Two fishes, one tank.

At the beginning of last week, I made the last minute decision to drive down to the southwest coast of the UK for three days to do some species hunting. Based on what some other anglers had been catching in September, I had five targets in mind. Four of them I’ve caught before, but never in the UK. These were...

Black faced blenny. I caught this one on São Miguel, in the Azores.

Comber. I caught this one on Gran Canaria.

Common pandora. I caught this one on Madeira.

Couch's seabream. I caught this one on Lanzarote.

I also had some reliable info from my mate Donny on a spot where I could perhaps catch a Couch’s goby, a rare species that I’ve never caught before. There are very localised populations of this species of goby in the UK, but they are also found in Ireland and in the Mediterranean, where this one was photographed...

A Couch's goby, photographed in Croatia. Note the second dorsal fin is taller than the first, a key distinguishing feature.
Like Couch's seabream, both species are named after Jonathan Couch, the Cornish ichthyologist and naturalist.

I decided to base myself in Weymouth, and arriving midafternoon after the long drive down, I headed over to Portland to check out a black faced blenny spot my mate Donny had found whilst snorkeling and had shared with me. The shipwrecks and reefs inside Portland Harbour are known to hold a healthy population of this diminutive species and over the last year or so, lots of anglers have been wading and snorkelling in various coastal spots around Weymouth and Portland both observing and catching the UK’s only resident triplefin.

The spot is only really fishable over low tide, and quite by chance the tide was still dropping and approaching low when I got there. It's also great because it allows you to sight fish for the black faced blenny without having to get wet! I fished for just over an hour, and in that time, despite the wind creating a bit of unwanted surface disturbance, I did manage to spot a couple of black faced blenny! Sadly, when I presented my small ragworm bait to them, I managed to spook both of them, and they quickly shot off out of sight. Feeling tired, I was encouraged by successfully locating them and would return two days later when the conditions were calmer, which might help me present my bait a little better. Before heading off to check into my accommodation, I fished nearby and caught some sand smelt, juvenile pollock and wrasse.

The following morning, I got up very early and drove west to Devon, where I met up at first light with a group of light rock fishing enthusiasts. The Big Lerf Weekender Worldwide Species Hunt had just taken place the weekend previously, and a visiting angler from Switzerland named Mathias, who was one of the anglers I would be fishing with, had caught half a dozen comber whilst participating. It’s a species that has been turning up more often this year, caught mainly by boat anglers, but also occasionally from the shore, so we were all hopeful that we could perhaps catch them too! Being a very aggressive predatory species, I knew that if any were around, there was a very good chance that we would catch them.

Rather disappointingly, it was a very slow morning, with the bites being few and far between. A few juvenile pollock, a whiting and a couple of black goby were all I caught, and the other guys also struggled. Just before high water I caught a nice ballan wrasse, but other than that the fishing was very poor.

This small ballan wrasse was the only real highlight of a very poor session.

In the afternoon, when the tide was almost fully out, the fishing became even slower. I tried moving around, but all I caught were a few more pin whiting and some sand goby. Feeling like I had caught the sun, I had a break and a spot of lunch. Meanwhile, some of the lads tried to keep themselves entertained by seeing who could be the first to catch a trio of goby species.

Donny, Rich and Aaron battle it out to see who can be first to catch a black, rock and sand goby.

It was around that point that I decided to call it a day and make the drive back to Dorset. I was feeling pretty shattered and might have stayed for longer if the fishing had been good, but it had been nothing short of terrible really, and I just didn’t think it was going to improve that much when the tide came back in, so I said goodbye to the lads and headed off.

The next day, I had a much-needed lie in. Feeling slightly refreshed, I drove back to Portland for another go at catching a black faced blenny. The wind had changed direction, and as a result the surface of the sea was nice and flat. This helped me to sight fish and I located a large specimen fairly quickly. Slowly lowering my split shot rig down fairly close to it, at first the fish didn’t react at all, but then it suddenly turned around, greedily ate the small piece of ragworm that I’d baited my tanago hook with and then sat motionless again. Quickly striking, the fish was hooked, and lifting it up out of the water into my waiting hand, I’d caught my first ever black faced blenny in the UK! Quickly unhooking it, I carefully popped it into my photo tank and put the lid on.

I’ve been after one of these in the UK for a very long time. I had my first attempt on Swanage Pier over a decade ago!

Having added a species to my UK lifelist, I was keen to add a second and as the Couch’s goby spot wasn’t very far away, I headed straight there. I thought it might be a fairly easy one to catch, as most goby species are not in the least bit shy. Three hours later and all I’d manage to catch on my one up one down rig with tiny pieces of ragworm on size 26 hooks were a few corkwing wrasse and over a dozen rock goby.

A few corkwing wrasse located and ate my tiny pieces of ragworm.

There were plenty of very hungry rock goby around.

I was beginning to think perhaps I wasn’t in the right spot when I finally caught a smaller goby that looked a little different. I moved away from the water’s edge, carefully unhooked the goby, and gently placed it into my tank for a better look to confirm my suspicions.

My first ever Couch’s goby! Difficult to make out in this photo, but its second dorsal fin was noticeably taller than its first.

Very pleased to have added two species to my UK lifelist, I headed back to my Weymouth to get some food and an early night as I planned to make an early start the following day.

I didn’t sleep very well that night, and when I got up in the morning, I couldn’t decide if I should make a seven-hour round trip to Cornwall to fish for common pandora and Couch’s seabream, or just forget about adding species to my UK tally and make the much shorter drive to Swanage Pier, where I could just have a relaxing day fishing. In the end, I tossed a coin and ended up “heading” all the way to Cornwall. I wish I had flipped tails, because after driving all that way, I didn’t get a single bite!. Not a single nibble! A blank was a terrible end to what was overall a pretty poor three days' fishing. By the time I got back to Weymouth, I was completely shattered and decided just to drive up the road the next day.

So, it was without doubt the worst fishing I've ever experienced in Devon and Cornwall, but thanks to the information given to me by Donny, Dorset had produced two of my five target species, so I can’t complain too much. I’d probably have settled for catching two new UK species at the start of the trip! Next year I'd like to spend more time down there over the summer, hopefully the fishing will be much better, and I can add a few more species to my UK lifelist. I've now caught eighty-nine species from saltwater in the UK, and I'd like to get that up to one hundred!

Tight lines, Scott.

Species hunting adventures on São Miguel: Part 1.

At the end of March, Lillian and I flew from Edinburgh, via Lisbon, to Sao Miguel in the Azores for a ten day long trip. We'd be joined after three days by my mates Lee and Ross, who were flying direct from London Stansted. After a fairly long journey but excited to be somewhere new, Lillian and I explored the capital of Ponta Delgada on foot for the first couple of days, and then picked up a hire car the day before the boys arrived. The weather in the Azores at that time of year is similar to the UK in that it can change very quickly. One minute the sun is shining, the next it's cloudy or raining.

Hardly a cloud in the sky. Black volcanic rock and buildings painted white are a feature of Ponta Delgada architecture and the theme is also used on lots of pavements too.

After wandering around some of Ponta Delgada's quaint narrow streets on the morning of our first full day, we strolled down to the open coast to a small harbour, so I could do some fishing. Someone was already fishing when we got there, usually a good sign.

The local angler's tactics involved bread paste on treble hooks, fished under a float using a rod made of a piece of cane. I love that sort of thing. A reminder that expensive tackle might be nice but is not always neccessary to catch some fish.

After watching the gentleman catch a few seabream, I got quickly set up along from him and was soon pulling out lots of small fish myself on pieces of raw prawn. Ornate wrasse were the first species of the trip. No surprise there really and lots of them. A few other fish did manage to beat them to my bait eventually.

A nice blacktail comber...

...a damselfish that managed to get a relatively big hook in its mouth...

...and a few Guinean puffers. I'm not a massive fan of puffers. I might have mentioned that before.

This was the spot I'd just fished. By the time we left the clouds had rolled in.

We then took a slow stroll back into town, following the coastline. Walking past the main marina inside the town's huge harbour, I had a look to see what fish were in it. As well as shoals of mullet, lots of ornate wrasse and various types of seabream, I soon spotted some black faced blennies sitting still on submerged boulders close to the edge, occassionally shifting their position slightly. They are a tiny fish but the males have a bright yellow body, so they were easy to pick out against the dark volcanic rock. Whilst I was excited, as it was my first time I'd ever come across the species in the sea, I also knew that fishing there was strictly off limits. In fact, whilst I was pointing the black faced blennies out to Lillian, a couple of locals passing by, seeing that I had fishing tackle with me, warned me that the Marina had a security detail. They told me that they were very strict and should they see me fishing, they would be straight over, and I could end up with a hefty fine. Whilst I really wanted to catch a black faced blenny, I also didn't want to risk getting into trouble, so, feeling frustrated, we headed off again.

Full of fish but strictly off limits. The clouds had almost all gone again.

Walking further along the harbour's promenade, away from the marina, we found a small slipway behind a seafood restaurant and I did some fishing there. The chefs were out regularly tossing fish scraps into the water, meaning the area was full of fish. Freelined raw prawn chunks were soon doing the business.

Sun out again. Fish on again!

I caught plenty of these rather plump thick lipped mullet...

...and some small derbio that went off like little rockets and were great fun ...

...and a female emerald wrasse.

Feeling we had perhaps been exposed to a little bit too much sun, we decided to get into the shade and headed to one of Ponta Delgada's botanical gardens. As well as enjoying the cool cover the many different species of trees offered and admiring lots of nice plants, there were also some beautiful, very colourful birds strutting about.

A lovely looking cockerel.

The top of my head felt like it was almost as red as the cockerel's we had seen in the gardens so after getting some aftersun and a bottle of pineapple liqueur from the supermarket we headed back to the apartment to relax, and after a lengthy cold shower each, we enjoyed copious amounts of both. 

The next day we picked up our hire car and headed out of the capital to explore. We drove round its western end, making some short stops at roadside viewpoints to enjoy the scenery before carrying on to visit a few potential fishing spots. Mosteiros was our first destination where we checked out a small pier and then its natural swimming pools. 

São Miguel Miguel is lush with lots of grassy fields. Cows were also a fairly common sight. It could easily be mistaken for somewhere in the UK.

There are several deep rockpools at Mosteiros that people can go swimming in.

Rockpool blennies swim about in them too, rather unsurprisingly!

Leaving Mosteiros, we drove east along the northern coast to Ponta da Costa, a tiny slipway at the bottom of some huge cliffs. The winding path down was pretty steep and to be honest the fishing wasn't great when we eventually made it down to the bottom. I didn't realise it at the time, but I later discovered that I'd caught my first new species of the trip whilst down there.

The slight swell rolling in made fishing difficult.

As well as lots of ornate wrasse, I also caught a few very darkly coloured rainbow wrasse. I'd later discover they were blacktail rainbow wrasse, and also that looking back through my old catch report photos, I'd caught them on Madeira previously and mistaken them for...

...Mediterranean rainbow wrasse. The shape might be almost identical as they're from the same group of wrasses, the Coris genus, but the different colouration of the adult males of the two species is pretty obvious really.

Before we headed back up to the car I also caught a few bogue on small metals fishing out into deeper water.

The climb back up the cliffside paths to the car was pretty tiring so we headed back to São Miguel, visited the supermarket and chilled in the apartment that evening, enjoying a nice meal with some beers and a few passion fruit liqueurs. 

The following day the weather was pretty miserable being both quite windy and wet. We drove east along the south coast to check out the small harbour at Porto de Pescas da Caloura. A fair swell was running out in the open sea and the inside of the harbour didn't produce anything at all.

This spot is supposed to be a good mark to target moray eels after dark so if nothing else it was good to check it out in daylight.

We then drove further east before cutting inland and driving north into the island's interior to visit the Caldeiras das Furnas nature preserve. It has several steaming geothermal pools and geysers. The smell of sulphur is pretty pungent to say the least. Whilst there we also spent an hour or so in the Microbial Observatory of the Azores, learning about some of the types of life that exist in the extreme environments, like the ones found there.

Lillian's not usually a fan of smelly gasses when I produce them, and my gases normally don't smell half as bad as the stench these constantly produce.

To get the smell of rotten eggs out of our clothes we headed up to the north coast to the small harbour of Porto Formoso, a venue I would return to for a boat trip with Lee and Ross later in the trip. With the sea nice and flat due to the wind now being offshore, I fished for a while from the rocks at the outside of the harbour's mouth, but it was very tough going. It also rained pretty heavily for a brief spell while we were there and we both got a bit of a soaking.

It looked quite promising, but I really struggled to catch fish here.

A small common two banded seabream prevented a blank. If memory serves it was the only fish of the entire day!

Heading back up to the car we finished the day by following the coast all the way around the eastern end of the island, stopping off again at various viewpoints to take in the scenery.

The next day the wind had dropped off again and we headed east along the island's southern coast again to visit Ermida de Nossa Senhora da Paz, a small church perched on the hillside at the top of over one hundred steps.

I was happy with this photo but Lillian insisted we climb all the way up.

At the top I spotted a big harbour down below we could explore.

After driving down and visiting a small tackle shop in Vila Franca do Campo we headed to its harbour. Again a friendly local, upon spotting my fishing rod, was quick to approach us and tell me where I could and could not fish. I heeded his advice and headed well away from all the fancy, and no doubt very expensive, moored yachts. As we wandered along, I spotted the yellow bodies of some black faced blennies, sitting on the submerged rocks close to the edge. Out came a packet of tanago hooks, I quickly rigged up an ultra light running ledger and lowered the rig down onto one of the boulders where the black faced blennies were. After a few missed bites, I managed to hook a small fish that I initially thought was a female black faced blenny, but in my hand I recognised it to be a Montagu's blenny.

Only my second ever Montagu's blenny.

A little more persistence eventually paid off when I watched one of my targets take the tiny piece of raw prawn on my equally tiny hook into its mouth and I gently struck, successfully hooking it. My second new species of the trip was quickly swung up to hand. Having been after one of these for years, making several trips to Swanage Pier in Dorset to try and catch one, I was ecstatic to finally get one.

A male black faced blenny. Chilling out on a rock their head is jet black and their body is bright yellow. When caught their coloration dulls and is a little bit mottled. The female on the other hand is a fairly drab looking fish, being a mottled brown colour.

I carried on fishing, trying a few different spots around the harbour and caught quite a lot of fish. Mainly ornate wrasse, blacktail rainbow wrasse in the mix, as well as a solitary ballan wrasse and a nice striped red mullet. That's definitely the furthest west I've ever caught a ballan wrasse! I also managed to add a couple more species to my trip tally and my third new species of the trip in the shape of a blue wrasse, a cousin of the corkwing wrasse that is endemic to the Azores.

In amongst all the wrasse I caught this nice striped red mullet fishing over a clean sandy area.

I also caught this single small male parrotfish. Parrotfish males are the drab sex of the species.

Here's a ruby red female parrotfish I caught on Tenerife a few years ago.

While we're on the subject of sexual dimorphism in wrasse, I think this is a male blue wrasse but could be in the middle of a transition...

...and this ornate wrasse is in the middle of a sex change too I think. It has some colouration features of both. Most wrasse species can change sex from female to male when the need arises.

Anyway I've digressed. It's fascinting but that's enough fish gender politics! So, we were enjoying our time on São Miguel. Despite the fishing being a little hit and miss, I'd made a pretty good start to my species hunting. I was over the moon to catch the black faced blenny and also the two new wrasse species, even if technically I'd unknowingly caught one of them before. With six days left in the Azores we were both looking forward to Lee and Ross arriving as we hadn't seen them for a while due to the pandemic, so it would be great to catch up again and fish together again too.

Tight lines, Scott.

Click here for the next part.

Most Wanted : Blennies galore!

Blennies, blennies, blennies. I love them! As far as I'm aware there are ten "blenny" species in U.K. waters and so far I've only caught three of them. I've caught hundreds of common blennies, a few tompot blennies and a single butterfish. For completeness here's a quick guide to all of them, some of which I'd really like to catch!

Black Faced Blenny.

Not really a true blenny but a "blenny like fish". Great way to start a blenny post I hear you say! They are in fact a type of triplefin. Delais' Triplefin to be precise. Cool looking little fish. Too cool not to include I thought. Males and females are quite different with the male, top, being much more colourful, particularly whilst breeding. Normally found in the Mediterranean, these have now been discovered around some of the Channel Islands and also in a few small areas on the south coast of England.

Males swim in a figure of eight to impress the female during mating rituals. Kinky.

Butterfish.

Also known as rock gunnel these fish are relatively common in some areas. Inhabiting the intertidal areas of many beaches, they can often be found seeking shelter under rocks and amongst the weed some rockpools as I discovered last year. They can also be found in harbours. Long and slender with distinctive dark spots along base of their dorsal fins they are easy to identify and they are called butterfish for a reason, they are extremely slippery!

Butterfly Blenny.

Wow! What a stunning blenny. Unmistakable with its large sail like dorsal fin and vivid black spot with light halo. Found around the south western coast of England.Certainly a blenny I'm hoping to catch in the summer.

Common Blenny.

Well these cheeky chappies should need no introduction. Also known as the shanny they are very aggressive and full of character. They are the reason I love blennies so much and can be found all around the country in rockpools and harbours. Careful handling is required though, they can and will bite!

Montagu's Blenny.

From above Montagu's blenny can be mistaken for a common blenny. Note the white/pale blue spots though.

Like the majority of other blenny species, Montagu's blenny has a lappet on its head. Quite unique however in that instead of two separate structures, in Montagu's blenny it takes the form of a single fringed flap.

Red Blenny.

Another beautiful blenny! No mistaking this one that's for sure with its red colouration, electric blue fin highlights and distinct dark spot at the front of its dorsal fin. Also known as the Portuguese blenny this fish is now being spotted around the south western coast of England and as for north as the west coast of Scotland.

Snake Blenny.

Very aptly named. A very long slender blenny with a pink and violet colouration with brown spots. More common around the coast of Norway it can also be found around the northern coast of Scotland. I think this may perhaps be the hardest blenny to track down and catch in U.K. waters.

Tompot Blenny.

A common catch around the rockpools and harbours of the south western coast of England and the Channel Islands this blenny has quite a chunky, stout appearance, is normally a mottled brown colour, can have an orange shade to fin edges and has a lappet in the form of two little antlers.

Viviparous Blenny.

Also known as eelpout it's easy to see why. Like the black faced blenny it's not technically a blenny. It does look like a common blenny, just a very long one and can be over double the length of one.

Like common blennies, viviparous blennies seem to like to live in groups.

Yarrell's Blenny.

Another quite distinct blenny. A brown and pink mottled colouration along with a long body. This species has a lappet consisting of two branched antlers as well as two small but similar structures on the tips of the first and second dorsal fin rays. Put these all together and we have a set of very unique key distinguishing features. Another fish found around St Abbs Head so perhaps a potential target whilst I'm down there waiting for an Atlantic wolf fish taking my bait!

I hope you've found this quick look at U.K. blennies interesting. Hopefully I'll succeed in crossing a few of them of my most wanted list this year! Finally a big thanks to the photographers of some of the above images who gave me permission to use them. Below is a series of links that will take you to various sites where you can view more of their excellent work.

Tight lines, Scott.

Portuguese photographer Vasco Ferreira's dive center facebook page.

The website of Italian photographer Alessandro Falleni.

An educational photographic resource and stock image library of the sea, maritime environment, marine and rockpool life in the coastal waters of south west England by David Fenwick.

The website supplementing Paul Kay's book "A Field Guide to the MARINE FISHES of WALES and Adjacent Waters". Signed copies of this book can be bought via this site.

UWPhoto ANS is a stock photo agency with images mainly from the colder areas of the globe. The work of Norwegian photographer Erling Svensen along with others can be seen here.

The website of Dutch photographer Arne Kuilman.

Biopix, a collection of biological photos, primarily from Scandinavia.