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.