Under the weather.

I've not been feeling great the last week or so, even taking a few days off of work to stay in bed.  I had planned to get out on Sunday for some fresh air and to open my 2015 account but when my alarm went off I felt terrible, thought better of it and didn't go out. With some truly horrible wind forecast to arrive today I popped out late yesterday afternoon for a few hours. I headed down the coast to see if I could pick up where I left off at the end of 2014 by fishing Dunbar Harbour into darkness for a viviparous blenny. It was very slow to start with and took over an hour to even get a bite. Eventually though as it got darker I caught my first fish of the year.

A small coalfish. Dunbar Harbour is full of them most of the year.

The next fish to take my ledgered raw prawn chunk was a long slippery one. It would seem I'm getting much more efficient at catching viviparous blennies. Dusk seems to be the best time, before the coalfish really switch on, but as with all species if you know exactly where they are then the task is so much easier. Focusing my efforts over a patch of small rocks about a metre square I soon caught a second.

 Viviparous blennies. I know where you live.

As it got darker I started catching a few more coalfish, although bites were no where near as frequent as they usually are. My mate Nick then popped down to say hello and fished tiny slivers of squid under one of the bolo floats he has bought for use targeting mullet. After catching a few he then increased the depth he was fishing at until his bait was on the bottom to try and tempt a flounder. By now it was dark and the coalfish bites were coming as often as they usually do, almost every cast, but my #6 hook meant most did not get hooked and I did manage a third viviparous blenny before the wind started to pick up, my hands became unbearably cold and we packed up. I'm still not feeling 100% but I'm quite pleased to get my 2015 Scottish species hunt off to a good start. It's now blowing a gale outside and the forecast for the next week or so isn't looking great. I'm not sure when I'll get out next but if the weather lets up slightly I might pop out to some rockpools and try and tick a few more mini species off my list of targets using the #26 hooks to nylon I treated myself to for Christmas.

Tight lines, Scott.