Species hunting advetures on Sardinia: Part 2.

For our third evening session fishing around Isola Rossa's marina, I turned my attention, initially, to fishing for small species straight down the inner wall of the breakwater. This produced a few damselfish and some small annular seabream. After a while, I caught a mystery blenny.

The mystery blenny is very similar to the ringneck blenny. Examining the cirri is the easiest way to tell them apart. Luckily, I had a new photo tank with me, which makes this task much easier!

As the sun was about to fade, I tied on a heavier leader and clipped on a small lipless sinking pencil lure. Lee was already targeting barracuda, so I joined him and did likewise near the end of the breakwater. The rocks there seemed like a perfect ambush point, and there were plenty of tiny baitfish around, so our hopes were high. Giving the lure a good jerk and then pausing briefly before winding up the slack line and repeating was my chosen approach, and much to my delight, it only took about half a dozen casts to tempt the target species. After a short scrap, a small barracuda was successfully landed.

This small European barracuda was great fun on my ultralight setup!

Seeing me get one, Lee was even more determined to catch one too, so he carried on trying. Having ticked it off, I decided to switch my attention back to fishing straight down the harbour walls again, hoping to catch some nocturnal species like cardinalfish or black scorpionfish. Once it got dark, I shone my headtorch over towards Lee to see his rod was bent over. He'd hooked a barracuda, on a Halco twisty of all things, so I went along to help him land it and take a photo for him.

Target acquired. Another nice fish for Lee.

Us both catching a barracuda felt well deserved given the difficult time we'd had over the first few days of the trip. Fairly pleased about how the session had gone, we headed back to the apartment. 

In the morning we drove up to Santa Teresa Gallura, where we fished around the headland where the Torre di Longonsaro is located. The views up and down the from around the tower of the coastline were spectacular.

The impressive Torre di Longonsardo lookout tower is over five hundred years old.

The beach to the west of the tower looked amazing, but we weren’t there to swim. 

Following the path around the headland, we tried fishing at a couple of spots. The ground was fairly shallow and very rocky, so it didn’t come as a great surprise when all we caught was a few wrasse. 

A nice example of a male Mediterrranean rainbow wrasse. 

After a while, we decided to try another spot and headed back to the car. On the way up from the rocks, we spotted a lizard sunbathing on a wall. Usually, they run off when you get too close, but this one happily posed for a few photos. 

This Tyrrhenian wall lizard wasn’t too bothered by me, or my iPhone. 

A short drive later, we arrived at a small pier in the middle of the town’s port. Again, it looked promising but for some reason there weren’t too many fish around.  Casting over towards a few rocks at the opposite side of the port, I did manage to catch a few small white seabream. 

Another species added to my tally. 

The following day, we returned to Castelsardo to have a wander around the town’s narrow streets and to climb the steep hill to explore the walled fortress at its top. 

The picturesque town of Castelsardo.

We had a casual stroll around its steep narrow streets. 

Before we left, we had a quick session fishing from some rocks to the east of the town. Tucked away in a bay out of the wind, it was fairly shallow rocky ground and didn’t look very promising. Yet again, the fishing was pretty slow and all we caught were a few juvenile Mediterranean rainbow wrasse and a couple of small white seabream. 

Our effort certainly couldn’t be faulted. 

The following day, we decided to head to the north east coast again. We visited a few potential fishing spots, but the strong wind either made them unfishable or fishing simply wasn’t allowed. In short, beautiful scenery aside, the morning had been a bit of a waste of time. In the end, we ended up revisiting the black goby infested area in Olbia again!

At least we were out of the wind, but would we catch anything other than black goby?!

Almost as soon as we began fishing, Lee hooked into a nice fish that definitely wasn't a black goby. It shot off under a nearby yacht, but he managed to get it away from the mooring ropes, and a nice salema soon came into view. Sadly, we'd left the net in the boot of the car, and it threw the hook on the surface. We were hopeful there would be more of them around, but all we caught at that spot after that was black goby. Moving to an area with some rocks at the water’s edge, I tied on a tanago hook and targeted some small silver fish. They turned out to be big scale sand smelt. 

A lateral line scale count was used to positively identify this species. 

Switching to a split shot rig and dropping my bait into gaps in the rocks, I caught a few more black goby. After a while, I eventually caught something slightly different in the shape of a rock goby. 

A third goby species added to my tally!

Working my way along the rocks, I spotted what I was confident was a peacock blenny. The second I put my rig in its vicinity however, it swam off under a large flat rock. Despite my best efforts, I could not tempt it out again, so I moved slowly along the rocks, speculatively putting my bait into likely looking holding spots. Eventually, this paid off when I caught a rather large peacock blenny from down behind a large rock.

Probably the biggest peacock blenny I’ve ever caught. 

On the way back to Isola Rossa, we stopped briefly at a park up in the mountains. In the park, a small river has been dammed to create a series of ponds. As well as ducks, geese and terrapins, the largest pond also contains a few carp and lots of goldfish. No one else was around, so…

Hundreds of goldfish swimming around waiting to be fed was an opportunity too good to miss. 

A piece of line, a split shot and a hook baited with a piece of bread, immediately produced a few  of the colourful fish. 

The following day, our last full day of the trip, it was very windy again. We were pretty much resigned to the fact that fishing in the sea was either going to be very challenging, pretty unproductive, or both! Regardless, we decided to visit a few places on the north coast. Our first stop was Costa Paradiso. Whilst having an espresso in the morning, a local spearfisherman had told Lee that the sea surrounding it contained more fish, so we went to check it out. 

Costa Paradiso. A stunning location, but a fair swell was crashing over the rocks, so we had a quick stroll and then headed further up the coast. 

Portobello di Gallura was our next stop. Another beautiful stretch of coastline.

It also had a small harbour. We decided to fish at the outside of its inner breakwater.

We gave it a go, but all we caught before throwing in the towel were a few juvenile wrasse and seabream.

After enjoying some lunch, we decided to get away from the coast. Opting to be a little bit naughty and visiting a freshwater venue again. This time we headed to a stretch of the Coghinas river, which has lots of hot springs. As a result, there were lots of people around enjoying the warm water, but we found a quiet spot downstream from them and quietly wet a line. 

The rivers of Sardinia contain several species. I was hoping to catch a Mediterranean trout, but spotting some pumpkinseed in the margin, I quickly caught some using a small piece of worm. 

Such a nice looking fish. I love catching pumpkinseed!

Lee quickly caught one too, his first ever, in fact. Shortly afterwards, he caught a couple of juvenile largemouth bass on soft plastics. I spent ten minutes trying to get one myself, but as we didn't have the required licences to fish in freshwater, we didn't want to push our luck and left. 

In the evening, we had one last session in Isola Rossa marina. Lee spent his time trying to catch another barracuda, whilst I focused on fishing down the side again. This produced a few damselfish, small seabream and an East Atlantic peacock wrasse before the sun set. After dark, the bites dried up until I caught a small dusky grouper.

My biggest East Atlantic peacock wrasse of the trip. 

This juvenile dusky grouper brought a smile to my face. Even the small ones are fiesty!

Our last day on Sardinia had arrived. As we had a few hours spare in the morning before our flight back to the UK, we had one last go fishing around Olbia. Revisiting the rocky areas, Lee quickly spotted a few small salema in amongst some other seabream in a corner. Dropping a small section of ragworm in amongst them, I managed to catch one fairly quickly.

This small salema was my last species of the trip, taking our joint tally to twenty five.

In amongst some rocks slightly further along from where I caught the salema, I spotted a small peacock blenny. It couldn't resist a piece of ragworm either!

Male peacock blenny have a rather impressive forehead!

We carried on walking along the boardwalk, ending up underneath in the shade of a road bridge crossing the estuary. There we found a shoal of annular seabream, and having used up my ragworm, I caught a few more on Gulp! Angleworm before it was time to head to the airport.

My last fish of the trip was an annular seabream.

My third trip in three months had come to an end. It was nice to go away on holiday with Lillian again, and it was nice for us both to catch up with Lee again. The wind had been blowing strongly most of the time, and the fishing had been hard going, but we still caught a few fish. Here's a summary of what I caught with my only new species of the trip in bold...

1. Annular Seabream
2. Big Scale Sand Smelt
3. Black Goby
4. Common Two Banded Seabream
5. Damselfish 
6. Dusky Grouper 
7. East Atlantic Peacock Wrasse
8. European Barracuda
9. Five Spotted Wrasse
10. Goldfish
11. Mediterranean Rainbow Wrasse
12. Mystery Blenny
13. Ornate Wrasse
14. Painted Comber
15. Peacock Blenny
16. Pumpkinseed
17. Red-Mouthed Goby
18. Rock Goby
19. Rusty Blenny 
20. Saddled Seabream
21. Salema
22. Sharpsnout Seabream 
23. White Seabream

Lee also caught...

24. Black Scorpionfish
25. Largemouth Bass 

Sardinia was a beautiful place, lush and green with wild flowers everywhere and some incredible breathtaking scenery. The fishing was very dissapointing though. Perhaps it would be better in less windy conditions or later in the year? Perhaps the fishing around Cagliari and the southern end of the island is better. Will I return to Sardinia at some point in the future to find out? You never know!

Tight lines, Scott.

Species hunting road trip: Northbound pit stop.

Driving back up to Scotland, I had some pinkies left to use up and decided to make another fishing “pit stop”. Whilst out on Flamer IV, Jack had told me about fishery when I mentioned I’d like to catch some pumpkinseed. The fishery he told me about is located in Berkshire, so it did require a bit of a detour, but I left Cornwall early enough to allow a three hour session there and still be back in Edinburgh at a reasonable time. Upon arrival, I spoke to the owner, got a small amount of tackle out of the car and picked a peg that was out of the wind. 

Amazingly, these pinkies had been in the boot of my car for a week and were still going strong!

Setting up an ultralight rod and a reel loaded with 2lb mainline and an insert waggler and a #20 hook at the business end, I was fishing in the margins in no time. It didn’t take too long before a few pinkies being fed into the swim attracted some roach. 

The first species to show interest in my fluoro pinkies. 

After catching about a dozen small roach and some small perch, a shoal of pumpkinseed arrived and after that I caught quite a few of the pretty little member of the sunfish family. Mission accomplished!

Pumpkinseed are so cool! I always think they’re like a freshwater wrasse!

After a while, my float went under and slowly slid away from me. Lifting into the fish, I immediately knew it was something bigger. After about ten minutes of putting the drag on my Legalis LT 2000 reel through its paces and pushing my 1.5lb hooklength to its limit, a nice common carp was on the surface and drawn over my net. 

It was bound to happen when I was fishing with such light tackle!

As you'd expect, all the commotion the carp had made had spooked the smaller fish from my swim, and I didn’t catch anything for a while. It was almost time to hit the road again when my float registered the return of some fish and after a couple more pumpkinseed I got a pleasant surprise when I hooked something slightly larger and a goldfish came to the surface. 

A nice bonus and the last fish of the trip. 

So, my adventure was over, at least the fishing anyway, and it had been both very enjoyable and productive too. I’d added seventeen species to my 2023 tally. In the order I caught them, and with new species in bold, here’s what they were …

1. Greater sandeel/Launce
   
2. Tub gurnard
3. Tompot blenny
4. Black seabream
5. Butterfly blenny
6. Starry smoothhound
7. Baillon’s wrasse
8. Gilthead seabream
9. Common goby
10. Shore clingfish/Cornish sucker
    
11. Lesser weever
12. Giant goby
13. Montagu’s blenny*
14. Atlantic horse mackerel/Scad
15. Blackspot seabream/Red seabream*
16. Pumpkinseed
17. Goldfish

*the first time I've caught this species in the UK.

I've already decided I want to head back down to the south coast next year. There are a few species I've never caught before that I'd like to target down there. I might see if some of my mates want to join me next time. It would be good to share out the driving!

Tight lines, Scott.

Species hunting adventures around Nessebar : Part 2.

After breakfast on the fourth day of our holiday we took a bus to Ravda, the next town down the coast, so we could take a leisurely stroll along the coast back to Nessebar. It was only a few miles away but walking on sand slows your pace and with the sun beating down we were in no rush so we made a few stops to hide in the shade and enjoy cold drinks. I had my fishing gear with me as well and took the opportunity to try and catch some fish at a few rocky breakwaters we passed, having a few casts at each while Lillian chilled out and read a book. The water was fairly shallow everywhere I tried though and casting out onto the fairly clean sand resulted in little action. Fishing closer in near the rocks predictably saw the usual suspects being caught, mainly five spotted and ocellated wrasse, but including a few grey wrasse as well, a welcome addition to my species tally.

The five spots on the dorsal fin that give this species its name aren't always that apparent but on this one they were. 

Usually the last two are much more well defined.

This ocellated wrasse had a particularly vivid colouration on its gill plate markings.

The grey wrasse has a very dark blue, almost black spot on the bottom of its tail root although again in some specimens it is more defined than others.

Lazily plodding along soon we arrived at an old rusty wreck and had a couple more cold drinks and a light and tasty shopska salad in a nearby beach side restaurant.

Beautiful Nessebar.

Carrying on as we almost reached the scaffolding pole pier a few clouds began to appear for the first time and before long the sky had turned almost completely grey. It actually looked like it might rain rather heavily at any moment. The forecast had said scattered thunder storms so no more fishing was done and we upped the pace a bit and headed back to the hotel although it never did actually rain. After dinner in the evening I popped out at night and fished around the inner most part of the main harbour. This saw me catching some bighead gobies on a small Z-Man paddletail rigged weedless on a cheburashka lead. Working it slowly close to the bottom saw me catch lots of rather big angry gobies.

Aptly named and you can't half feel when one bites. They have very strong jaws indeed which have quite a few little sharp teeth in them too.

On the way back to the hotel I bought Lillian a box of chocolates. Not because I'm a generous boyfriend though but because I wanted to use the clear plastic lid as a little makeshift observation tank the following day.

In the morning I got up early and headed back to the main harbour to try and catch some of the little blennies I had seen a couple of days previously but had been unable to catch. Picking a few small mussels off of the harbour wall and putting tiny chunks onto #26 hooks I was soon putting my little aquarium to great use and had caught another new species of blenny.

Another new blenny species in my little observation tank.

Pretty orange facial markings and fins but which species of blenny I was photographing was a mystery.

Rather excited I headed back to wake Lillian up to tell her the news and try and find out which blenny species I had caught. Rather ironically when I consulted my Fish of Britain and Europe pocket guide and did some Googling it turned out that my mystery blenny was actually a mystery blenny (parablennius incognitus).

That afternoon we then headed back over to the old town for another relaxing ramble around, this time looking for a few potential presents to take home for family and friends. In between browsing all manner of souvenirs we had a look at some of the old religious buildings dotted around the island.

Nessebar has several dozen of these very old churches on it.

Not really my thing but I can appreciate the beauty in their architecture.

After getting back to the hotel Lillian was feeling a bit worn out by all the souvenir hunting and wanted a nap so I headed to the north port again with my little plastic tank to get some more photos of tentacled blennies. They were most obliging again although catching the males proved more tricky. Reading up on them later I discovered that males live with a group of females.

A female tentacled blenny.

The females have a different structure to their tentacles.

A male tentacled blenny. These are larger than the females.

The male's tentacles are much more impressive.

Before heading back I also fished Angleworm on a drop shot rig and caught a few more round gobies and ocellated wrasse. I also tried some paddletails mounted on a weedless hook on a cheburashka lead which the bigmouth gobies quickly destroyed although I'm guessing that's what they were as they all avoided the hook.

Another round goby. Their black spot makes them very easy to identify.

Before and after. Whatever it was made light work of my paddletails.

On the second last day of our holiday Lillian and I went on a coach trip. This took us to the Balkan Mountains where we visited the small villiage of Zheravna, an architectural reserve of national importance.

Some of the village's old wooden houses are hundreds of years old.

Quaint little cobbled streets.

The village is still inhabited though but the villager's houses blend in quite well and don't spoil the feel of the place.

After a pleasant lunch in the village we boarded the coach and set off again. Our next stop on our tour was Blue Mountain which we would ascend on a chair lift. The chairs had probably seen better days and some in the group stayed at the bottom but Lillian and I took our chances.

Going up. Blue mountain looks a bit grey to me though?

The Balkan Mountains.

On our way back down to the bottom.

Don't look down, just point your camera.

All feet soon back on solid ground we were soon on the road again. On the way back the coach stopped one last time at a winery and we all enjoyed some lovely award winning wines before yet another couple of hours on the coach before being returned to our hotel. It had been a long day and whilst the stops had been good we had spent more time on the warm bus travelling to them and were both very tired as a result. We had planned on going down to a bar to relax with a few beers and watching the Champion's League Final but both of us feel asleep.

On the final day of the holiday I got up early to try and get the last three species I required to reach my goal of fifteen. I decided to fish from the rocks at the back of the main harbour breakwater. Fishing in the main harbour past the innermost part is not allowed and I was perhaps being a bit mischievous but security saw me walking through the harbour and fishing from the rocks several times and didn't say anything so I guess it was OK. The water was much deeper there but at close range the wrasse and gobies were once again the dominant species. Casting out further onto clean ground however did see me catch something else, over a dozen greater weever, which were a bit of a nightmare unhooking so after the first two I debarbed my hook to make it easier.

This five spotted wrasse had a bit of a chubby face.

It also had well defined forth and fifth spots on its dorsal fin.

A dark spot at the leading edge of the dorsal fin is another distinguishing feature of the grey wrasse. Like the one on the tail root it can be feint on some of them however.

Some of the markings on larger grey wrasse are almost floral in appearance, resembling lichen. They can also have blue markings under the eye too although in this one they are very subtle.

Greater weever are pretty fish. I love the electric blue markings on them. Handle them with extreme care but preferably don't touch them at all, shaking them off of the hook with forceps instead. The black dorsal fin and the spines at the top of their gill plates are venomous.

I fished away making my way right along to the end of the breakwater where the large boulders gave way to concrete blocks. Carefully I climbed over them only to find someone else was already fishing there.

I wasn't the only one fishing. I did wonder what exactly he was hoping to catch. Monster gobies probably!

Soon it was time to head back but on the way I popped into the tackle shop to ask about freshwater fishing and the owner kindly showed me on Google Maps a few places to try for perch, pike and zander. Later that morning after one final visit to the old town to buy presents and returning them to our hotel I grabbed my gear and Lillian and I had a slow walk along to Sunny Beach so I could fish the spots I had been shown. First stop was the River Hadjiyska that flows out into the Black Sea on Sunny Beach.  It was almost completely full of reeds and thick weed though and we struggled to find an open spot I could fish. Ambling along a path that followed the river inland we eventually located a bit of water I could try but no sooner had I cast out than something caught my eye slithering through the water to my left.

Snake! "The name's Plisken."

Deciding it probably wasn't wise to be fishing in a snake infested area we headed back towards Sunny Beach and crossing a bridge I spotted a narrow section of the river's edge that I could cast a lure up. On my first retrieve a small pike shot out from the reeds and attacked my lure. As they sometimes do though, it missed completely. It was a persistent fish though and four or five failed lunges later it managed to hit my lure properly and after being played out was carefully hoisted up.

The river was full of reeds so I was forced to fish in the margins. Not a bad thing really. Some anglers neglect them which I've learnt can be a big mistake where pike are concerned.

Pike aren't too smart. This jack had about six goes before finally hitting my lure and getting hooked. 

With one species left to catch we headed up to the lake I had been shown. I suspected there were probably perch in it so started dropshotting small lures around the reeds. This didn't attract any bites so I changed to a smaller hook and switched to a piece of Angleworm. Exploring a few different areas soon saw me getting a few taps almost right under my feet and finally I hooked a fish.

Fish on. I was expecting a small perch but got a colourful surprise instead.

Species number fifteen was a pumpkinseed. They are a lovely looking and most obliging little fish. Once I had caught a few more Lillian decreed that fishing was over for the trip which I thought was fair enough.

Packing up my gear for the last time we walked back to our hotel. On the way we passed this rather impressive memorial.

A reminder that sadly we'd be flying home soon. 

Our flight back the following day was an early one and we were being picked up from the hotel just after 04:00 so in the evening we packed our cases and then went out for another lovely yet incredibly cheap meal washed down with a final few Bulgarian beers and a couple of cocktails.

Another holiday coming to an end and another beer being enjoyed.

Another great holiday over I had probably done a little more fishing than I had originally intended but Lillian is very understanding. That's a bit of an understatement really as I do get away with murder on the fishing front although I think letting her eat the contents that come in my makeshift observation tanks goes some way to appeasing her and is perhaps the only reason she puts up with me.

Here's a summary of everything I caught, new species are in bold.

1. Bighead Goby x 19
2. Black Goby x 15
3. Five Spotted Wrasse x 23
4. Greater Weever x 14
5. Grey Wrasse x 24
6. Knout Goby x 1
7. Mystery Blenny x 7
8. Ocellated Wrasse x 47
9. Peacock Blenny x 2
10. Pike x 1
11. Pumpkinseed x 5
12. Red Mullet x 4
13. Round Goby x 39
14. Rusty Blenny x 18
15. Tentacled Blenny x 20

I had a lot of fun fishing with light game tackle all week and catching lots of mini species but unless gobies, small wrasse and blennies are your thing I'd perhaps be slightly reluctant to recommend the Black Sea resorts of Bulgaria as a fishing destination. Nessebar is a beautiful place however and for a cheap holiday in the sun I think it's hard to beat. I dare say I may return in the future.

Tight lines, Scott.