Rockpooling fun and rockling hunt continues.

Conditions looked good for another session targeting rockling tonight so I jumped on the train at lunchtime today and headed to Kinghorn in Fife. I thought I'd adopt a different approach today and instead of taking two beachcasters I opted instead to take my Nories Rockfish Bottom Light and fish small baits on a drop shot rig using a 15g lead to hold bottom. When I arrived instead of walking down the road to the mark I decided to head down to the beach below the train station and then amble my way along the coast doing a bit of exploring. There were plenty of rockpools to search but despite dangling a chunk of raw prawn in front of several likely looking hiding places there was a complete lack of any fish which was quite surprising. After about an hour or so I reached the rockling mark and whilst waiting for low water and the sun to set I carried on with my rockpool fun and finally found a rich seam of long spined sea scorpions in a small concentrated area.

Small but welcome. My first fish in a few weeks!

Very bright belly on it too with lots of white spots.

Out of one small hole between three large rocks I caught a few before deciding to switch to a chunk of bluey on my hook. Fishing a drop shot rig I was using a #8 VMC Spinshot drop shot hook for the first time. My palomar knots aren't the best and I find the hooks don't sit quite right and need constant re-arranging. I also find line twist can be a problem when drop shotting so I thought I'd give these a bash after spotting them in one of my mate Ross's catch reports recently. I must say first impressions are great. Hooks are strong and sharp and hook up occurred pretty much every bite first time and I think this is due to the extra freedom of movement these hooks allow.

This stubby faced fellow swallowed the hook.

VMC Spinshot drop shot hooks. I'll be ordering more.

The sea scorpions kept coming and I found another nice hiding place that produced a few more fish all in quick succession including a couple of specimens. By the time low water was approaching and I decided to turn my attention to rockling I had caught thirteen of them, all from the one relatively small area.

A specimen long spined sea scorpion.

All of them were dark brown today which is quite unusual. Normally you catch a few different shades even from the same spot.

So with the rockpool fun over I turned my attention to targeting rockling in the gullies as darkness fell and the tide turned and began to flood into them. After a couple of hours of working my baits over the sea bed close to some rocky features with lots of long pauses searching for fish I had once again failed to tempt any that may have been around. I spoke to a local angler who came down to fish the gully adjacent to mine and he informed me that he hadn't caught any rockling for a few weeks there despite catching them fairly regularly at the same spot at the end of last year. Oh well, I'm off to Angelsey next weekend and I'm assured that there are plenty of rockling to be caught there!

Tight lines, Scott.

If at first you don't succeed...

With rocklings and viviparous blennies on my mind I headed across the River Forth yesterday to Kinghorn in the Kingdom of Fife as I've read reports of them being caught there recently. I got there about 10:30, just before low water. This gave me an opportunity to have a look at the exposed features of the mark and also have a bit of ultra light fun in some of the nice looking rockpools I found.

Nice gullies that I suspected fish would feed in as the tide flooded into them later in the day.

I've learnt that a boulder filled pool like this is often full of surprises!

Dropping a section of Isome into likely looking spots it wasn't long before I caught my first fish, a tiny long spined sea scorpion that greedily scoffed my lure. Exploring the area further I soon caught a few more of them all fairly small. The fifth however was a fine specimen and had quite a large gut, much to my amusement.

Tiny but quite a nice golden brown colour.

Brown and pink this time.

Another small one.

The big brute! Hooked at the second attempt. They're very aggressive and usually have a second go if they don't get hooked first time round.

He was hiding in a small crack in about 6 inches of water.

Look at the size of that gut!

After popping into town for a bite to eat I returned to the mark and set up two bait rods. Electing to fish into one of the now submerged gullies I had seen earlier, three hook flappers with size 2 hooks baited up with black lug worm and tipped off with squid were soon out on the seabed and the waiting game began. Whilst watching my rod tips can be rather hypnotic, somewhat like watching a float waiting for it to go under, I had to divert my gaze a couple of times to admire the view of Edinburgh, Arthur's Seat, Salisbury Crags and the snow covered Pentland Hills behind them to the south and the sun beginning to dip beneath the horizon over towards the Forth Rail Bridge.

I can see my house from here!

A lovely sight.

As light faded I was hopeful of bites beginning to materialise as high tide approached. They did but were few and far between and not very positive. Just after high water a local angler arrived and we got talking. He told me I was in the right spot for my target species but that he found freshly dug blow lug or rag worm to be the best bait for them. I fished on for an hour or so but decided to call it a night at about 18:30.

Another nice photograph of my rod tips in a stationary position.

When I got home I looked at the weather forecast and decided to have another go the following day. So this morning I went out and spent three hours digging lug for another crack at the same spot tonight. Unfortunately the resident fish didn't appreciate my efforts and despite a few small bites again I failed to catch anything. Oh well, the little buggers have eluded me once again and I think next time I visit the mark I'll go on a smaller tide or maybe fish the tide as it floods. I think I'll also try smaller hooks and perhaps fish running ledgers to aid bite detection. Regardless I'l be trying and trying again until I catch my first rocklings and viviparous blenny!

Tight lines, Scott.