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.