Hard to beat.

I popped out on Tuesday afternoon for a few hours down the coast hunting gobies. First stop was Dunbar Harbour where I tried to tempt a sand goby. My mate Col caught one on Sunday before Guy and I arrived and I've caught them there in the past too so there must be a small population present.  That said there doesn't seem to be as many in there as there are at some other marks where they can be caught and I guess all the other fish in the harbour predate them and keep their numbers down. Undeterred I spent an hour or so fishing away, twitching a little piece of Isome on a #14 hook along the bottom on a simple Carolina rig. Five coalfish and three flounders later I decided to head down the coast to Torness Power Station to try and locate another couple of little goby species that I've caught in the rockpools there, namely the two spotted goby and the leopard spotted goby.

Once there I had no joy with them either unfortunately so decided to have a few casts into the sea. Climbing down the rocks at the eastern end of the gantry at the inlet area I set up a drop shot rig and put a whole Isome onto the hook. Casting this out and working it back towards me I didn't get any bites for a while. Then as I reeled it up past the submerged kelp covering the side of the concrete platform I was fishing from a rather large pollock shot out and grabbed the little pink ragworm imitation and immediately charged down into the kelp putting a substantial bend in my ultra light rod. Trying to apply pressure to stop it merely resulted in a straightened out hook though. Fun while the short fight lasted I carried on fishing away and a few casts later something else grabbed my Isome as I slowly worked it back towards me. This time the fish was quite far out and whilst it felt decent and made a couple of powerful runs I was able to put some pressure on, got it up away from the bottom and near the surface before it had a chance to get into the thick kelp below me. When it came into sight at first I was surprised how small the fish was given the way it had fought but then I realised it was a mackerel, my first of the year. 

A light game rocket. Beautiful looking fish too with their deep blue, green and black striped backs and pearlescent underside. They taste great as well so it was quickly dispatched. 

Thinking there would be a shoal I tried to catch some more but didn't manage to do so. Pound for pound mackerel are one of the hardest fighting fish in UK waters and are superb fun on light game tackle. Many anglers don't know what they are missing and it's so much more fun than fishing for them with feathers and a much heavier setup. Another species added to my Scottish saltwater tally, not wanting my catch to start going off and with the wind picking up I decided to head home. My goby hunt may have drawn a blank but I'm sure next week I'll get my fill of gobies from the Black Sea where I'm told they are abundant and some of the species found there can get quite large. I will just have to try again for their smaller UK cousins later in the year.

Tight lines, Scott.