A silver thread in a ribbon of green.

Keen to catch a few more freshwater species, I popped out in the evening earlier this month to target a couple on the Water of Leith. The river which runs all the way through Edinburgh, used to be badly polluted, but these days it’s in much better condition. Such is the transformation, it’s been described as “a silver thread in a ribbon of green”. Most anglers who fish the river target brown trout, but more often than not, when I visit, it’s to target some of the venues smaller inhabitants. With exactly this in mind, I'd arranged to meet up with my mate Ryan to help him catch his first bullhead, but arriving early, I decided to see if I could catch a few minnow before it got dark. The water level was very low, and I didn't get many bites, but eventually I caught my target species from a deeper area at the water’s edge.

The humble minnow. Another species added to this year's tally.

As light faded, I headed downstream to meet up with Ryan at my favourite bullhead spot. Once it got dark, they began to appear from underneath rocks, their daytime hiding spots, and dropping a single maggot down in front of their faces, we were soon catching a few of them.

The bullhead is present in large numbers in the Water of Leith. 

Catching them isn't exactly difficult, so I usually try to hunt for larger specimens. Shining my headtorch around, searching for a monster, I spotted a small common eel poking its head out from underneath a boulder. Dropping my bait in its vicinity had the desired result, but the slippery fish quickly swam backwards into its hole. I didn't think I'd be able to successfully extract it, but to my surprise, a bit of gentle pressure did the trick.

The smallest common eel I've ever caught.

As the eel quickly destroyed my running ledger, tying it in knots, and we'd caught plenty of bullhead, we called an end to what had been a very productive evening after I unhooked the slippery rig wrecker and returning it to the river.

Tight lines, Scott.

A spot of maggot drowning.

I popped down to East Lothian earlier this month for a short session at the lifeboat station at Torness Power Station. It had been quite windy for a while and the sea was fairly coloured up as a result. I had almost a full pint of maggots left over from my stickleback hunting a few days earlier, so decided to fish with those. They’re a fantastic bait for targeting mini species, believe it or not! Three hours only produced a few nibbles, and apart from a few velvet swimmer crab, one fish was my only reward for being persistent. 

My first leopard spotted goby of the year. Caught on double maggot!

On the way back up the A1, I visited the Biel Water, to see if I could catch a minnow. The river was down to its bare bones. Hardly surprising, given how little we’ve had, but I was still shocked by how incredibly low the water level was and struggled to locate any of my preferred target. Slowly approaching a deep pool, I spotted a few small brown trout, so I got as low as I could and crept closer to the bank, hiding as best I could behind some long grass. There were three small trout moving around and also a single larger specimen, about twice the size of the others.  Flicking a single maggot upstream, the bigger fish immediately surged forwards and took it. After a short scrap, I landed my second spotty species of the day. 

A nice looking little brown trout, also my first of the year. 

All the commotion it made spooked the other trout in the pool and they quickly shot off upstream. I spent a little longer trying to locate some minnow, but didn’t manage to find any sadly. I still had plenty of maggots left though, and decided to visit the Water of Leith a couple of days later to try and catch some there as well as perhaps some bullhead.  

Tight lines, Scott.

Behind blue eyes.

Having stocked up on tanago hooks fairly recently, and also treated myself to a cheap and cheerful tanago rod, I visited the Water of Leith and Inverleith Pond last week to catch a few fish on it. I already own a six foot tanago rod, which I find is sometimes a little too long, especially when you want to target tiny fish in really close, so my new four foot rod was definitely a much-needed addition to my collection of fishing rods. Besides, at the bargain price of six pounds, I just couldn't resist!

There's just something about pink fishing tackle, right?

I usually dangle tiny chunks of maggot under a tiny Chianti pole float, but decided to give an actual tanago float a go. I bought some of them when I was in Japan a few years ago, and don't recall ever using them, which is borderline criminal, when I think about it. They're designed with minuscule fish in mind, tiny and brightly coloured, but sadly I didn't have a pink one that would have completed my look for the day.

Bright orange would have to do.

At both venues, it didn't take too long for the tanago float to register some interest, although rather than pulling the float under, the little spiky culprits just towed it sidewards. At the first sign of these lateral movements, I gently lifted my rod and caught a few three spined stickleback. In amongst them were some males in breeding colouration.

Eyes like little sapphires. Stunning.

A little bit of micro fishing on a sunny day. Good fun, and actually quite therapeutic. Stickleback are under appreciated if you ask me. They’re pretty cool little fish. Having given the tanago float a go, I think I prefer a Chianti pole float, they seem to give better bite indication in my opinion. I’m quite happy with my colourful little tanago rod, but I’d like to catch a few slightly bigger fish on it. Perhaps I’ll visit the Union Canal and target some of the roach in there.

Tight lines, Scott.

All the right fish in all the right places.

Species hunting is fairly straight forward, once you know where to go hunting. Over the years, I’ve built up a good knowledge of places where certain species can reliably be caught at certain times of the year. Sometimes however, I’ll be fishing a venue that I thought I was very familiar with and be pleasantly surprised when I catch something I’ve never caught there before. This happened to me on Tuesday. Fishing at Newhaven Harbour in Edinburgh, I caught a sand goby, a species I’ve never caught there before. 

My first ever sand goby at Newhaven Harbour.

Two days later, I was fishing at the inlet area at Torness Power Station. It was very windy and things were very slow. When I finally caught a fish, it was yet another goldsinny wrasse, so I decided to go catch something else. Heading around to the outflow area, I spent thirty minutes there sight fishing for common goby from a large rockpool. There were lots of them present, and using tanago hooks baited with tiny pieces of ragworm, I soon caught a few and popped them in my photo tank. I also caught a small common blenny and popped it in the tank too, using the white push plate as a divider to keep the two species separate.

Common by name…

…common by nature.

On my way back, I took a detour and decided to try to catch a lesser weever. The eastern end of Belhaven Bay produces this small venomous fish at the end of the summer, so I headed there. Fishing a scaled down three hook flapper rig, with 4lb short snoods, small sections of ragworm baited onto #12 hooks and using a 14g lead, I cast out just past where the waves were breaking. Holding my ultra light rod in hand, I slowly wound in my rig along the sandy bottom. After a few casts, I felt a rattle and after a brief pause, wound in a small flounder. 

There must be thousands of these along the length of the beach, feeding in just a few inches of water. 

With an easterly wind blowing, it was pretty cold, but I persevered, catching two more tiny flounder before a fourth bite produced what I was after, a lesser weever. Happy enough, and not wishing to further increase my chances of being stung, I carefully unhooked and returned it, called it a day and headed home having added another species to my 2024 tally.

The lesser weever, a nice looking little fish that lives in the sand. It has a nasty sting that causes a great deal of pain should its black dorsal fin or gill plate spines puncture your skin. 

The beach is popular with people who enjoy watersports including this large group of children who were learning to surf. No doubt barefoot!  I’m surprised more people don’t step on buried weever if I’m honest. I guess when they detect nearby movement, they simply wiggle up from where they’re hiding and swim away to safety.

On Thursday afternoon, I headed to fish in a drainage pond about an hour from Edinburgh. My mate Chris caught a lovely rudd there recently and was kind enough to share the location with me. He caught it on a dry fly, but I decided to fish a maggot under a puddle chucker float. It was a cold windy day, but thankfully the small body of water was low down in a depression, so I was slightly sheltered as I stood there fishing. Feeding a small amount of maggots fairly often, and casting my float repeatedly to try and induce a take “on the drop”, I missed a few very subtle knocks but after a few hours I’d had no luck catching my target for the day. A solitary small perch being the only thing preventing a blank. A reminder that just because you know where a species can be caught, doesn’t always mean you’ll catch it! 

The blank saver. 

Summer is gone. Autumn is here. Winter will follow. A slightly depressing thought. As the temperature continues to drop, the fishing is going to get more difficult. Opportunities to get out will no doubt start to thin out too as conditions deteriorate. Anyway, on a much more positive note, the weather on Malta looks great over the next week or so, and I’m flying out there early tomorrow morning. I can’t wait for some species hunting fun in the sun! I’m also going on a three week trip to Singapore, Cambodia and Thailand in November, so I’ve still got plenty of species hunting to look forward to. 

Tight lines, Scott.

In the mood for micros.

I’ve been out enjoying a few short freshwater micro fishing sessions over the last few days. I just got the urge to go out and do it, I’m not sure why. Maybe I’ve been fishing in saltwater too much lately! Anyway, fishing locally, it’s been good fun and a relaxing way to spend an hour. The first target species was the humble minnow. I caught a few of them from the Water of Leith, fishing small chunks of maggot on a tanago hook under a pole float.

 Minnow are one of my favourite UK freshwater mini species. 

A few days later, I visited Inverleith Pond. As far as I’m aware, there is only one species of fish present in this small, semicircular body of water in Inverleith Park. I’m not sure if fishing is even permitted, but there are no signs saying it’s not, so until I’m told otherwise I’ll continue to visit it once every few years when I get the urge to! Again, a tiny piece of maggot was fished under a pole float to try and tempt some of the pond’s three spined stickleback. Plenty of interest was registered on my tiny float, but I struggled to connect with most of the bites. I guess the average size was pretty minuscule!

I only managed to catch five three spined stickleback. Still, it was an enjoyable little session. 

After dark the same day, I popped out again. This time armed with my headtorch to go hunt some bullhead in the rocky shallows of the Water of Leith. Catching them is ridiculously easy. Just scan your headtorch over the gaps in the rocks until you spot one on the bottom, and slowly lower a maggot down in front of their face. No need to chop a small piece of maggot off, they have relatively large mouths for a small fish! A little patience is required, because their response isn’t always instantaneous, sometimes they sit motionless ignoring the wriggling bait for a short time. Eventually though, they give in to temptation and lurch forward, greedily guzzling it down. 

Experts at hiding during the day. After dark, no so clever. 

So, micro fishing has added another three species to this year’s tally. I don’t really have a species target in mind for this year. My focus has instead been shifted towards trying to catch new species. This doesn’t mean I don’t still enjoy catching much more familiar species, even the small ones!

Tight lines, Scott.

Windy, with a chance of topknot and lumpsucker!

I continued my hunt for a new Scottish species this week, but the weather was pretty grim, so I didn't fancy my chances, but went out a couple of times anyway! On Monday evening, I spent an hour or so exploring some rockpools at the western end of Portobello Beach after work. The area didn’t seem to hold many fish, but eventually I caught a small fish from a small sandy patch on the bottom of a larger pool. 

This common goby would turn out to be the only fish of the session. It had some nice markings on it, probably due to breeding.

On Tuesday in work I was told that a lumpsucker and a topknot had been caught from the Clyde from a couple of spots I'm familair with around Greenock, so I headed there on Wednesday to see if I could get lucky and catch one myself. The weather forecast wasn't great and sadly when I arrived it was accurate. It was dry most of the day which was something, but it was very windy and that made things difficult. The water was also coloured up slightly and there was a fair amount of suspended weed. Fishing two rods with my hooks baited up with small pieces of ragworm, raw prawn and black lug, I caught plenty of fish but only two species. All I caught were goldsinny and corkwing wrasse and nothing else!

One of the dozens of goldsinny wrasse I caught.

Easily the most colourful corkwing wrasse of the session.

Despite not catching anything rare or unusual, it was still an enjoyable session and productive too. Having surveyed the area I was fishing at low tide once the rocks were exposed, I have a fair idea which spots to focus my efforts on when I next return. Hopefully I’ll get a a few sessions in before the mackerel arrive! I might try fishing small live prawns when I do. The topknot in particular might find those irresistible, if the multitudes of wrasse don't munch them first!

Tight lines, Scott.

Name that fish!

Being a bit of a geek, I pride myself on my knowledge of fish. From time to time, I get asked to identify fish by fellow anglers who catch species they might not be familiar with. Last weekend, I was sent some pictures of a tiny clingfish by my mate Andrew. “Is this just a juvenile Connemara clingfish?”, he asked. I didn't think it was, but after looking at more of his photos of the fish in question, photos of the clingfish I have caught myself in the past, and quickly consulting some books I own to jog my memory of the clingfish species found in the UK, I was certain it was not.

The tiny fish in question. Those black marks are millimetres apart!

The fish’s dorsal and anal fins were too small and were also separate from the tail fin for it to be a Connemara clingfish. The Connemarra clingfish has much bigger dorsal and anal fins that reach the tail fin but aren't connected to it. Both the shore clingfish and the Cornish sucker, now recognised as two distinct species, also have much larger dorsal and anal fins which are connected to the tail fin. By elimination, it could only be one of the two remaining UK cling fish species, the two-spotted clingfish or the small-headed clingfish. Colouration varies greatly, so their teeth require examination, as this is the only key identifying feature that can be relied upon to distinguish between the two. Both possess small, rounded incisors at the front of their jaws. The small-headed clingfish also has one to three large canine teeth on each side of their mouth, whilst two-spotted cling fish have none. Obviously Andrew had not checked his fish’s teeth, so we cannot be certain of its identity one hundred percent, but after showing his photo to others who have encountered both these small clingfish, the consensus seems to be that it is a small-headed clingfish.

Either way, I was very excited by his capture, and we hastily arranged to meet up midweek to see if we could catch another one. On Wednesday, I drove through to Greenock, and we met up at East India Dock to fish there for a couple of hours while we waited for the tide to go out so we could visit his clingfish mark. Predictably, the resident goldsinny wrasse were soon munching my slightly unorthodox choice of hookbait.

Double maggot! Normally used for freshwater fishing, they’re a perfect little wriggly snack for small saltwater species too!

After catching lots of wrasse, it was soon time to head off to hunt for clingfish. After a short drive and parking the car, walking a short distance and scrambling down some rocks, we were soon fishing in the area where he’d caught the clingfish a few days earlier. Things were a little slow, but eventually we both caught some corkwing wrasse and a few painted goby.

Painted goby, a new species for Andrew.

After a while, Andrew switched to dropping his rig down into gaps in the boulders we were standing on. He was hoping to catch a large short spined sea scorpion he’d hooked and lost a few days earlier. He didn’t get one, but was rewarded with a nice tompot blenny instead.

Andrew’s first tompot blenny of 2024.

After a couple of hours, I had tried a few different baits on my tiny hook, but hadn’t caught the clingfish I was after. Eventually, the tide forced us to leave the mark, so we spent an hour fishing under a nearby pier. As well as catching a few more painted goby, I caught what I was confident was a common goby.

A lateral line scale count was later carried out to confirm this was indeed a common goby.

By midafternoon, Andrew had already stayed a couple of hours longer than he had originally planned, or should I say, been given permission for. That’s married life and being the father of a newborn baby for you I suppose!

On my own for the rest of the day, I headed back to East India Dock, where I fished for a few more hours. All I caught were a few goldsinny wrasse, with only a solitary long spined sea scorpion taking an interest in my squid tentacles.

I love long spined sea scorpion.

They're such charismatic little fish!

Feeling a bit hungry by this point, I headed off to get some food and to check into my accommodation for the night. I was planning on revisiting the cling fish spot again the following day. It was at this point I noticed I was a little bit sunburnt. Oops. Overcast or not, that's what will happen if you go fishing without a hat and don't put any SPF on! Despite this, I decided to head out for another hour's fishing near where I was staying. I quickly got setup again on some benches with some fishy mosaics embedded in them.

The mackerel are in!

After fishing next to the benches for a while and catching nothing, I walked a hundred meters or so along the promenade and fished near some rocks. This proved to be a good decision, as after a chunky corkwing, I caught a pollock and a codling that took my squid strip and put a good bend in my ultra light rod.

A nice pollock.

Followed up a few casts later by this nice codling.

I returned to my accommodation and had a reasonably early night. I didn’t sleep too well though, due mainly to my pulsating head, and in the morning I decided to have a lie in. Once up, I checked out of the hotel and went to a supermarket to grab some food, a hat, and a bag of raw prawns to use as bait. I’d tossed the remainder of my squid into the sea the previous evening, as it didn’t smell too great, but I had some maggots left to use as well.

I headed to East India Dock whilst the tide dropped. Once there I set up a three hook flapper rig with #18 hooks and cast them out as far as I could as I was hoping to catch a dragonet. I hadn’t been fishing long when Andrew drove along from the end of the breakwater, he had been out “walking his dog”, who was in the back of his car. He told me he’d had a short session on the inside of the pier, and he had lost a nice ballan wrasse in the rocks there.

I fished away, but things were pretty slow. The wind had also picked up, so I decided to just stay put for the rest of the day. Eventually I caught a sand goby, a few dabs and a black goby at distance on tiny pieces of prawn.

My setup was so sensitive that I saw this sand goby’s bite.

I caught quite a lot of these small dab.

My little tank is great for seeing all the features of small fish like this black goby.

In the afternoon, the wind dropped off and the clouds parted. By early evening, it was a beautiful day. Slathered in SPF 50, I hid in the shade of my car’s open boot and turned my attention to dropping maggot into the rocks directly in front of me. This had predictable results and I caught quite a few wrasse. Mainly goldsinny, but I did also catch a couple of corkwing and a solitary rock cook.

A lovely calm sunny evening.

Fishing in close produced this colourful male corkwing wrasse

I love catching rock cook wrasse. They’re so cute with their tiny little lips.

After a while, I switched back to fishing at distance, but the current had dropped off and so did the bites. After over an hour with no fish showing any interest in my baits, I packed up and made the drive home. Before I left I had a brief chat with another angler who told me that some topknot had been caught recently from down in the rocks at East India Dock. Greenock, and the surrounding area, really is a bit of a species hotspot. No doubt I’ll be back there again soon to hunt for topknot and tiny clingfish.

Tight lines, Scott.

Sunny, windy, overcast, rain and hailstone showers, with a chance of barbel.

You've got to love Scottish weather. I think someone once said “If you don't like Scottish weather, wait thirty minutes, and it is likely to change.”. Well that’s pretty much what happened recently when I visited Parkview Coarse Fishery for another attempt at catching my first Scottish barbel. 

The weather didn't know what it was doing. I wish I had taken a few more photos of this view to illustrate!

Fishing two rods to maximize my chances, maggot under an insert waggler on one, and a dendrobaena worm on a running ledger on the other, I soon caught a few roach, tiny perch and a single ide.

My first UK species of 2024 was a roach.

These little perch are plentiful, and a pain in the backside, truth be told.

This small ide would turn out to be the only one of the session. 

After a lull in the action, I caught a nice little tench. By that point all the fish had been caught on my float rod, but when something finally took an interest in my ledgered worm and pulled the tip of my feeder rod round, I lifted the rod quickly and set the hook. Winding the fish in, I got a very pleasant surprise when a very small barbel appeared. I quickly drew it over my net. Success!

I love tench. Such a lovely looking fish.

Can't really say the same of the barbel. It's not much of a looker really, is it? Anyway, I was happy to have added another species to my lifetime Scottish tally.

After a brief hailstone shower, things went very quiet. In amongst the occasional roach and perch, I caught a nice little golden tench. 

It's been a while since I caught one of these colourful chaps from a Scottish venue. Even nicer looking than the standard colouration if you ask me.

Well, that's another nemesis defeated. It took me long enough, and I’ve lost count how many attempts it took. I think I'll be targeting Siberian sturgeon at Drumtassie Coarse Fishery over the summer. Before that though, I’d be making a road trip down to England to target some unusual freshwater species that I haven't caught before.

Tight lines, Scott.

Winter woes.

Well, the weather over the past couple of months has pretty much brought my species hunting for the year to a shuddering halt. I have made a couple of attempts at catching grayling on the River Clyde, but sadly I blanked on both occasions. Despite trying various stretches of the water, I just couldn't locate a shoal of fish. In addition, I have visited Drumtassie Coarse Fishery for a couple of sessions, hoping to pick up either my first Scottish barbel or my first every sturgeon. The fishing there was also very hard going. One solitary roach was all I caught on my first outing! I did slightly better during my second trip, catching a few small carp and a perch using both float ledger and method feeder tactics.

One of three common carp I caught. Not the fish I was hoping would munch my maggots and dendrobaena worms!

In amongst the common carp I also caught this little mirror carp. 

I'm not sure if I'm going to manage to add any more species to this years tally given yet another storm system is on its way. I might have another go at catching a grayling if the weather allows it, and I did also fancy a trip down south to target zander. I’m not sure if I’ll manage to squeeze that in before the end of 2023 if I'm honest. We shall see.

Tight lines, Scott.

Making good progress.

I popped out last night for a couple of hours to try and catch a minnow and a bullhead from the Water of Leith. Lillian came along to keep me company, get some fresh air and ended up taking a few photos for me as I accidentally left my phone in the flat. The session got off to a good start. Ledgering small maggots on a size 18 hook tied to a 2lb hook length at the first spot in the hope of catching a minnow, my first cast instead produced a small brown trout.

A very welcome bonus capture.

Things were slow after that, with my rod tip only twitching a few times ever so slightly. Possibly small fish having a go, but I suspect it may have been debris heading downstream bumping into my line, as none of the knocks developed into repeated rod tip movement. Once it got dark, I got my head torch out and began scanning the bottom close in for bullheads. They hide under rocks during the day, but once the sun goes down they come out into the open and are easy to spot despite their relatively good camouflage. The light reflecting from their eyes giving their position away. In the Water of Leith, as I’ve discovered over the last few years, there are lots of them. I saw dozens in the one small section I searched.

Sitting motionless on the bottom, even the full beam of my head torch doesn't spook them!

Catching them is very simple. You just have to lower a maggot in front of their faces and they usually eagerly snaffle it in one go!

There were plenty of small bullhead around, but I selectively targeted the bigger ones.

This was the biggest one I caught.

They are pretty greedy, aggressive little fish when presented with a wriggling maggot.

Just before we left, I spotted a fish that looked a little different. Suspecting it was perhaps a stone loach, I set about catching it. The fish wasn't too interested in my bait, but after a bit of persistence it eventually ate it. It turned out to be a minnow.

Resting in the shallow water, this minnow exhibited colours and tubercles on its head associated with spawning.

So, an enjoyable little session, and I’d successfully caught the two species I was after during it. Species caught whilst I'm on holiday this year will no doubt make up the majority of my 2023 tally, but if I’m to reach my goal of two hundred I’ll have to keep adding UK ones fairly regularly too. I’ve caught twenty eight here so far and think seventy is probably where I should be aiming for in UK species, so a third of the way into 2023 I’m probably on target to achieve that.

Tight lines, Scott.