Out of nowhere.

I headed through to Loch Etive on Sunday to have a go at catching a fifteen spined stickleback. I thought I would try a new approach and wearing waders I got into the water and started looking for my target amongst the bladderwrack. I fished a tiny piece of ragworm under on a tanago hook under a tanago float. As I slowly moved around I spotted a couple of fairly big ones but as I got within range they swam off into the weed. Trying to tempt them out again didn't work but I caught lots of common and two spotted gobies which were in a typically kamikaze mood. After a few hours I had all but given up hope when I dropped my bait down into another gap in the weed and was quite surprised when a fifteen spined stickleback shot out from its hiding place and stopped right in front of my bait. It paused for a second or two before taking the bait into its mouth and I quickly struck setting the hook's tiny point. The fish was very quickly swung to hand and I made my way back to the shore where I popped it in a small tub of water.

My twelfth new species of 2016! What a funky little fish.

The large eye of an ambush predator.

Having seen them in the past sitting almost motionless, pretending to be weed or swimming along very slowly I never really though of them as an aggressive species but this little chap's attack has forced me to think again. Before I left I visited a second mark to see if I could catch any more and whilst I did spot quite a lot of them they were all much smaller than the one I'd caught and there were lots of poor cod present which quickly hit my bait as soon as it entered the water. Mission accomplished I hit the road and headed home.

Tight lines, Scott.