and was getting a few bites before finally hooking a small but perfectly formed specimen.

One of four little flounders I caught.

Mark thinks this was his first flounder in about fifteen years.

Mark has fished off the back of the harbour for pollock in the past but has never fished inside the harbour before and as he lives in nearby Haddington he said he'd definitely be back for a few short sessions to try and catch some of the bigger ones whilst his partner does the shopping! A thoroughly enjoyable morning and afternoon's fishing over we headed off.

Later that evening I was treated to an amazing seafood dinner at Ondine on George IV Bridge. Quite an apt way to celebrate turning thirty six I thought given the amount of time I spend around the sea. Whilst the shellfish platter I had for my main course was superb, my starter of bass ceviche was the highlight of the evening and is a dish that I may even try to make myself in the future.

Delicious!

Grand fruits of the sea. Yum.

Chocolate truffle and a cappuccino were a nice end to a lovely meal.

All full up and with me feeling rather tired we stopped off for a drink on the way home but after one pear cider I was falling asleep, another sign of getting older I suppose!

Tight lines, Scott.

From Ukraine with lures.

After receiving an email from chap called Valentyn a while back asking for advice for fishing around East Lothian whilst he was on holiday in the area I suggested we could maybe meet up instead and I could take him fishing and hopefully help him catch a few UK species. Valentyn is originally from from Odessa in Ukraine but now lives and works in Enschede in Holland where he mainly fishes for predators. He likes spinning with spoons and fishing with hard lures and was surprised that spinning isn't permitted on many Scottish waters. Jake was going to come too but a few days beforehand was offered work so unfortunately couldn't make it but my mate Naz was keen to come along so last Wednesday I picked him up at 8:00 and we headed down to East Lothian to meet up with Valentyn. Being on holiday with his family he only had a five hour pass to go fishing so we headed down to St Abbs harbour as I thought given the neap tide and conditions it would provide a bit of variety and the best chance to catch some fish in a short period of time. When we arrived it was a lovely day and we were soon fishing off the back of the harbour over the kelp beds for pollock. Apart from a few small coalfish attacking our lures though we had no luck and were just about to switch to our ultra light setups when Naz, who had ventured along to fish from the rocks, called over to us. He'd spotted a few huge and very dense shoals of sandeels taking cover from the open sea and the predators that would no doubt be chasing them out there in around the outside of the harbour mouth amongst the rocks there.

Goodness gracious great balls of bait!

Easily the most concentrated shoals of sandeels I've ever seen we watched as the water erupted every now and then as small coalfish attacked them from below breaching the surface in the process. Next Valentyn and I went to mouth of the harbour whilst Naz stayed on the rocks at the end of the outer harbour wall. Fishing Isome sections on drop shot rigs Valentyn and I soon caught some small coalfish and some tiny codling too. 

Valentyn was quite pleased to catch possible the smallest codling ever taken on rod and line.

How cool is this micro codling.

After a while we moved along to outer harbour wall and rocks and joined Naz. Targeting the small coalfish, I set Naz up with an ultra light jighead and a piece of Isome and we caught dozens of them which was good fun. I tried for wrasse briefly but had no joy so we headed around towards the life boat station to target long spined sea scorpions. It didn't take long to locate some and after I had caught one I spotted a second which I pointed out to Valentyn that he promptly caught. 

A quite grumpy Scottish fish.

A quite happy Ukrainian angler.

We then headed to the small inner harbour to try for flounders. After a while when I cast out a seagull flew into my line getting itself tangled up and falling into the water. I carefully guided it towards a boat and climbed down. Getting a hold of it was quite tricky but it didn't take too long to carefully cut away my line and free the bird, not before it gave me a few peck though! Time was now starting to run out so we headed around to a very shallow area where I thought we could sight fish for flounders. This move couldn't have worked out any better with Valentyn managing to catch a flounder with his very first cast, again on drop shotted Isome.

Another "chocolate and orange" St Abbs flounder.

I had a nice flounder follow my lure a few times but it soon lost interest and it was then time for Valentyn to head off so we headed back to the cars and said goodbye. It was just after 13:00 and Naz and I were keen to do some more fishing so we headed up to St Abbs Head for a couple of hours. Fishing various paddletail lures we managed to catch three nice pollock which we kept to eat, one each and one for a mate. As a catch and release angler I don't take that many fish but I must say the pollock was very tasty indeed. I fried it in a spicy tempura batter and Lillian and I really enjoyed it with a nice cool dip accompanying it.

A Black Fiish Minnow worked deep took this lovely pollock.

Another cracking shore pollock taken by Naz on a Sidewinder Shad.

Whilst down at the bottom of the cliffs I noted that there were hardly any birds around, which is quite unusual as there are normally hundreds of them perched on the cliffs, flying around or sitting in the water, so with the chances of accidentally catching another bird greatly reduced I had a go for mackerel on my ultra light gear before we left but there obviously weren't many of those around either. A large seal swam by just before we called it a day which may have explained that though. The climb back up to the top was a killer as usual but we were soon back at the car and heading home.

Very few birds on the cliffs which was unusual.

All in all it was a very enjoyable days fishing in good company and it was a real pleasure meeting Valentyn too for the first time. Later in the week he was heading up north for the rest of his holiday and planned to do some fishing whilst there so I look forward to hearing how he gets on and may even meet up with him again. He's fished on Crete whilst on holiday there and has promised to give me some advice for when I go in October which will be gratefully received. He also said that should I want to go over to Holland to target predators we can meet up over there which I must say is a very tempting offer indeed and may very well be a potential future fishing adventure.

Tight lines, Scott.

Dab will do nicely.

I continued my hunt for an elusive viviparous blenny at Granton Breakwater over the weekend with three very short sessions fitting them in before or after work. I popped down on Saturday for a few hours before work and started at the end of the breakwater again. I quickly caught twelve coalfish and a single ballan wrasse before the harbour pilot boat came in at high speed and the wake it created smashed into the breakwater churning up the bottom clouding up the water in the process. No bites after this so I moved along the breakwater, quickly tied up a two down running ledger rig and began fishing close in just past the weed. I soon had a few very shy bites. Crabs and small coalfish I thought and I couldn't seem to connect with any of them. When I finally got a good bite though I quickly struck and hooked a fish. It was a small fish and fought rather oddly. Could it be the fish I was after? No, it was a small flatfish. At the time I was slightly disappointed to catch it, thought it was a flounder and took a photo before quickly putting it back.

Examining this photo whilst writing this post I realised however it was in fact a small dab, my first of 2013. A nice reward for my species hunting efforts at the breakwater I think.

I had a few more casts and whilst reeling in my final one before leaving, a mackerel grabbed my bait. It was quickly landed and dispatched as my stash of raw prawns was beginning to run low and perhaps the viviparous blennies would prefer a portion of Omega 3 on my next visit.

The following day after work I headed back down again. Using the same approach as the day before but with the tide ebbing from high I got very few bites. I bumped into my mate Naz as he was leaving having caught a few mackerel at the end of the breakwater. One small flounder was hooked, landed and quickly released although in hindsight it may have been another dab. I fished for about three hours until last light. Just before I left the sky opened and I got thoroughly soaked.

Granton Breakwater. Slippery when wet!

On Monday before work I popped down for two hours. Despite it being rather sunny when I arrived it soon started raining rather heavily and I got soaked again but fished on through the downpour. Fishing at the end of the breakwater for the first hour I caught a few coalfish and a small pollock before I hooked something much bigger that felt like a ballan wrasse. It charged towards the wooden remains of the end of the pier. I put on some pressure to try and stop it getting into the snag but this bent out my fine wire hook. The second hour was spent trying to fish into the rocks and kelp at the bottom of the breakwater. Working my way along looking for gaps to fish into I found a blenny hiding in a gap in the breakwater itself that was full of water. With my fingers crossed I managed to tempt it to grab my bait and began lifting it up only to find out it was just a common blenny which was just as well as it was not hooked, was only holding onto the mackerel strip which it promptly spat out before doing an acrobatic dive back into the crack I had hoisted it from before I could grab it. Had it been my target I would have been most annoyed! I continued searching but my efforts only resulted in several lost rigs and leads. Session soon over I headed off thinking that I may have to rethink my strategy if I'm going to catch my quarry. Telling my girlfriend Lillian, who caught two viviparous blennies about two years ago, at the end of each session that I haven't caught one is pretty hard and she has even suggested that she should come down and show me how to do it so the pressure is well and truely mounting. I think I'll take a little break and target other species and come back to viviparous blennies later in the year.

Tight lines, Scott.

The weather forecast is a load of carp!

After being soaked twice whilst fishing over the last few days on Monday night I checked the weather forecast for Tuesday, my first day off work for over a week. It didn't look good with rain forecast all day so I decided just to have a lie in. When I got up though just before noon and looked out of the window the weather looked quite nice so I thought I'd go and take a look at a small burn I plan to fish at some point in the future.

A short drive later and I was enjoying the sunshine, had a nice walk along the burn and with just a solitary very light shower I thought sod it, I'm going fishing! I headed home, grabbed my gear and headed to Orchill Coarse Fishery in Perthshire. My target for the evening was crucian carp. It took me just over a hour to get there. Upon arrival just after 16:00 I got my permit, a pint of maggots, a can of sweetcorn and drove up to one of the ponds I was told contained my target and picked a peg. Being able to park right next to my peg was unexpected but great as it meant that if the rain was going to appear I could jump in it and keep dry. In the pond there were lots of fish cruising around and there was plenty of surface activity going on with fish splashing around feeding. As a result I started fishing fairly shallow and was soon catching plenty of small chub a rod length out in front of me. Whilst I fished away I fed up a swim in the margin to my left. I switched to that after about ten chub, plumbed up and started fishing on the bottom. This saw me catch a few fiesty little F1 carp.

F1 carp are pretty cool little fish. Little scappers too. They look a bit like small commons but an easy way to tell they aren't is a lack of barbules.

After three or four of these I hooked a bigger carp which tore off to my right. I took my time playing it, letting it take line when it wanted and it was on for about five minutes when the hook suddenly pulled. I was quite dissapointed but at the same time hopeful I could get another. I carried on fishing catching a few more F1 carp in the process. After a quiet spell I decided to switch from a standard waggler setup to a float ledger rig. This saw me catch even more F1 carp and then my float shot under, the fish hooking itself against my rod tip as it swung around to my left, I quickly picked up the rod and I had another nice fish on. It didn't feel as big as the one I lost earlier and after a few minutes and a few short runs I brought it to the surface. I could see it was a common carp and after a few nervous moments it was safely in my net. The angler along from me very kindly came along and took a photo for me with the fish which was in very good condition.

Chuffed to bits. My first common carp. It gave a good account of itself on my float rod.

I got chatting to the angler who told me he had been fishing a method feeder and asked me what I was using so I showed him my set up. I cast it back in and tightened down until my float was just under the surface. As I told him a little more about the technique, explained how I'd just started experimenting with it and so far was very pleased with the results my float shot off again and I quickly lifted my rod which by that point already had a nice bend in it. A nice mirror carp was the culprit and after a short fight and with a bit of assistance from the angler who netted it for me it was soon being photographed before being returned.

Float ledgered double maggot takes another carp in nice condition.

I then switched to sweetcorn on the hook and caught a few more F1 carp and a very small mirror carp. The owner of the venue then came around walking his dogs and asked me how I was getting on. I told him what I'd caught and what I was after at which point he chuckled and told me there were no crucian carp in the pond I was fishing! Oops! Oh well, I had forgotten about trying to catch them to be honest, I was just enjoying the session so much. Anyway, the capture of my first common carp was my tenth new freshwater species this year which was the target I set myself so all in all a successful evenings fishing and it hadn't rained once either! Besides my mistake means that I'll have to visit a nice venue again to try for crucian carp in a pond that actually holds them which isn't a bad thing!

Tight lines, Scott.

Most Wanted : Crete.

Having recently booked a holiday to Crete in October I am rather excited by the prospect of a bit of ultra light fun in the sun and hopefully I can catch some weird and wonderful mini species in the process. Having done some research into what fish can be commonly found around the island from the rocks and around harbours I've picked out a few I'd really like to catch. No doubt those who know me won't be surprised to see the inclusion of a wrasse and a blenny in my Greek island hit list of most wanted holiday species but what can I say, they are probably my favourite two families of fish. Obviously I am spoilt for choice with a multitude of colourful mini species to choose from, it was very hard to narrow it down but I've ended up with a total of six "Most Wanted Mediterranean Mini Species" so here goes and in no particular order.

Ornate Wrasse.

As I've said above I love wrasse and whilst there are quite a few new wrasse species I can potentially encounter, this one, as its name suggests, is perhaps the most ornate. Beautifully resplendent in shades of deep reddish brown, electric blue, lime green and yellow these wrasse are simple stunning.

Tentacled Blenny.

Creatures with tentacles are cool. Blennies are cool. Therefore simple logic dictates that this fish is cool.

Black Scorpionfish.

Hopefully they'll be just as obliging as the sea scorpions I catch here. Unlike our resident sea scorpions however these are covered in poisonous spines. Danger is my middle name though so I will seek them out and if I catch one I'll totally crap myself whilst handling them very carefully indeed! Alternatively I'll get Lilly the Ghillie to deal with them.

Painted Comber.

Another rather colourful fish this one is aptly named as it looks rather like some rubbish graffiti artist spray painted a light blue spot on it. They also rather bizarrely look to me like a little bit of a weird cross between a perch and a pike which is quite odd because as everyone knows a cross between a perch and a pike is actually a zander! It's not really. Unless you are Dutch.

Wide Eyed Flounder.

If you had loads of lovely regular flounders at home throwing themselves at your Isome would you try and have a fling with a squint eyed flatfish whilst on holiday? Of course you would! What's caught on tour is released on tour after all.

Flying Gurnard.

With those huge wings you'd think they probably could fly but this gurnard uses them to confuse and scare off predators.

Well, I've set myself an ambitious goal of catching fifteen species during my two week holiday and I'd really like it if I caught some of the fish featured here whilst I'm away regardless of what my final tally is. I may have a few other little species hunting trips to enjoy closer to home before heading to Crete but I really can't wait to have my first taste of ultra light fishing in the Mediterranean!

Tight lines, Scott.