Mission accomplished! Or is it?...

I received some information from a couple of fellow species hunting anglers at the end of August about two potential targets that they suspected/knew had been caught/observed down in the southwest of Scotland. The first one I thought was a little far-fetched. Juvenile brill from the shore? Amazing if true, but it was a friend of a friend type account of the fish caught and there were no photos to back it up. The second piece of info was that bass anglers down there were repeatedly having their lures hit by garfish. I have a friend who has hooked and landed garfish down there so that I could believe.

So, a plan was quickly formulated, and my mate Ryan and I drove down there for a full day fishing at two different venues. At the first spot, a beautiful sandy beach on the western side of the Rhins of Galloway, we fished the incoming tide with beachcasters using three hook flappers baited with mackerel strips and ragworm. It was a great session. In fact, I've never caught so many turbot in such a short space of time! We caught plenty of flounder too. Dozens in fact! We must have had over fifty flatfish between us! Some of the turbot were relatively dark in colouration, so I could see why someone could possibly mistake them for brill, but as I suspected, none of the fish we caught were.

Quite dark turbot with markings to match the sand they were living over.

Packing up the gear but staying in the Rhins of Galloway, we headed to the second venue over their eastern shore. The plan was to fish it over high tide, but it quickly became obvious that the wind had coloured up the sea and there was lots of weed suspended in the water too. Not ideal for targetting garfish. Thanks to some more information Ryan received from a fellow angler via WhatsApp, a backup plan was quickly hatched, and we drove north up to the old military pier and breakers yard at Cairnryan. When we arrived and climbed through the fences, there were two other people fishing on it already. When I asked if they had caught anything, I was told all they'd managed to catch was a single garfish. Just what I wanted to hear! Getting into position, I set up a float rig and baited up my three hooks with long, thin slivers of mackerel belly. Ryan set about catching some wrasse straight down the side, using what was left of our ragworm.

While Ryan landed some nice ballan wrasse and corkwing wrasse, I patiently watched my float as it drifted from right to left, taking up any slack line as it formed. It took a while for my float to go under, and when it did, I wound it in to discover it was a solitary cannibalistic mackerel on one of the hooks. It was quickly dispatched so that some fresh belly slivers could be put on my small Aberdeen hooks before my rig was cast out again. The next drift had just about ended when the float slowly went under again. I paused to allow the culprit to get the hook before winding down, feeling the weight of a fish. When a garfish came into sight as the rig came back in towards the side of the pier, my heart was racing. It was a nervous moment as I swung the fish up onto the platform, but I need not have worried as it was well hooked.

My first Scottish garfish.

What a bizarre mouth with hundreds of small fine teeth.

A well deserved trophy shot. I'd definitely caught my 100th species from Scottish venues now, right?

Well, technically no. Here's why. Saltwater species aren't the issue. I've caught at least 66 of those (67 if I have indeed caught a Corbin's sandeel.).

Saltwater species.

Atlantic Horse Mackerel Ballan Wrasse Bass Black Goby Black Mouthed Dogfish Butterfish Coalfish Cod Common Blenny Common Dragonet Common Eel Common Goby Conger Eel Connemarra Clingfish Corbin's Sandeel* Corkwing Wrasse Cuckoo Ray Cuckoo Wrasse Dab European Smelt/Sparling Fifteen Spined Stickleback Five Bearded Rockling Flapper Skate Flounder Garfish Gilthead Seabream Golden Grey Mullet Goldsinny Wrasse Greater Sandeel/Launce Greater Spotted Dogfish/Bull Huss Grey Gurnard Haddock Herring Hooknose/Pogge/Armed Bullhead

Leopard Spotted Goby Lesser Sandeel Lesser Spotted Dogfish Lesser Weever Ling Long Spined Sea Scorpion Mackerel Painted Goby Plaice Pollock Poor Cod Pouting/Bib Red Gurnard Rock Cook Wrasse Rock Goby Sand Goby Sand Smelt Shore Rockling Short Spined Sea Scorpion Spotted Ray Spurdog Starry Smoothhound Tadpole Fish Thick Lipped Grey Mullet Thornback Ray Tompot Blenny Tope Tub Gurnard Turbot Two Spotted Goby Viviparous Blenny Whiting Yarrell's Blenny *Still not 100% on this ID being correct.

The issue lies with freshwater species. Technically, some of the freshwater fish I've counted as separate species are not. 

Common carp, koi carp and mirror carp are all the same species.

Ide, blue orfe and golden orfe are all the same species.

Rainbow trout, blue trout and golden trout are all the same species.

Tench and golden tench are both the same species.

F1 carp and tiger trout are not species at all, they are hybrids.

Freshwater species.
Variations counted individually and hybrids included.	Variations counted together and hybrids excluded.
Arctic Char Atlantic Salmon Blue Orfe Blue Trout Bream Brook Char Brown Trout Bullhead Chub Common Carp Crucian Dace F1 Carp Goldfish Golden Orfe Golden Tench Golden Trout Gudgeon Grayling Ide Koi Carp Minnow Mirror Carp Perch Pike Powan Rainbow Trout Roach Rudd Ruffe Stone Loach Tench Three Spined Stickleback Tiger Trout	Arctic Char Atlantic Salmon Bream Brook Char Brown Trout Bullhead Chub Common Carp Koi Carp Mirror Carp Crucian Dace F1 Carp Goldfish Gudgeon Grayling Ide Blue Orfe Golden Orfe Minnow Perch Pike Powan Rainbow Trout Blue Trout Golden Trout Roach Rudd Ruffe Stone Loach Tench Golden Tench Three Spined Stickleback Tiger Trout
Total = 101.	Total = 92.

So I've caught at least one hundred different kinds of fish from Scottish venues. If I want to be able to say I've truly caught one hundred species of fish from Scottish venues, I need to catch at least another nine true species, which is going to be incredibly tough. It's just as well that I like a species hunting challenge! So, what's next? I shall keep species hunting around Scotland of course! I'll be doing a few posts on potential target species soon...

Tight lines, Scott.

More species hunting adventures on Crete : Part 1.

At the end of August I returned to the Greek island of Crete for two weeks' holiday with my girlfriend Lillian. We didn't arrive in Kissamos, where we'd be staying for the first week, until late in the evening but it was quite windy when we got there and as our accommodation was very close to the sea we could see a swell running and some waves were coming over the sea wall at the front of the town's promenade. In the morning we went for a walk along the coast to get our bearings. The wind had died down during the night but the sea was still fairly rough and coloured up.

Not great for fishing with the ultra light tackle I had with me.

Later that morning I got permission to quickly check out the nearby port of Kavonisi, a venue recommended to me by my mate Andy where several large vessels moor at night that take tourists on day trips to Gramvousa island and the lagoon at Balos on the western side of the island. It was fairly sheltered inside so I had a quick fish and discovered that the water inside was very deep. I thought this was promising but to my surprise the fishing was pretty slow going. I still managed to catch a few fish and got my species hunt for the trip underway.

My first fish of the trip was this rainbow wrasse.

A few common combers were also keen on my angleworm.

I caught this saddled seabream in a corner where some fishing boats were tied up.

In the afternoon to get away from the wind we drove south through the mountains to Paleochora for lunch. I thought it would be sheltered on the south side of the island but it was still fairly windy. After lunch I fished in Paleochora's large harbour for an hour or so but again things were pretty slow. I only managed a single striped seabream, a couple of annular seabream and a few black gobies.

Black gobies are probably just about small enough to escape from the fine mesh nets the Greek fisherman use.

The next day we headed east into Chania and wandered around the harbour area before having some lunch. As well as seeing all the old buildings we were lucky enough to see a large sea turtle swimming amongst the moored boats. After lunch I had a quick fish as we walked along the inside of the breakwater and added three more species to my tally for the trip, catching a few ornate wrasse, a single rusty blenny and a common pandora.

Chania's old Venetian harbour is very pretty with lots of shops and restaurants lining it.

The breakwater of Chania harbour where I did my fishing.

Seeing this sea turtle was an unexpected bonus. Not the empty plastic bag though,its never great seeing those in the sea.

In the evening I popped along to Kavonisi Port for an hour's fishing whilst Lillian had a nap. Again the deep water out in the harbour didn't produce much so I turned my attention to fishing for the small species down the side of the wall using #26 hooks baited with tiny pieces of dried ragworm. Amongst the fish I caught as light faded I added bogue, cardinalfish, damselfish, marbled rabbitfish and salema to my tally.

Cardinalfish are like little rubies.

In the morning on the third day of our holiday I got up early and headed back to Kavonisi Port again. The wind had now completely dropped off and the open sea was flat calm so after an hour of trying various methods inside the harbour with little reward for my efforts I decided to move along the coast to try a new spot.

This needle nosed chap took a piece of angleworm on a drop shot rig and was my only reward from the deep water in the harbour.

At my chosen mark the sea floor was very rough and I quickly lost a fair amount of drop shot rigs so I moved along to try another spot. This was less tackle hungry and produced a few ornate wrasse and a common two banded seabream.

Feisty little fish.

Later that morning we took a drive up through Therisou Gorge. It's the only gorge on the island that has a road running through it. Perfect if you are a little out of shape.

The easy option if you want to explore one of Crete's many gorges without all the hassle of walking.

Watch out for pedestrians! The gorge is full of goats but the noise of their bells clanking gives their presence away.

Exiting the top of the gorge we carried on up into the mountains and headed to the small village of Drakona to have lunch in a restaurant called Dounias that Lillian had read great things about online. It's on a sharp corner making it easy to miss it and we did just that, driving right past before realising our mistake and turning back. I'm not sure how I missed it though to be fair as some of its ovens are out in front of it and lunch was already being prepared!

Dounias' speciality is traditional Cretan food cooked slowly using wood ovens.

You can sit inside but on a beautiful summer afternoon the outdoor dining area is the only real choice.

Relaxing in the shade we didn't even have to order any dishes, instead simply allowing Stelios the chef to send us a selection of dishes including some meat ones. The food soon started arriving a dish at a time and whilst my expectations were high the food didn't disappoint. Everything we ate was mouth wateringly tasty.

Stuffed vegetables have never tasted so good.

The rustic meat dishes were full of flavour too.

After several plates of amazing food we continued our mountain drive, heading slowly east until we eventually reached the National Road. Driving on the windy roads was a lot of fun and some of the views from the mountain roads were great too.

A view from the mountains towards the island's north coast.

Before heading back to Kissamos we visited Kalyves Harbour, a venue where my mate Andy has caught stargazer whilst fishing during his holidays on the island. While Lillian hid in the shade and enjoyed an ice cream I chose to ignore the obvious target, namely the several mullet cruising around in the harbour, and instead began by working a small metal along the sandy bottom hoping to twitch it close to a buried predator. This approach didn't produce anything though and when Lillian spotted some gobies moving around on the sand I got some tiny hooks, split shot and a packet of dried ragworm out. I had an idea what the tiny gobies were and being gobies it didn't take long to confirm my suspicions.

An incognito goby. When species hunting you can't ignore micro species.

Having turned my attention to the fish I could see, I began pestering some blennies that were hugging the wall below my feet. They were being quite skittish, and I was pleasantly surprised when a filefish appeared from a crack down the harbour wall to eagerly attack my baited hook. It had a few goes before being hooked and was quickly hoisted up into my hand. Whilst it looked similar to the filefish I've caught before in the Canary Islands, the planehead filefish, this one was a little different shape wise and had different markings too. I remembered looking into the filefish found in the Mediterranean when Andy had sent me a photo of one he had caught and this one was the same species as his capture.

This is a reticulated filefish, a migrant from the Red Sea. It was also my first new species of the trip.

By this point Lillian was getting a little bored and when I suggested we go and get some bread and try and catch a mullet she gave me a look that told me I was pushing my luck, so I packed up, and we drove back to Kissamos. It had been an enjoyable start to our holiday and whilst the short sessions spent species hunting were slow at times I'd still managed to catch a few different fish and an unexpected first new species of the trip.

Tight lines, Scott.

Click here for the next part.

Light game fun in Croatia : Pula.

When we arrived in Pula to begin the final part of our holiday last month we dropped our stuff off at our accommodation and then I returned the hire car. Our apartment was located on the outskirts of the city and was quite far from the middle of town and the sea but we took a leisurely walk down and had a stroll around. As we explored we passed a scale model of Pula. 

Pula has one of the best examples of a Roman amphitheatre outside of Italy. 

The real thing was nearby and it was quite impressive. Being surrounded most of the way round by other buildings it was difficult to get a good photograph of it. Some gardens to the north of it seemed to offer us the best view.

Walking down to the waterfront nearby there were lots of tour boats and some large fishing boats moored as well as a large marina full of yachts. There were also incredible amounts of mullet swimming around near the surface. I've never seen so many mullet in fact and they were of a reasonable size. I thought of the fun I could have catching them but being aware of the fact that fishing in Croatian harbours isn't permitted I was pretty sure the area was off limits and was left feeling a bit frustrated. We spent some more time wandering around the city's narrow streets in the evening before having dinner and heading back to our apartment. 

The next day we jumped on a bus and headed to the Stoja Peninsula. Located to the south of Pula it is home to a large campsite. We headed all the way through it and found a quiet spot on the rocks where Lillian could relax and I could fish. I quickly caught lots of rainbow wrasse and painted combers. After a while we moved to another spot where I discovered it was a bit shallower and I was hopeful that perhaps I'd catch something different. All it produced to begin with however was more rainbow wrasse and painted combers. I was getting a little frustrated by the lack of variety so I tried jigging some small metals and paddletails on jig heads but sadly this didn't produce anything at all. Switching back to soft lures on a drop shot rig had me catching fish again and just before we left for lunch my persistence was rewarded when I caught a nice little gilthead seabream. 

A great looking spot. Not a great variety of species though. 

What a cracking little fish. A most welcome change from the wrasse and combers.  

In the evening we had a slow wander about town again before having dinner and a few drinks. It was fairly busy with lots going on but it didn't feel crowded and the atmosphere was relaxed. I think Pula was probably my favourite of the three Croatian cities we had visited. 

The next day we head to Verudela to visit an Aquarium. This one was located inside an old fortress which was quite good. There were lots of great displays and I saw some species that were found locally that I'd never heard of before, the longstriped blenny and the longsnouted wrasse. I tried to take photos of them both in their tanks but didn't manage to get any good ones. It's sometimes hard to take photos using a phone's camera in aquariums with the subjects swimming about constantly behind glass and the glare of multiple light sources reflecting off of it. Here are a couple of photos of them I found online. 

A longsnouted wrasse. A wrasse with a long snout!  I think this one is a male in breeding colours. I hoped I'd get lucky before we left Pula and catch one.

A longstriped blenny. Another highly original name choice.

 This seahorse was a much easier subject capture due to the fact it stayed motionless. Lillian loves seahorses. They mate for life she always tells me. 

After lunch we went for a walk around the coastline of the area. We soon found a nice quiet spot and clambered down onto the rocks from the clifftop path. Once again rainbow wrasse and painted combers made up the bulk of my catch but I also caught a few annular seabream and some nice East Atlantic peacock wrasse. 

A nice example of an East Atlantic peacock wrasse. Lovely shades of blue throughout its fins and big rubbery lips. 

Trying a second spot further round the coast I soon found out the water was incredibly deep. It was taking about forty five seconds for my seven gram drop shot lead to reach the sea floor after splashing down! It was the deepest water I had fished during the trip by a fair margin so again I was hopeful that it might throw up some different species but disappointingly, despite trying a few different methods, I didn't enjoy a great deal of action. As well as a few rainbow wrasse and painted combers I did catch a couple of small garfish that took my lure as I reeled in which was pretty cool. Even though they were tiny they put up a bit of a fight, launching themselves out of the water a few times.

Garfish are pretty weird fish. They stink as well. Their acrobatics are impressive though. 

After a while we headed back to Pula and the evening was spent in town again. The following day was our last full one in Croatia and in the morning we headed into town to see the Temple of Augustus. We'd passed it several times in the evenings without realising what it was or how old it was.

The Temple of Augustus has certainly stood the test of time. It's over two thousand years old!

Before heading to lunch we went for a walk along the waterfront. I was quite surprised to see quite a lot of mullet in an area well away from the marina and where there were no other boats moored. We popped to a shop and got a small loaf of bread and headed back. Freelining a small flake proved very effective and three thin lipped grey mullet were quickly caught and released. Seeing some large white seabream swimming deeper down I tried drop shotting a piece of Angleworm and caught a small common two banded seabream.

When fish are competing for food they become easier to catch. This applies to mullet as well, a fish some anglers will tell you are hard to catch which isn't always true.

A nice little common two banded seabream on good old Angleworm.

Whilst I was having fun I wasn't entirely sure if I was in an area where fishing was prohibited and not wanting to push my luck I packed up and we went for lunch. There was a Croatian dish I was keen to try. I doesn't look very nice but I fancied a change from fried squid, which we'd been eating regularly during the holiday. 

Black cuttlefish risotto. Looks a bit nasty but tastes amazing. 

Afterwards we jumped on a bus and headed back to Verudela. We went to the deep water mark where I was again hopeful I'd catch some bigger fish or perhaps a new species but sadly the fishing was pretty poor again. After a while I ended up joining Lillian under a tree and we relaxed in the shade for a while before deciding to walk all the way back to the apartment instead of catching the bus. On the way back I spotted a nice shady area and had my final casts of the trip. As well as a few painted combers and rainbow wrasse I caught a few greater weevers and also some little seabream too.

I think this is the smallest couch's seabream I've ever caught.

My last fish of the trip was this common pandora. 

In the evening we went out for dinner to a nice restaurant called Dva Ferala where we had eaten a couple of nights before to have another wonderful meal and a few drinks. The next morning we packed our bags and headed to the airport to fly home. We were sad to leave but it had been a great holiday and we had enjoyed our time exploring a little bit of Croatia. Lillian as always was very tolerant of my angling addiction and let me fish every day and I had a lot of fun. I didn't set myself any goals for the trip but I ended up catching twenty five species including two new ones which was great. Here's a summary of what I caught. The two new species are in bold.

1. Annular Seabream
2. Axillary Seabream
3. Black Goby
4. Boxlip Mullet
5. Brown Comber
6. Bucchich's Goby
7. Common Pandora
8. Common Two Banded Seabream
9. Couch's Seabream
10. Damselfish
11. East Atlantic Peacock Wrasse
12. Five Spotted Wrasse
13. Garfish
14. Gilthead Seabream
15. Golden Grey Mullet
16. Greater Weever
17. Madeira Rockfish
18. Ocellated Wrasse
19. Ornate Wrasse
20. Painted Comber
21. Peacock Blenny
22. Rainbow Wrasse
23. Rusty Blenny
24. Saddled Seabream
25. Thin Lipped Grey Mullet

I'd love to return to Croatia and explore some more of it. It's a beautiful place and if I did go back I think I'd start off in Zagreb and explore the country's interior region, it would be a great opportunity to target freshwater species abroad again.

Tight lines, Scott.

Species hunting adventures on Menorca : Part 3.

Reaching the halfway point of our trip last Friday we headed to the north coast village of Cala Morell to try fishing in darkness before first light. It was quiet to start with until Lee found a bit of rough ground and tempted another nice black scorpionfish out of pretending to be a boulder.

A great way to start the day. Who needs breakfast? This fish obviously fancied some.

I then caught a painted comber before landing a small dusky grouper after it tried its best to go to ground at fairly close range. Groupers fight quite hard for their size and I actually thought I had hooked a large black scorpionfish until I lifted it up unto the platform I was fishing from and shone my head torch onto it revealing its true identity and lovely markings.

The first grouper of the trip. They don't half scrap well for their size.

After that though we really struggled to find any more fish, despite trying at a few different spots. After the sun came up we eventually located a few wrasse and the odd painted comber in the shallower areas but to be honest we were looking for something different having had more of our fill of those species.

Fishing at a variety of different marks around Cala Morell from the shallow reefs to the deep water out at the mouth of the bay failed to produce, and we were starting to scratch our heads a bit.

We then headed east to fish from the rocks near the large resort of Son Parc. It looked pretty exciting ground when we arrived with lots of submerged structure and we were both pretty hopeful it would produce some more groupers.

Broken ground and fairly deep water on the north east coast.

Unfortunately fishing here was very tough and it was at this point we sort of hit a wall. After trying various spots and only catching a solitary rainbow wrasse I lost a few rigs in rapid succession and I told Lee I needed a break. He said he felt slightly frustrated also so we decided to go for a swim off of the nearby Cala de Son Parc. I had my snorkel with me so off we went. This turned out to be just what we both needed. Whilst snorkelling I still had fishing on my mind however and spotted an area on the seafloor that had quite a lot of striped seabream feeding over it. I was also lucky to spot a small stingray swimming along the bottom which was an awesome sight. Afterwards we felt quite refreshed, got dried off and had a bite to eat at a nearby restaurant before heading along the rocks close to where I had seen the striped sea bream digging around on the bottom. I was fairly confident of catching some but to increase my chances I put together a sort of one up one down rig that combined a drop shot rig with a running ledger and baited both hooks with a piece of Angleworm. This failed to tempt the striped seabream but the lizardfish were not so hard to catch.

A double shot of lizardfish. I ended up catching seventeen of the greedy little buggers.

As light started to fade we both tied on wire traces and clipped on metals hoping that some barracuda might show up and start feeding. Lee went with his only remaining Metalmaru and I opted for a Xesta Afterburner that I had removed the treble from and replaced it with two assist hooks, one at the top and the other at the bottom. Things were quiet until we suddenly started hearing some surface activity along the rocks from our position. Lee then called over to say it was being caused by shoals of flying fish. They are pretty cool and I had seen them last year whilst out on Crete. The water erupted to my left shortly afterwards and I spotted a barracuda moving at speed past the rocks I was standing on. For the next half an hour or so we thrashed the water in all directions but failed to interest any barracuda that may have been around. It was still quite exciting though and it was good to know that the barracuda seemed to be fairly widespread and quite predictable, again giving us hope of catching one before the trip was over. With a renewed sense of optimism and feeling a bit more relaxed about our fishing we made the drive back to our hotel.

On Saturday over breakfast we decided to just have a fairly chilled out day and stay local as driving all over the island seemed to be counterproductive at times. We quickly found a spot near the hotel where we could get down the cliffs to fish closer to the water. Things looked promising as there were lots of small fish around and a few locals were already fishing from both the cliffs above us to our left and jigging from a boat well within casting distance. We fished away, trying various methods but struggled to connect with any fish. The small ones we could see looked like damselfish and juvenile mullet, two difficult fish to catch. I did manage a single damselfish however and a small common comber. Lee then caught yet another painted comber before more locals turned up and started fishing near us.

Damselfish are very pretty little fish. Quite hard to catch as they are incredibly short biters. I normally resort to tiny hooks and tiny sections of Angleworm but this one attacked a whole one and got hooked on my #10.

A common comber. Nowhere near as common as their painted cousin but a welcome addition to my species tally.

The locals chucked in some groundbait and lots of the damselfish and small mullet started feeding on it. Then some bigger saddled seabream turned up and started charging up from beneath the shoals of smaller fish, attacking the bigger chunks of bread that were floating on the surface. Next to arrive were some garfish and this was what the locals were most interested in catching using pieces of float fished bread. I switched to a small metal and cast it into them and they started chasing and attacking it as I worked it through the first foot of water just below the surface. I soon hooked one but only had it on for a few seconds until it thrashed on the surface and came off. Before long the groundbait had all been used and the locals left to try somewhere else. This turn of events got Lee and I talking about fishing at Ciutadella and perhaps attracting some barracuda by making up our own groundbait and getting lots of small fish feeding around the concrete breakwater. Off we went to buy a bucket, a few loaves of bread and a few cans of sardines. I also bought a dozen whole prawns as I had brought a couple of light floats with me.

Supplies acquired from a local supermarket off we went and were soon in Ciutadella. Parking the car and unloading our gear Lee spotted a small lizard sitting on a wall. By now we had seen dozens of lizards but for some reason this one didn't scrabble off like all the others had and Lee managed to catch it. Most of its tail was missing, no doubt the result of a predator attacking it and the reptile shedding it to make good an escape while its tail became a meal.

Stumpy had already used his get out of jail free card.

Down on the breakwater I set about making up the groundbait by adding the bread, sardines and some sea water to the bucket and mashing it up. Lee meanwhile had started fishing, spotted a few decent fish swimming past and had dropped a lure down in their vicinity which one of them shot over and took. He was soon calling over to tell me he had hooked what he suspected was an amberjack. His rod had a nice bend in it and his drag was making a lovely noise so I quickly cleaned my hands and jumped up onto the breakwater to watch the drama unfold. The fish made a few strong runs and whilst Lee's adrenaline was clearly pumping and he was concerned about losing it he still managed to remain in control and took his time playing it, slowly working his way over to a point where the fish could be landed. We had stupidly left my net in the car however so I jumped down from the breakwater and when I felt the fish was well and truly beaten I grabbed the leader and quickly lifted it up the short distance to the wooden pontoon I was kneeling on below Lee's elevated position. Job done and Lee was buzzing, just the kind of sport he had been craving and simply the result of being in the right place at the right time.

What a start to the session and no ground bait had even been put in yet.

Lee's amberjack soon returned I left the groundbait production for the time being and had a go at tempting one myself but it seemed I had missed my opportunity as it soon became apparent that the amberjack had in all likelihood moved away again. I did however catch a nice East Atlantic peacock wrasse and a few seabream before returning to finish making up the groundbait. Once I started tossing balls of it down the side at the end of the breakwater it didn't take long for lots of small fish to start to congregate and we were hopeful this might attract a few more predators.

The biggest East Atlantic peacock wrasse I've caught so far.

It had lovely markings particularly on its fins.

Putting my rod down for a second shortly afterwards to add a bit more ground bait Lee called to say he thought he had seen some more amberjack passing the breakwater. I looked up to see that it was in fact a small group of leerfish! Of course no sooner had I proclaimed this to Lee his rod had a big bend it again.  Being down on the wooden pontoon I just stayed there and prepared myself for ghillie duties once more. Again the fish made a few line stripping runs and being slightly larger than the amberjack took a little while longer to play out but it was soon time for me to quickly lift it out and hand it over to a very excited Lee who was jumping around in a state of delirium and slight disbelief. An amberjack and a leerfish in the space of half an hour was quite something. I was very pleased for him and was desperate to emulate his success.

What an awesome looking fish. I was a little jealous to say the least.

Once the fish went back there was no sign of any more so I clipped on my Xesta Afterburner metal and started fan casting it around. Lee was still on cloud nine and went to the car to get the net just in case we hooked anything else that might require it. When he returned we were still in a slight state of shock really and had just finished saying things couldn't get any more surreal when as Lee was dead sticking his lure on the bottom a big mullet came swimming over and sucked it up. Lee quickly struck hooking the fish. Having never caught a mullet before I warned him it might take a bit longer to land than his previous two fish. He thought I was joking when I told him this, that I'd just keep fishing this time and he could give me a shout in about ten minutes to help land it when it was eventually tired. The mullet didn't really live up to its billing however and seemed slightly less energetic than ones I've caught in the past which surprised me somewhat. It did put up a reasonable fight but despite a nervous moment when it managed to get into a hole in the side of the breakwater, Lee calmly got it out again successfully and his first thick lipped grey mullet was in the net much quicker than I had anticipated.

For some reason this thick lipped grey mullet didn't fight anywhere near as well as I know mullet can. Lee wasn't complaining though.

Lee was really on a roll and I was obviously keen to get into similar fish. I carried on fishing my metal trying to cover as much water as possible in case more amberjack or leerfish should pass us but I sadly had no joy. Lee meanwhile was happily fishing down the side and giggling away to himself like a little boy. I decided to try a different approach, set up a float rig and fished chunks of prawn under it. I kept the groundbait going in and I caught a few more seabream before something bigger pulled my float under and shot off to my right. It was headed straight for the corner of the breakwater though, I put a bit too much pressure on and it broke me off. I was a bit annoyed with myself for trying to bully the fish and started to feel that things just weren't going to go my way. As I carried on float fishing, hoping that I'd get another decent take, a group of kids arrived to fish. Lee showed them the photos of his catches and they were all very excited. They started asking Lee if all the lures they had with them were good for catching amberjack and leerfish. Lee and I found this funny at first but after a while them asking us this, asking us to tie knots for them and wanting to see our lures did begin to get a bit annoying. Lee was very generous with them though, showing them how to texas rig and giving them all some soft plastics to try.

Resident amberjack and leerfish expert Lee gives out advice and a few freebies to his young students.

By now I had kind of accepted that maybe I wasn't going to get lucky but the relaxing nature of watching my float in the sun had a calming therapeutic effect and after the groundbait had all been used I decided to give the Xesta Afterburner another go. I really liked its action and was sure that if I retrieved it across the path of an amberjack or leerfish they would more than likely find it irresistible. Well a fair amount of time had passed by when I was getting to the end of a retrieve and my metal came into view. It was only a few metres out in front of me when from nowhere a small amberjack shot at great speed and nailed my lure, turned and shot off to my right. My rod was bent double, the fish was stripping line and my heart was pounding as I called over to Lee to let him know I would hopefully need the net. The fish made a few more runs and tried to get under the wooden pontoon a couple of times but I managed to steer it back out again before it swam around a rope. I really thought I had lost the fish at this point but it was still hooked and I had a quick idea. I quickly pulled the rope up out of the water, keeping enough pressure on so my line stayed taught but letting the fish pull my line around the rope when it wanted. I passed the rope to Lee to hold and quickly passed my rod round the rope trying to maintain the tension in the line. Somehow the fish was still hooked, the tangle had been undone and I was free to quickly get it over to the end of the pontoon where it was netted by Lee. Whilst all this had been happening one of the kids had also hooked an amberjack and with my fish safely landed Lee and I helped the kid land his.

A super fast aggressive predator. Great fun on light gear.

The rope that almost cost me my first greater amberjack.

This young fellow caught his amberjack on a rather big Berkley Ripple Grub that had the curly tail missing fished on a 15g #2/0 jighead. Lee caught his on a two inch EcoGear Katsu Aji Straight fished on a 1g #6 jighead and I got mine on a 12g Xesta Afterburner metal so I think it's safe to say that amberjacks aren't too fussy and really it's just about having a lure in the water when they pass through.

We fished on hoping to enjoy some more great sport but it seemed that they had moved off again. The sun was getting lower in the sky by this point however and before long the barracuda started showing up. With Lee and I as well as five kids all chucking lures around though it didn't really make for pleasant fishing. Two of the kids were the first ones to hook barracuda which I helped them land, unhook and dispatch as they wanted to keep them. Just when things started to go quiet though I hooked into one and it put up quite a scrap on my ultra light gear. Seeing me hook one though the kids all crowded around me and while Lee was trying to get passed them with the net the fish thrashed one final time and threw my lure. To be honest I was ever so slightly annoyed but it was a good fight and I would have put the fish back anyway so I wasn't overly fussed. Rather tired and slightly hungry Lee and I decided to head back to the hotel. Before we left though, we asked the kids if they'd be there again the following evening. They told us they would be and that kind of made our minds up to fish elsewhere on the last day of our holiday. The kids were OK but we just wanted to enjoy our last day on our own in peace and quiet. Before we left though I took a photo of a drawing the kids had no doubt scrawled in marker pen on the wooden pontoon.

Yeah, you got the better of both of us. For now.

Back at the hotel we indulged ourselves in the bar to celebrate the day's rather excellent fishing. Over a late breakfast the following day Lee and I were feeling a little rough as we reflected on how the holiday had went. We had caught some nice fish and had seen a lot of the beautiful island but there was still one spot we really wanted to visit. Calas Coves is a picturesque bay on the south coast of the island that has tombs carved into the sides of the cliffs. To be honest we knew the previous day wouldn't be beaten so we just wanted to wind down a bit and not take the fishing too seriously. Arriving at the end of the road, we made the half a mile walk down and were soon at the water's edge. Climbing over the rocks we found a nice spot to fish from.

Dos pescadores. Dos amigos.

A stunning spot to fish and really catching anything was a bonus.

The fishing as expected wasn't epic but it was enjoyable none the less. A steady succession of rainbow wrasse making up the bulk of the catch. By the afternoon it was very hot though so Lee and I put down our rods and went for a cooling swim. It was a stunning place to do so and when we got out and started fishing again I caught a tiny dusky grouper.

Micro dusky grouper. Perfectly formed miniature fish. How cute is that!

A few garfish then arrived that we had fun trying to catch but despite getting several bites we just couldn't make them stick. We were both now pretty thirsty so we headed back to the car and drove to a nearby village to get a much needed couple of cold drinks in a bar before heading to Es Castell which is situated to the east of Mahon. We found a spot to fish there but yet again the fishing was pretty dire. I spent half an hour or so trying to locate some blennies or gobies and after covering a fair amount of ground finally got lucky.

I'm pretty sure this little chap is just a lightly coloured black goby.

We then decided to head along to Mahon to fish in Cala Figuera and then move around to El Funduco at dusk for one final go at barracuda. Whilst Lee was happily catching common pandora and Mediterranean horse mackerel, both of which were new species for him, I spent most of my time trying to tempt the resident blennies out of their hiding places. My persistence paid off when I spotted a couple of rusty blennies swimming along the harbour wall and caught one of them.

I couldn't leave Menorca without catching a blenny now could I?

Moving round to the barracuda spot we caught a few more fish while we waited for light to fade. When it did though, the barracuda failed to show up, so we fished close to the bottom again. Something big took my lure at one point and snapped me off in rapid fashion. That's the risk you take when fishing so light though and we speculated what it might have been but I'll never know. We both fished away and had a few seabream and combers before day turned to night and we decided to pack up for the last time. I did have one final last cast though and was glad I did because I caught a small fish I didn't recognise, adding a second new species to my tally in the process.

Another common comber for Lee.

A new species but I didn't know which. A bit of research once back in the hotel bar would reveal it to be an axillary seabream.

Well back at the hotel we hit the bar again to celebrate the end of a wonderful week's holiday. When you're all inclusive you've got to make the most of it! Another adventure had come to an end. At times the fishing was great, at times it was tough. There were highs and there were lows. At the end of the day I caught a load of fish and had fun doing so which is what it's all about really. Here's a summary of everything I caught, new species are in bold.

1. Annular Seabream x 8
2. Atlantic Lizardfish x 30
3. Axillary Seabream x 1
4. Black Goby x 1
5. Black Scorpionfish x 3
6. Black Seabream x 1
7. Bogue x 1
8. Cardinalfish x 2
9. Common Comber x 3
10. Common Pandora x 7
11. Common Two Banded Seabream x 36
12. Damselfish x 2
13. Dusky Grouper x 2
14. East Atlantic Peacock Wrasse x 5
15. Five Spotted Wrasse x 2
16. Greater Amberjack x 1
17. Lesser Weever x 1
18. Mediterranean Horse Mackerel x 3
19. Ornate Wrasse x 10
20. Painted Comber x 30
21. Rainbow Wrasse x 52
22. Red Porgy x 1
23. Rusty Blenny x 1
24. Saddled Seabream x 11
25. Striped Red Mullet x 1
26. White Seabream x 6

I didn't achieve my species hunting goals for the trip of thirty species including ten new ones, finishing up on twenty six including two new ones but to be honest I only set these targets as a bit of fun. Most important of all was that Lee and I had a great time and we already have a trip to Madeira booked for early next year for more species hunting fun in the sun. Something to look forward to over the coming winter months!

Tight lines, Scott.