Well spotted.

Whilst waiting for the tide to drop, so I could access an Atlantic horse mackerel mark on Monday evening, I spent an hour or so searching some rockpools with my headtorch to see what I might find. Nothing unusual turned up, but I did locate one rockpool that had a couple of leopard spotted goby just sitting motionless out in the open on the bottom, their markings ensuring that they stood out like a pair of sore thumbs! Pretty unusual behaviour for this species, during daylight hours they’re normally hiding in shady areas, but perhaps unlike me, they regularly venture out at night? Dropping a small bait in front of them resulted in the smaller one gobbling it up. 

A fine example of the colourful little fish. 

Sadly, I didn’t enjoy any success fishing for scad, so after a couple of hours I headed back up the A1. I’ll definitely be out hunting in rockpoools with my headtorch after dark again. Seeing fish that would normally be too shy to come into the open was food for thought. I also caught a few blenny and spotted a butterfish as it snaked its way through some small rocks before disappearing out of sight. There were also lots of very colourful squat lobsters out sitting on rocks too. Hopefully if I visit often enough I'll get lucky and something rare will turn up. Something I’ve never caught in Scotland before would be even better!

Tight lines, Scott.