Nothing to see here. Move along.

I popped down to Dunbar on Thursday and spend a few hours species hunting in the rockpools at the back of the old harbour, hoping to catch anything unusual that may have gotten trapped in them. There was no sign of anything in the open water, so I turned my attention to tempting fish out from under boulders and from inside cracks. I had a small amount of ragworm with me but also had some traditional freshwater baits too, and started off fishing a single maggot. This proved irresistable for several long spined sea scorpions. I also had a few small lob worm with me as well. Not a bait I'd ever tried in saltwater, but small sections also proved very effective.

The small piece of lobworm hanging out of this ones mouth looked a bit like a comedy tongue. It looked like it was licking its lips!

After a while I had exhausted all of my favourite rockpools and had caught over a dozen long spined sea scorpions. I then decided to head further down the shore to some rockpools I hadn't fished in before. They were fairly shallow but some had nice crevices at the edges, a good place for small ambush predators to lurk. Dropping a section of ragworm down in front of one such crack produced a rather large common blenny, my first of the year.

At just over 17cm it was a bit of a beast with a chunky head and large mouth.

It also had striking red eyes!

Working my way from rockpool to rockpool, the only fish that I spotted swimming out in the open was a large two spotted goby. I switched over to a tanago hook to try and catch it, but whilst doing so, it swam off and disappeared into some bladderwrack seaweed. Catching a few more long spined sea scorpion and common blenny, I then spotted a set of dark blue claws poking out from a hole.

A lobster, trying, but failing, to hide itself away.

Towards the end of the session, I caught a small reddish-brown coloured common blenny. In readiness for the rare mini species I had failec to catch, I had my photo tank with me, so took the opportunity to use it. 

This juvenile blenny fit in my tank nicely. 

I didn’t realise the common blenny had small structures around its nostrils. The tank is perfect for observing every minor detail on small fish. 

Shortly afterwards I decided to call it a day. On the way back home I visited a pond where I’ve been told that some koi carp have been introduced. I had a slow stroll all the way around it, but didnt spot any colourful, but unwanted pets. There were a few birds nesting however. 

A pair of swans and an ugly duckling. 

Two moorhens had decided to nest in the reeds right next to the path. 

So, two different sessions on consecutive days last week has failed to throw up anything unexpected. Like fishing in Loch Creran, I’m confident that if I spend enough time messing around in rockpools, I’ll eventually catch something unusual. I intend to fish in more rockpools over the coming months and will also be going out after dark later in the summer to see what’s in them as well. The weather forecast for my days off this week isn’t looking great so I’m not sure where I’ll end up fishing.  

Tight lines, Scott.