Bass and mini species fun.

I was out today climbing Traprain Law near Haddington...

Traprain Law near Haddington, East Lothian.

 
...and afterwards popped down to the outflow at Torness Power Station to have a quick go for bass. Armed with my usual ultra light setup, a Shimano Diaflash 237L-S 0.8-8g and Exage 2500FC loaded with 6lb Sunline RockFish. Just as I was arriving someone else was leaving who told me he had been fishing for six hours without any action so I knew I was probably fighting a losing battle but had a go anyway. An arkansas shiner tiny Slug-Go, a white clouser fly, a silver pearl "Flasher" Redgill and a white Kiddy Sidewinder Brill Bait were all launched into the wind and a slight one foot swell using an 8g sinking bombarda but after a while I had no takers. A quick change of end gear to a short 6lb Sunline Siglon Flourocarbon leader, a 1.8g #10 Decoy Rocket jighead and a red Gulp! Alive! Fish Fry and I turned my attention to the blennies that inhabit the deep holes between the boulders of the sea defences. Two drops and I had two blennies straight away. This took my tally to 100 so far this year! Here's I am with my 100th blenny.

Congratulations! You are my 100th Blenny of 2012!

"What did I win?"

He didn't win anything unfortunately! I headed back to the car and went further south to St Abbs harbour. Just to see if the fish activity had picked up there. I stuck with the Decoy Rocket jighead but opted for a pink medium sized Isome and began exploring the weedy edges of the harbour. The water was very clear and I could see the bottom despite there being a fair bit of water in the harbour as it was just after high tide. No fish activity whatsoever. Quite disappointing but I soldiered on, working my way round the harbour. Just before I was about to leave a tiny long spined sea scorpion came out of a crack and greedily wolfed down the lure. 

All puffed up and trying to look intimidating.

That was it for the session. I was hoping that St Abbs would be a bit more productive with at least a few flounders chasing the lure but even they were nowhere to be seen. I guess I may have to have a rethink about my mini species hunting sessions until the water temps rise and the usual suspects move back into the harbours. I may have to try a different approach if I want to catch a few more species before then.

Tight lines, Scott.

Short Dunbar Harbour and rockpool session.

Today I decided to head down to Dunbar Harbour  for a quick session. Upon arrival I quickly rigged up a section of pink Power Isome on a Carolina rig, using a 3g drilled lead ball and a Kamasan Animal # 14 barbed hook to 4lb nylon. These are ideal for this purpose as they enable a neat presentation of your small lure section and the hooks are very sharp but strong. Perfect for the bony little mouths on many mini species. I tried various spots around the harbour to see if there were any flounders, blennies, sea scorpions or anything else around.

After thirty minutes of no action I decided to head to to back of the old part of the harbour to see if there were any fish in the rock pools. I wasn't disappointed. Most of the rock pools contained some cover, large rocks with gaps underneath or crevices with overhanging weed containing long spined sea scorpions. I caught four and missed a few more.

A nice little blood red coloured long spined sea scorpion.

Slightly bigger and quite a contrast in colouration. Olive with much higher concentrations of dark brown flecks.

I find if they've had the lure in their mouths once or twice and have either spat it out or you've pulled it out trying to hook them they realise it's not food and they lose interest. I have only really fished a tiny part of the shoreline around the harbour and it seems to be dominated by long spined sea scorpions however, my mate Jake grew up there and remembers finding butterfish and rocklings as a child so I plan on heading back soon for a bit more exploration and with any luck a bit of variety!

Tight lines, Scott.