In before the lock?

I popped down the A1 a couple of times a fortnight ago with two of my workmates. The first trip to St Abbs Head with Callum was all about catching some ballan wrasse and Callum had his heart set on catching "A big one." having already caught a few smaller ballan wrasse on previous outings he'd had. After walking up to the cliffs from the village we started the session by trying a new mark that proved to be a little tricky to access due to the slightly damp underfoot conditions. Clambering about on damp rocks isn't a great idea down there and the new spot turned out to be fairly shallow and hellishly snaggy, so we headed back up to the path and I took Callum to another mark where I've caught a few decent ballan wrasse in the past. After making our way down a grassy slope and hopping down a few rocks, we found a fairly flat ledge, got comfortable and set up our gear. Fishing light tackle was the approach taken with plan A being dropping blow lug down the side at close range on one hook paternoster rigs. I had my bait in the water first and before Callum had even finished getting setting up I was asking him to net the first ballan wrasse of the day, a nice fish just over a couple of pounds.

As well as their colourful markings and eyes, I love their big juicy lips.

I've never really fished for ballan wrasse on the east coast so late in the year so catching one straight away was a most welcome and pleasant surprise, and made me reasonably confident that we'd catch more. About twenty minutes later Callum got an aggressive bite and hooked the culprit. A big fish quickly had his rod bent over, his drag clicker screaming and his heart pounding. After a few spirited runs towards the kelp the fish was beaten and when it came to the surface I was in position with the net to help Callum land a new personal best ballan wrasse. 

"A big one!" We didn't have scales with us but at 46.5 cm Callum's new PB ballan wrasse was probably just over 4lb.

A cracking fish with some beautiful markings. A fantastic capture on a light rod rated 3-18g as well!

Having accomplished my guiding objective for the day I left Callum to target wrasse and turned my attention to scratching around on the bottom using small hooks baited with chunks of raw prawn to see if I could pick up something unusual. All I managed were about a dozen small coalfish however before a pod of dolphins swam by and after that all action, unsurprisingly, ground to a halt. After a couple of hours with nothing further being caught we headed back to the car. On our way back up the road we decided to pop into Torness Power Station's outflow to target bass and mullet, species Callum had never caught before. The water was pretty coloured up however, and sadly we didn't have any joy ledgering lug worm for bass or free lining bread flake for mullet.

The following day I headed to Coldingham Bay, St Abbs Harbour and then Torness Power Station's outflow with another workmate, Ruaridh. To begin with we scratched around using light gear and small hooks baited with raw prawn but at the first two venues things were pretty slow. At Coldingham Bay we didn't catch anything at all but when we visited St Abbs Harbour we did eventually manage to catch a few fish in the shape of some coalfish, a small cod and also Ruaridh's first ever blenny.

Ruaridh patiently fishing away.

Ruaridh's first ever blenny! I remember catching mine and whilst I've caught hundreds since it still seems like it was yesterday.

After trying a few different areas around the various parts of the harbour we switched to working lures along the bottom in an attempt to catch some flounders but this didn't produce any bites. I then decided to scale down and catch some sand gobies using tanago hooks and after catching a few I also caught a couple of tiny plaice as well on the tiny baits I was slowly twitching along the harbour's sandy floor.

The distinctive orange markings of an adult were absent on this tiny juvenile plaice but the bony nodules running along the head were not.

To finish the day we visited Torness Power Station's outflow. The water clarity had improved a lot over the previous twenty-four hours, and we decided to focus our efforts on catching mullet on freelined bread flake. This method was new to Ruaridh along with the frustrations of using it to try to catch our target. Things were made more difficult by the fact that neither of us had a pair of polarized sunglasses with us but eventually I managed to catch two thick lipped mullet that took my bread and pulled my rod tip over as they felt my hook and swam off into the current.

Frustrating and full of fight. Mullet are great fun.

Sadly, despite his perseverance Ruaridh didn't manage to catch one before it started to get dark, so we called it a day. To his credit he took the constant baiting up only for the fish to steal his bread pretty well and is keen to go back again for another attempt at catching his first mullet so a return trip will be made. Last week the weather wasn’t great for that but the mullet are there all year round so hopefully we'll get back down there at some point. That being said I'm not sure what fishing I'll be doing in the weeks ahead. I’ll have to do any fishing "locally" until the end of October due to the recent travel restrictions introduced in Scotland’s central belt but I have a horrible feeling that before too long some stricter travel restrictions may be put in place that will really  limit my opportunities. I really, really hope I’m wrong.

Tight lines, Scott.

Trying a new spot for a new two spot.

I think it's fair to say that over the last couple of months I've rediscovered my love for fishing. Obviously lockdown meant fishing wasn't even possible for a long time and this combined with being furloughed for a few months gave me a complete break from fishing altogether. I love my job in the Edinburgh Angling Centre but perhaps working in a tackle shop full time and fishing in my free time had eventually taken its toll and the enforced interruption has definitely been a positive thing. As they say never combine business with pleasure! Anyway, my recent gilthead hunting trips and late night scad sessions down at Torness Power Station as well as other sessions further afield have rekindled my passion and last Wednesday it was a nice day so Lillian and I went for a leisurely drive to the west coast. I got permission to try fishing at a new spot on the shore of Loch Creran, inspired by an underwater photo of a fish with two spots I've never caught before I found online that was taken there.

This is a two spotted clingfish, so named due to having, you've guessed it, two spots. These are located one on either side, to the rear of the fish's pectoral fins. A very small species, its maximum length of 6 cm will obviously make catching one tough but if you don't try...

Fishing into deep water from the end of a small pontoon using #14 hooks baited with tiny pieces of raw prawn, I quickly added a few species to my 2020 tally in the shape of dozens of pin whiting and a few small dabs.

I got comfortable for a couple of hour's fishing while Lillian read a book and took the odd photo of me.

These pin whiting made up the bulk of my catch from the deeper water out in front of the pontoon.

After a while I decided to switch from casting out as far as I could and tried dropping my rig straight down off the end of the pontoon. It's always worth remembering that a lot of the time there are usual fish right at your feet! As soon as my rig touched down on the bottom my rod tip started twitching away to rattling type bites, so I swapped to an even smaller hook to see if I could find out what the culprits were. This worked a treat and I now have a new favourite mark for targetting painted goby. Their size averaged about 4cm long and with mouths perhaps smaller than the two spotted clingfish I was hoping to catch this gave me confidence that my tactics were spot on and might work should I happen to get lucky and put my rig in the vicinity of my target species.

There were plenty of them down there and my little observation tank soon had a few in it.

After a while I decided to ignore my own advice on fishing at my feet and began firing my rig out into deeper water again, trying different distances and directions. A few more whiting, a solitary cod and a lone sand goby were all caught and released. The sand goby again a vindication that small fish at distance in deep water can be successfully caught. Before we left I tied on a small HTO shore jig fitted with a single hook at the rear and had a go for mackerel as I'd had one or two of them follow my lead in when I had been retrieving my bait rig earlier in the session. It didn't take long to catch a few and whilst most were released by shaking them off the hook a couple of slightly bigger ones were kept for my tea the following day. 

It's easy to forget how beautiful the humble mackerel is with its colourful markings and iridescent sheen. They're great sport on very light tackle as well and grilled with a generous splash of Frank's red hot original cayenne pepper sauce they're very tasty into the bargain.

So, yet again a my first ever clingfish had eluded capture but if nothing else I'm persistent, so I might return to the west coast sea lochs to try my luck again if the weather is suitable during the coming weeks. With summer well and truly over now my thoughts are also beginning to turn to my old Scottish pink,red and brown nemesis, the three bearded rockling, so a trip or two down to the Southwest of Scotland for an after dark session targetting those is on the cards too.

Tight lines, Scott.

Colourful captures.

I drove through to the west coast last Wednesday for a day's fishing, targetting mainly colourful mini species. My workmate Callum joined me, and we headed to a spot in Oban that I know has produced Connemarra clingfish in the past. Truth be told it was one of these strange looking little fish that I was hoping to catch.

This small species "clings" to rocks using its fused pelvic fin that acts as a suction cup.

My approach was fairly simple, drop tiny chunks of raw prawn down into nooks and crannies where I thought a clingfish might hide. The mark in question usually produces lots of goldsinny wrasse, poor cod and leopard spotted goby as well as the odd rock cook wrasse. It was one of these small mouthed colourful fish that I happened to catch first.

I love catching rock cook wrasse. Just look at the beautiful violet markings on them.

Callum's experience of fishing in saltwater is relatively limited but it didn't take him long to start pulling out lots of little fish from the crystal clear, relatively shallow water we were fishing in. Between us we caught the main three residents but I also managed a small female cuckoo wrasse and a small ballan wrasse as well. The bulk of my fish were leopard spotted gobies though. They like hiding in cracks too.

We must have had about fifty of these! It's easily the best mark I know of to visit if you want to catch a leopard spotted goby.

Callum concentrates on his rod tip. He didn't have to concentrate too hard however as the bites were frequent. Most of the species he caught were his first too.

Before we knew it the time had come to return to the car as the parking ticket was about to expire. We had a couple of casts each on the way back, over some rocky ground, and Callum caught his first ever corkwing wrasse, completing a wrasse grand slam between the two of us in the process. Lochaline logging pier is the only other place I know where this feat is a reasonable possibility.

A male corkwing, yet another colourful fish.

After some lunch we headed up to Loch Etive to fish from Kelly's Pier. Here we hoped to catch a few grey gurnards on light tackle, fishing raw prawn on a one hook paternoster at range and we eventually did, yet another new species for Callum. We only managed three between us though, so I decided to switch to my micro fishing setup and tried to catch a few gobies from around the legs of the pier using tiny flecks of raw prawn on tanago hooks. After catching a three spined stickleback I fiddled around with my float rig until I got the depth correct and found a pocket of two spotted goby. After catching a few small ones myself I handed the rod over to Callum so that he could have a go. Before too long the tiny chianti float went under and he pulled out this monster.

Possibly the biggest two spotted goby I have ever seen!

After switching back to targetting grey gurnard for a while, but with no further interest in our baits, we decided to pack up and make the three-hour drive home. It had been a great day trip and whilst I didn't get my intended colourful little target we had caught plenty of other just as colourful fish. It was nice to see Callum enjoy trying some of my slightly unorthodox fishing styles and catch quite a few species for the first time in the process.

Tight lines, Scott.

Chance encounters.

I visited Torness Power Station yet again on Tuesday last week. I only intended to spend an hour or so over high water targetting mullet but when I arrived I met an angler in the car park named Cooper that I'd been talking to in work about species hunting earlier this month so I ended up staying all day until it got dark. The mullet fishing wasn't great but we kept at it and eventually I caught one thick lipped mullet, one golden grey mullet and one bass. All of them took freelined breadflake. Cooper didn't manage to hook up with the bites he was getting which left him a little bit frustrated as he was after both types of mullet for a species hunt he is taking part in. They're there all year round so I'm sure he'll get them before the year is over no problem.

My first fish of the day was this nice plump thick lipped mullet.

Thick lipped indeed.

Next up I showed Cooper where he could catch a sand goby for his species hunt tally and we spent thirty minutes or so doing just that. Using tiny flecks of ragworm on very small hooks we caught several of the diminutive fish.

Successful species hunter don't ignore micro species.

Finally, before we left we headed around to the inlet area to see if we could catch some mackerel. I wanted a couple for the table and Cooper wanted a few to top up his bait freezer for future fishing trips. After a while, as the light began to fade, we eventually started catching some and as we did we chatted about our differing approaches size wise. Whilst Cooper was fishing a 28g jig fitted with a single treble, I was fishing a 3g micro jig fitted with two tiny assist hooks that I bought in Japan last year. The conversation then drifted to Japanese tackle shops and target species. I had literally just finished telling him about how popular fishing for horse mackerel (Aji in Japanese) was in the land of the rising sun when my rod tip was pulled over by another fish. It fought a little differently to the mackerel I'd caught already and at first I thought it might have been a coalfish. Then this appeared.  

Right on cue, only my second ever Scottish scad.

Neither of us could quite believe it, especially as I'd just been talking about them! Cooper was then keen to catch one himself as he'd never caught one before and it would also be a relatively unusual capture to improve in his species hunting tally for his club competition. Keen to catch more myself I then decided to switch to the method favoured by most Japanese Aji enthusiasts, a straight lure on a jighead fished on the drop. This method is incredible simple. You cast your lure out then let it swing back towards you in a curve fall under tension. This soon proved to be just as effective on The Japanese horse mackerel’s Atlantic cousin when I caught a second horse mackerel using it. A little while later Cooper eventually got one too on his heavier metal jig and was over the moon. It then went quiet so we ended our nine hour session on a high note.

Having discovered their presence I've subsequently been back again several times and have had a few more scad. They’ve all been a good size and are great fun on ultra light tackle. My mate Nick and a couple of my workmates have all joined me and they’ve all caught them too. It’s great to have discovered another potential target species for after dark on summer evenings. Maybe not as prolific as the shoals that arrive down on the south coast this time of year but with a bit of perseverance Scottish scad and the sport they offer the ultra light angler are there to be enjoyed.

Tight lines, Scott.

Golden opportunity.

Over the last month or so I’ve had quite a few sessions down at Torness Power Station. The main reason for these visits was so that I could make an attempt at catching a gilthead seabream, a species that believe it or not does get caught there on the rare occasion. The first such session sadly was pretty poor, my chosen approach of ledgering small chunks of prawn on light tackle in the outflow only produced a solitary fish but it was a nice chunky corkwing wrasse, so despite the lack of any other action I left reasonably happy.

The inlet area of the power station produces large corkwing wrasse but this was my first one from the outflow area.

Another session, this time at the power station's inlet area, fishing light game metals for mackerel, produced a bonus large sandeel. Lacking the prominent dark spots on either side of its snout that the greater sandeel has and having a noticeably dark chin I suspect that it may have been a Corbin's sandeel.

Dark chins matter. Especially as they are a key distinguishing feature of the Corbin's sandeel.

I’m still not 100% sure about the identity of this large sandeel and having purchased a rather old species identification book I'm still doing further research into the differences between the greater sandeel and Corbin’s sandeel, so I can hopefully reach a conclusion. In hindsight, I perhaps should have kept the fish for further, more detailed examination, but instead opted to take lots of photos so those will have to do.

A few days later I returned to have another go for gilthead seabream. When I arrived at the outflow however there were over half a dozen other anglers already fishing, targetting bass using controller floats and Redgill eels, so I decided to fish from the area directly above the outflow. Ledgering small chunks of prawn I quickly had a take and couldn’t believe my eyes, or luck for that matter, when a reasonably sized gilthead seabream eventually came to the surface after putting a spirited scrap. My heart was pounding as I cautiously played the fish out in the current but my excitement was short-lived as it quickly dawned on me that landing it on the ultra light gear I was using and from my elevated position would prove very difficult especially as I did not have a net with me. My hook set seemed good though and after tiring the fish out I made the decision to try and lift it up. This proved to be a mistake and when the fish thrashed around my braid came into contact with the edge of the overhanging concrete shelf in front of me as a result and parted. To say I was absolutely gutted to lose what would have been my first Scottish gilthead seabream would be a massive understatement. I carried on fishing for a while and caught a few small bass, which ironically I did manage to land, but left the venue kicking myself at my decision to leave home without a net of any kind. It’s not the first time that being without a net has cost me a fish but this time it felt so much worse. The only positive to be taken was that I had discovered that there were indeed gilthead seabream present to be caught and where there is one there are usually more!

Determined to hook another and to land it successfully I dug a large drop net out of the back of my cupboard and returned several times with heavier tackle to try and do so. I tried several types of bait and also gave small live crabs a go, which I quickly discovered to be a very productive method for catching bass.

It turns out bass love small live hardback crabs.

A drop net wasn't the only thing I dug out for use during my sessions. My mate Ross told me that in his experience blow lug and peeler crab had been the best baits for catching gilthead seabream in the UK so several trips to Portobello Beach to dig worms were undertaken in the hope that some top quality freshly dug worms might increase my chances. The following photo of me digging away was taken by a passing female who was out for a walk. Not taken with my permission I might add, I turned around to find she had sneaked up behind me and was crouching down to compose her shot. Once caught she offered to email me the photos she'd taken and assured me she wanted to capture the sight of a large sweaty man bending over for artistic purposes only.

Worth making the effort to reduce the odds even just a little.

Armed with fresh lug worm, raw prawns and some peeler crab, generously given to me by my workmate Gordon from his winter cod supply, I was quietly confident that if I put the time in I'd catch another if the conditions were right. By the end of August however I'd had a few more unsuccessful sessions and was beginning to get concerned that as the end of the summer approached my window of opportunity may close. My mate Nick joined me for a few more sessions at the start of this month but all we caught were bass and, much to our amusement, several thick lipped mullet that after nibbling away at our baits on the bottom eventually hooked themselves. I also took a some bread along with me for one of the sessions and using smaller hooks managed to catch a golden grey mullet on small pieces of freelined flake too.

Another species that has golden markings but not the one I really wanted to catch.

Last Tuesday I was off work and the forecast conditions looked great with mostly clear sunny skies, an offshore wind and reasonably big tides too. The timing of the tides also meant the chance to fish over high water twice as well during daylight, just after sunrise and just before it set again, so I made a full day of it.

The start of a glorious summer day.

My session began just after sunrise but things were very slow to start with. A few hours went by before I eventually got a few bites and caught a couple of small bass in quick succession. After another long lull my rod started registering little knocks, so I wound in to see what it was. It turned out to be a rather ravenous blenny that had tried to eat a lug worm a little longer than itself and had somehow squeezed my chinu hook into its mouth. 

Something greedy going on!

Over low water things went very quiet again and as it was also very hot I put my reel into freespool and tried to take shelter from the midday sun by sitting down in the shadow cast by the railings behind me.

Strangely I had the place all to myself. The rocks to the right of the outflow are normally lined with anglers trying to catch bass.

Once the tide started flooding I was hopeful that I'd catch a few more fish but another couple of hours went by and with not much happening I decided to try swapping out my hook for a smaller one, so I could fish small chunks of raw prawn for a while, after all that's what I'd hooked the gilthead on several weeks ago that I'd failed to land. A short time passed and then I had a very aggressive take that had my rod tip thumping away and line being jerked from my reel. Quickly lifting the rod an engaging the drag it didn’t feel big but when the fish came into view my heart immediately started racing. It was my target species, this one perhaps half the size of the one I'd lost weeks before but after playing it out I still had to land it from my elevated position with no assistance. Decision time! Whilst I did have my large drop net with me I figured trying to get it, lowering it down over the ledge and then manoeuvring it in the current below whilst still holding my rod was perhaps just as risky as simply lifting the fish up. In the end I just went for the lift. I had tied on an extra long rubbing leader so didn't have to worry about braid touching the ledge and my 9ft extra heavy lure rod had the required strength to do the job. It was still nerve racking as I hastily hoisted it up but the fish was soon safely up on the platform with me being unhooked for a quick photo.    

My first ever (successfully landed) Scottish gilthead seabream.

Once the fish was returned I did a bit of celebratory fist pumping and shouting having successfully added another species to my lifetime Scottish tally. I fished on for a while but having accomplished my goal I ended up leaving earlier than I had originally planned. All the time and effort I'd put into the sessions had been worth it in the end. It was great to capture one of these in Scottish waters and I only know two other anglers who have done the same so it was a really special capture. As sea temperatures continue to rise it's predicted that this species will move further north so who knows, they may become a much more common catch for us anglers north of the border.

Tight lines, Scott.

Rock hopping and here's hoping.

Since the five mile travel restriction was lifted I've been down the A1 to Eyemouth and St Abbs several times. Fishing light tackle, I was hoping to get lucky and catch some of the more unusual species that are occasionally seen by divers along that part of the coastline. Ledgering ragworm sections on small hooks was the approach taken but unsurprisingly the much more common species that one usually encounters repeatedly found the bait.

On a rock mark near Eyemouth it was nice to have a fish put a bend in my rod. Any fish.

St Abbs Harbour and Starney Bay to the north of it were also visited.

St Abbs Harbour produced some coalfish and wrasse but it's also a great venue to sight fish lures for flounder and I spent a couple of hours doing just that. When they're in the mood they'll take all sorts of offerings including this chartreuse hellgramite fished on a Carolina rig.

Whilst fishing the rocks that get cut off over high tide on the southern side of Starney Bay, amongst another steady procession of small coalfish and pollock, I caught this ballan wrasse which was great fun on light tackle.

During a different session on another Eyemouth rock mark I fished small baits on the bottom again in an attempt to pick up something unusual yet again. Lots of coalfish, a single flounder and a long spined sea scorpion were all I caught however.

I still love catching these little gremlins.

I'm trying to be realistic about my chances of catching something odd during these sessions. To be honest they're slim at best! That being said you never know and it was nice just to be able to visit these areas again. I dare say that simply spending time outside doing a bit of fishing won't be taken for granted for some time regardless of what's being caught.

Tight lines, Scott.

Wetting a line.

It's been a while since I've written a blog post. The main reason I think is pretty obvious and like most anglers my fishing this year has been curtailed severely including the cancellation of a two week holiday to Hawaii. I don't really want to dwell too much on it if I'm honest, the pandemic has caused chaos and with things beginning to slowly return to some sort of normality I thought I'd do a few posts about what little fishing I have been able to do so far this year. 

 Towards the end of the lockdown I went back to work to get the shop ready for opening. Cleaning the casting pond outside the shop was one of the tasks I had to carry out and after several months without any maintainance it resembled a swamp. On the upside however it was full of bloodworm, so I filled a small container with a couple of dozen before draining the water out of it. When Lillian and I went for a walk in Holyrood Park that evening I took my Tanago gear and the small batch of wriggling red midge larvae with us. We stopped for a break at Dunstapie Loch around the back of Arthur's Seat and while Lillian relaxed on a bench I had an hour testing my eyesight baiting tiny hooks with the bloodworm and watching a tiny float.

I'm not even sure if fishing is allowed in this small body of water. I think there is only one species present anyway and most anglers just wouldn't be interested in catching it. Not me though. I love a spot of micro fishing!

Very fidgety but happy to report a trip to Specsavers isn't required.

Sitting patiently under the shade of a small tree it didn't take too long for my tiny Drennan 0.2g float to begin registering bites and soon a few diminutive spiky fish were being swung to hand.

My first fish of 2020, a three spined stickleback.

I caught about half a dozen and to be honest really enjoyed focussing on the task. It had been nice just to simply wet a line and catch something, for a brief period forgetting all that was going on in the world. Fishing is a great escape at times.

Tight lines, Scott.

More species hunting fun in Japan : Beppu.

With the end of our holiday getting close, we arrived in the last city of our itinerary, the hot spring resort of Beppu on the north eastern coast of Kyushu, early in the afternoon. After a short walk from its train station we dropped our bags off at our hotel. It was clear straight away that geothermal energy was an obvious feature of the city.

Steam rising from the earth all around Beppu.

Feeling quite hungry we headed straight out again to a nearby restaurant to eat lots of Japanese fried chicken, another one of our favourite Japanese dishes. A large statue of Tanuki the racoon dog was outside the eatery, beckoning us in and willing us to spend generously. He's quite common outside of shops, bars and restaurants in Japan and he always has his rather impressive testicles on show. Japanese culture is facinating!

Tanuki is a cheeky chap who lets it all hang out. Read more about him here.

We went through two heaped bowls of this. What's so special about Japanese fried chicken you may ask. Well, it's coating is very crispy yet the marinated chicken thigh inside is incredibly moist. It's usually served with a lemon wedge and Japanese mayonaise. What's so special about Japanese mayoniase I hear you say...

The sight of such a gargantuan scrotum and a belly stuffed full of tasty chicken was too much for Lillian so she wanted to take a power nap on a futon when we returned to our hotel. I wasn't tired at all so just before she drifted off I got permission to head out to do some fishing in a nearby harbour. Only a ten minute stroll away from our accomodation at its entrance was a rather large warning sign.

A stark reminder that nature is incredibly powerful.

After quickly planning my escape route to a nearby apartment block should the ground start shaking I climbed up onto the harbour's wall and began fishing. There were plenty of small fish around and I soon started catching them on small pieces of dried ragworm. The species caught were mainly darkbanded rockfish, grass puffer and threadsail filefish but before long I had also added two species to my trip's tally included a new one. I also spotted a few larger, more elongated, pale grey filefish slowly swimming around but sadly could not tempt any of them. I suspect they were scrawled filefish.

There were lots of these pearl spot chromis in the harbour. They have tiny mouths and are adept at stripping bait. A change to smaller hooks was required to catch a few.

This is my first black scraper. It has a much more elongated body than its cousin the threadsail filefish. Small hooks again are the best choice for their small mouths.

On our first night in Beppu we went out for a walk, had some sushi and then took the elevator up to the observation deck of Beppu Tower. Some of its thick glass windows were cracked and the employee working there told us the damage had been caused by earthquakes! Back at the hotel we relaxed under the stars in a late night private outdoor onsen. In Japan public hot spring baths are usually single sex so it was nice to be able to have one all to ourselves and enjoy a relaxing soak together.

Beppu Tower after dark.

The next day we headed into the city centre and caught a coach up into the mountains to visit the small town of Yufuin. The main reason for this excursion was to visit Owl Forest Zoo, a small venue located in a quaint little park called Floral Village where we got up close to several different species of these fascinating birds.

I like fishing. Lillian likes owls. I like them too.

In the afternoon we explored a bit more of Yufuin and stumbled upon a Totoro shop which Lillian loved and we had a tasty burger as well before catching a coach back down to Beppu. That evening we went to a local bar for some food and a few beers. On the way back to the hotel I spotted these when we popped into a 7-Eleven and of course I had to try them.

Ebisu gets around. He even has his own beer which is very nice.

We got up fairly early the next morning and caught a bus so we could visit the Beppu sand baths. I must say that whilst it certainly felt a little odd being buried in the warm volcanic sand wearing nothing but a yukata and lying there stewing away for fifteen minutes, it was also a strangely refreshing experience too and afterwards we both felt pretty good.

A relaxing sand spa is very popular in Beppu. We left feeling great.

We then decided to walk back along the coastline towards our hotel. I'd taken my fishing gear with me so as we slowly made our way back I tried fishing at a couple of different spots that didn't produce much and then we found a small harbour that I fished around for a while, both on the inside and also from the large concrete blocks that made up its outer defences.

I did a bit of tetra block fishing with Beppu Tower in the distance.

The inside of the harbour was much more productive and is where I caught my second puffer species of the trip, this panther puffer.

I also caught my first blenny of the trip straight down the side of the harbour wall.

With an impressive set of nashers it was the aptly named shorthead sabretoothed blenny.

In the afternoon we caught another bus and headed south to just outside Beppu where we spent a few hours wandering around the Umitamago Aquarium and then visiting the Takasakiyama Monkey Park which is located nearby a short way up the side of Mount Takasaki.

We'd visited several aquariums throughout our trip. As well as catching fish I also like veiwing them and learning about them too.

It's also hard to resist the draw of a monkey park. The animals are wild and come down to the park where they are fed. The baby Japanese macaques are particularly adorable.

Coming back down on the monorail from the monkey park I got permission to fish in the sea for a while at the back of the aquarium before we headed back to Beppu. There were rocks close in that gave way to a cleaner sandy area further out. From the rough ground I caught some star bambooleaf wrasse and then after loosing a few rigs I began casting further out where I managed to add a few species to my trip's tally including a couple of new ones.

A small red seabream. I caught some of these the first time I was in Japan.

My first new species from the sandy area was this bluntnose lizardfish.

As light faded it was followed by this finepatterned puffer. My third puffer species of the trip.

In the evening, as it was our last night of the trip, we went out for a very special meal. It was also a potentially deadly one too! I am of course talking about eating puffer fish or fugu in Japanese and we had booked ourselves a six course fugu dinner!

The species the Japanese prize most is the tiger puffer. It's also the most toxic. There was a large, almost cartoon like, model of the species in question outside the restaurant we visited. How could something so cute be so dangerous?

Over a couple of hours numerous different parts of the puffer fish were prepared in a variety of different ways and presented to us by our host. We were both a bit nervous beforehand but once we started eating we kind of forgot about the danger aspect and just enjoyed the experience.

Probably my favourite dish was the sashimi. Sliced incredibly thinly it is eaten with a delicious dipping sauce.

The reality is that fugu can only be prepared by licensed chefs, only a few people actually die each year and usually they are those who foolishly try to prepare the fish themselves, illegally without the necessary training and requesite skills to do so safely. All that said I was aware that some people only begin to feel ill several hours after eating it so we had another late night soak in the private onsen when we got back to our hotel and stayed up for a while before heading off to bed just to be on the safe side! On reflection I'm not sure if I would have it again. The various dishes were all delicious but it was also very expensive and when you factor in the risk, despite it being miniscule, perhaps its wise to settle for fugu being a once in a lifetime experience.

Still alive the following day and ready for a risk free, totally non toxic and very tasty traditional Japanese breakfast.

So the last day of our trip to Japan had arrived and we made the train journey back to Fukuoka to fly home. We had a few hours to kill before going to the airport so we left our luggage in Hakata Station and I had one last fishing session in the Naka River trying to catch a black seabream. After visiting a small tackle shop to buy some ragworm we followed the river upstream and whilst I did see one fish sadly it wasn't interested in the lively bait I repeatedly freelined in front of it. Catching one would have been a great way to end the fishing on the trip but it was not to be.

So our second amazing Japanese adventure had come to an end. We'd had an epic time exploring a new part of the country and I think it's safe to say that we've well and truly fallen in love with Japan. The fishing was a lot of fun although I really wish I'd managed to tempt that black seabream before we flew home. Overall I did much better than the previous trip both in terms of the total species caught and the amount of new species as well.

Here's a summary of what I caught with the new species in bold...

1. Amur Catfish
2. Areolate Grouper
3. Black Scraper
4. Bleeker Wrasse
5. Bluegill
6. Bluntnose Lizardfish
7. Candystripe Cardinalfish
8. Common Carp
9. Dark Chub
10. Darkbanded Rockfish
11. Doederlien's Cardinalfish
12. Dusky Tripletooth Goby
13. Fine Patterned Puffer
14. Giant Trevally
15. Goldlined Seabream
16. Grass Puffer
17. Half-lined Cardinal
18. Itomoroko
19. Japanese Chub
20. Japanese Seabass
21. Japanese Whiting
22. Koi Carp
23. Marbled Rockfish
24. Mottled Spinefoot
25. Multicolour Rainbowfish
26. Nagasaki Damsel
27. Northern Snakehead
28. Ohagurobera
29. Oily Bitterling
30. Panther Puffer
31. Pearl Spot Chromis
32. Red Naped Wrasse
33. Red Seabream
34. Sevenband Grouper
35. Shorthead Sabretooth Blenny
36. Spotnape Cardinalfish
37. Spotnape Ponyfish
38. Star Bambooleaf Wrasse
39. Threadfin Emperor
40. Threadsail Filefish
41. Three Spot Cardinalfish
42. Urohaze
43. Yellowfin Goby
44. Yellowfin Seabream

So, will I be going back to Japan? Almost certainly, but not this year. A fishing only trip in 2022 with some of my friends has been discussed and Lillian and I might return next year as well. We wanted to visit some new destinations this year so with that in mind Lillian and I are off to the Hawaiian island of O'Ahu for two weeks at the end of May. We are also currently considering a trip to Porto, the Azores and Lisbon later in the year as well. Tackle will of course be going along too.

Tight lines, Scott.