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.