I love it when a plan comes together.

On Tuesday I headed down to Port Logan again to have another day out fishing with local skipper Spike along with two of my mates, Stewart and Mikey. It was a lovely day especially for mid October and I had two main targets in mind, red gurnard and ling, but with a few skate being caught down there this year Spike suggested it was worth trying for one over slack water. Before we targeted anything however we had to catch some fresh bait. This proved difficult but after a bit of perseverance we got a couple of dozen mackerel and headed out to the first mark. Whilst the lads relaxed and waited for runs I fished a second rod to see what else I could pick up. As I've already said I was hoping to pick up a red gurnard or a ling but really we weren't on a mark that produces them so I wasn't surprised when all I caught were whiting and dogfish. When Stewart wound in his big bait to change it for a fresh one he discovered a small bull huss had snaffled it. This was a new species for him and whilst he's still not entirely comfortable handling sharks there was no way he wasn't getting his photo taken with his first bull huss. 

Just a baby but it left Stewart wondering how strong a bigger one would be. 

After a while our bait supply began to dwindle so we headed inshore to find some more mackerel. This proved to be incredibly difficult at the first spot we tried so we moved to a second. This is where I got a big slice of luck. Working my unbaited mackerel feathers at different depths to try and locate the fish I hooked one close to the bottom and was pleasantly surprised to see a red gurnard come up which was rapidly swung into the boat. 

The difficult task of bait box replenishment had produced one of my two targets and Scottish saltwater species number fifty five.  

This bonus capture had me on a bit of a high especially as the fish had taken the dressed hook with no bait on it. After a while jigging away on the drift we eventually caught a few mackerel and anchored up at another mark to try for tope. Again I fished a second rod and after a few cod, dogfish and a haddock I caught a small ling, adding a second species to my 2015 Scottish saltwater tally.

Mission accomplished! 

Over the moon I carried on scratching around but we were all hopeful one of our tope baits would get picked up. After a while Mikey's rod started nodding but it looked like a dogfish bite to begin with. Allowing it to develop though the tip movements got a bit bigger and lifting his rod Mikey wound in to find a bit of weight on the end. A nice bull huss was soon on the surface at the side which I leaned over and lifted into the boat for him.

Mikey's first ever bull huss was a good size and as ever didn't want to cooperate while being photographed.

With no interest being shown towards our baits by tope we headed back nearer to port and anchored fairly close in over some rougher ground. Stewart float fished mackerel strips and sandeel for pollock whilst Mikey fished Sidewinder paddletails for them. I meanwhile added a weak link to a three up rig and fished the rocky bottom with mackerel strips. We all caught a few fish including a cracking pollock for Stewart that had his rod nicely bent and his drag doing some work. Mikey caught a few pollock too and I caught a few smaller pollock and some cuckoo wrasse including one beautifully marked male.

We didn't weight it but this pollock was a new personal best for Stewart. 

My nicest cuckoo wrasse. For most this would have been a lovely fish to end the day on but I couldn't resist trying something else just before we hit dry land again. 

On the way back in I clipped on a two down rig with Nordic bend hooks on it. Once we entered Port Logan I had a few casts to see if I could tempt a small turbot. Spike had told us earlier in the day that he had seen them swimming away on the clean sandy bottom whilst launching and retrieving his boat. I knew I was pushing my luck and as it turned out I had used it all up earlier in the day.  A turbot would have been the icing on the cake but adding two species to this year's tally had made the trip a massive success in my eyes anyway and seeing the lads getting their first bull huss was great too. The red gurnard and ling had left me with only four species remaining to catch to reach sixty in my Scottish saltwater species challenge. I think the boat fishing out of Port Logan might start to taper off now as winter sets in so the next time I visit the area I'll be shore fishing for conger eels and three bearded rockling. Something to keep me busy after dark over the coming months. I better dig out my thermals and stock up on headtorch batteries.

Tight lines, Scott.

South Coast and Channel Island Fishathon Part 2 : Cornwall.

Up early on Tuesday the 24th of June we were all excited about a days species hunting on "Bite Adventures" and after breakfast off we went. I took Ed in my car and we stopped off at a supermarket to grab some lunch. Ed purchased a few ingredients to make a "manwich" and proceeded to put it together in the car park. Incredibly masculine culinary masterpiece complete we were soon at Penzance Harbour, rejoined the rest of the lads and made our way along the breakwater where we were met by Chippy, skipper of "Bite Adventures", and his young deck hand, Will. Gear aboard, off we went and were soon fishing on the drift. As is often the norm on charter trips the first few drifts were spent catching some mackerel and on this occasion launce as well to use as bait for other species. That soon done we headed to another mark to fish on the drift over a clean sandy seabed. The main target here was greater weever, a species Ross was keen to catch having never had one before. Meagrim sole was another potential catch and was the one I was hoping to get. After switching from sets of feathers and sabiki to two down rigs we soon started catching a variety of fish. I caught a couple of cod and a few different flat fish were boated before the first two greater weever were caught.

As well as dab and plaice Ross managed a double shot of turbot.

Carl with a specimen greater weever.

A third greater weever was caught and the decision was taken to keep it to eat as we were informed by Chippy that they were very tasty. It was not caught by Ross though which obviously meant he was wound up by Chippy and the lads. He took it very well. I then caught a small tub gurnard.

I tried to get a photo of its colourful pectoral fins but the tub gurnard was having none of it and started trying to "crawl" around.

Early in the afternoon we headed out to deeper water to try for Haddock. Upon arrival Ed took a break and made a start to his "manwich".

Breakfast, lunch and dinner. To make one you will need...
An entire tiger loaf.
An entire packet of garlic & jalepeno cheese slices.
A entire tub of peri peri coleslaw.
An entire packet of peri peri chicken.
An entire bag of rocket.

It wasn't long before a few haddock were caught. I caught a pouting and male cuckoo wrasse as well which I quickly returned as the depth we were fishing in meant any time out of the water would reduce their chances of going back. I then caught a lovely red gurnard.

The first haddock of the day.

A fine looking fish.

Beautiful eyes too.

Then with fingers crossed we all took turns and drew our numbers for the blue shark runs the following day. I drew number five. We then moved to another spot for a few drifts to try for ling and Mark was into one first drop. The tide was picking up however and none of the rest of us managed to get one before we headed back inshore for a quick go for greater weever again and to fish for mackerel for the next days blue shark chum and baits.

Mark gets another species for his own 2014 tally.

Mackerel were hard to come by but a few were caught and I also had a few launce taking my trip tally to eighteen species but no more greater weever were caught before it was time to head back in.

We passed a full Minac Theatre on the way back to port.

Back at our accommodation a plan was hatched to go and fish for rays in the evening. Before that however we enjoyed a selection of the fish we had caught. Haddock, ling and greater weever fillets provided a tasty meal simply grilled, seasoned and a served with some lemon wedges. I have to say that Chippy was spot on regarding the greater weever, it was superb! Hunger satisfied, we headed to Church Cove and the whilst the lads went out onto the rocks to the left of the bay to fish for rays I decided to target mini species in the exposed rockpools. Using a split shot rig and a small piece of Gulp! Sandworm I caught a few blennies straight away and then a long spined sea scorpion, taking my trip tally to twenty.

Split shot rig put to good effect again.

For some strange reason I then suddenly realised I had forgotten to bring my passport down with me to use as ID to board my flight to Alderney. Not much I could do and remembering it was a domestic flight I thought my driving license would do which I was sure was in the car so I kept fishing making my way along the coast. Climbing up and down cliffs to access some spots I thought looked good I turned around and back across the bay I spotted the lads.

The lads fish from the point.

Reaching a nice looking bay I spotted a small group of bass but they quickly spotted me and swam off. Casting Gulp! Angleworm on a drop shot rig around I caught a small pollock but with light fading I thought it best to start making my way back to the car. Rather than scramble along the shoreline again I thought it would be better to try and climb up the cliff behind me as it looked like I could reach the coastal path up above fairly easily. I got so far up and then found my path blocked by rather dense and very spiky vegetation which I had a nightmare forcing my way through. With a few splinter in my hands and a few cuts on my legs I eventually made it to the coastal path and followed it back to the car park. Checking the car for my driving license I discovered it wasn't there. A quick call to Lillian and she confirmed it was in Edinburgh with my passport. The lads soon arrived back at the car park and told me the had blanked. Back at our accommodation I emailed Ben and Jo at Art of Fishing to see if I could have my driving license sent to their shop in Wadebridge and asked Lillian to send it via special delivery in the morning. ID problem hopefully sorted I headed off to bed looking forward to targeting blue sharks the next day.

When I got up in the morning I felt quite tired. I suffer from hay fever and whilst it's normally bearable my eyes were particularly irritable and it was difficult not to itch them which makes them ten times worse. I guess my scramble through the bushes had perhaps kicked up something that had gotten into them. Despite feeling a bit crap I was still very excited about the days' fishing and we got down the breakwater to find deck hand Will preparing some strong smelling chum. Off we went, stopping to catch some more mackerel for making additional chum later in the day and to use as bait. Heading offshore and then drifting, the chum sack went over the side and four mackerel flapper baits were put out under highly visible Mountain Dew Bottle floats.

I knew Mountain Dew bottles were a hideous fluorescent colour for a reason!

Whilst waiting for floats to go and reels to start clicking the mackerel fishing continued and after a while Mark caught a whiting close to the bottom so I dropped my rig all the way down and caught one too.

Another species added to my tally.

Mid morning the first blue shark took a bait and Carl was handed the rod. Unfortunately it wasn't on long before coming off. Next up shortly afterwards was Andy. After a brief scrap the first blue shark of the day was carefully brought aboard and unhooked by Chippy.

Andy's first blue shark.

At this point skipper Chippy noticed I was not feeling too good and asked my if I was OK. My eyes were pretty bad and I was having to sit and put a damp paper towel on them to ease the discomfort. I was also feeling a bit nauseous and while the rest of the lads fished for mackerel I gradually felt worse and eventually had to add my own chum to the sea. This made me feel a bit better and I did my bit again on the mackerel catching front. It was a while before we had any more runs but when they came in the afternoon there were two in fairly quick succession again. Craig was followed by Ed and both their blue sharks were successfully boated.

Second blue shark of the day for Craig.

Another "Manwich" gave Ed the energy to get the better of his blue shark.

The biggest one so far.

With a nice chum slick going a few of the lads caught some garfish so I decided to have a go. After briefly hooking one only for it to throw the hook I hooked a second one and boated it.

My first UK garfish.

It then went quiet again for an hour or so so I went and sat in the wheel house to eat some food and have a drink of water. Chippy came in and I asked him if he thought we'd get another run as I was next in turn and he said probably not as pretty soon it would be time to reel the baits in and head back to port. Heading back out onto the deck to get some more fresh air I leaned over the side and had resigned myself to not getting a crack at a blue shark but as Chippy and Will reeled in the baits a fish took one of them and my name was called out. Feeling ill was quickly forgotten as Chippy handed me the rod, I applied pressure and steadily started gaining line. Before I knew it the shark was at the back of the boat but then decided to go off on a couple of short runs. Once back on the surface it was expertly brought on board, unhooked and handed to me for the obligatory trophy shot before I gave it a kiss and it was put back.

Catching a new species is the best sea sickness medicine there is.

On the way back to Penzance Harbour we stopped briefly to try for red seabream. We had a few drifts over the mark but all that we caught were some poor cod. Mark hooked a fish that might have been a red seabream but it came off so we'll never know if it was or not.

This poor cod took my trip species tally to twenty three.

Soon back on dry land it was incredible how quickly I felt OK again, my appetite returned and after eating the remains of my lunch I felt pretty good, eyes excluded. Back at the accommodation the lads decided to have a night off and watch a world cup match. After lying down with a damp cloth over my eyes for a while I decided to pop out and try and catch the remaining two species I needed to reach my trip goal of twenty five. I was fairy confident that I could catch a lesser weever and maybe a flounder or other flatfish from St Ives harbour so that was my first stop. I grabbed some raw prawns from a supermarket on the way and after parking the car, walked down to the west pier, quickly set up a split shot rig and caught a lesser weever on my first cast slowly twitching it along the bottom.

The amount of these hiding in St Ives Harbour is quite extraordinary.

This was soon followed by a few more before I spotted a flounder. I tried to catch it but just couldn't get through the much faster, more aggressive weever though. Just to make things interesting I tied on a metal jig and caught some more before the tide went out too far and the water levels dropped away from around the pier. It was fun watching them appear from the sand and dart up and attack it. With just one species left to catch I decided to head south to the dry dock in Penzance Harbour. My target there was a black goby and after catching a small whiting and a small pollock it didn't take me too long to catch a couple. This meant I had reached my trip species target so rather pleased I headed back to our accommodation.

A fine male black goby.

The plan for the following day was to spend the morning targeting blue shark again to try and get Carl his first one. Ross and Mark had caught them before and generously agreed to let him have the first run again. In the afternoon more species hunting was on the cards. The weather forecast didn't look great however and with my driving license to collect, the memory of being ill still fresh in my mind and feeling quite tired I decided not to go out.

In the morning I got up and wished the lads tight lines and headed back to bed for a few hours before driving up to Wadebridge to collect my driving licence. The weather on the way there was quite horrendous with heavy rain battering down and I couldn't help wonder if the lads were experiencing similar downpours. After a quick stop in Padstow to buy myself a waterproof smock I arrived at the Art of Fishing shop just after lunchtime. After profusely thanking Jo for helping me get my ID and spending a few quid on some new braid and a few other bits and pieces I headed south to spend a few hours fishing on Mevagissey Breakwater. By the time I got there the weather had improved drastically and it was so hot in fact I had to take off my hoodie and smock.

Mevagissey Breakwater is a very popular spot with anglers.

Typical. Buy a waterproof smock and the sky turns blue.

The water was coloured up slightly and bites were few and far between straight down the harbour wall with only a solitary long spined sea scorpion being caught so I started casting out and this produced a few more fish.

Usually small wrasse species can be caught down the wall but only this long spined sea scorpion could be tempted.

This sand smelt became the latest species to be caught on drop shotted Gulp! Angleworm.

A few grumpy pollock were caught.

A plump little corkwing wrasse was the last fish of the session.

Making the drive back to Hayle I arrived back at the accommodation and was keen to hear how the lads had got on. It turned out the weather had not been that bad and Carl had caught his first blue shark, the biggest of the trip. Andy had caught a cracking cod too.

All good things to those who wait.

Andy would be haing cod for tea. For a few days.

No new species for Ross unfortunately but he didn't seem too disappointed despite a couple more greater weevers being caught by Carl. It had been a brilliant few days' fishing in Cornwall. It was great that the five of us who'd never caught blue sharks before all got one. It was nice to fish with Ed again and the rest of the lads for the first time too and I told them all they'd be most welcome up in Scotland if they ever fancy it. My species goal achieved I still had four new species to try and catch whilst over on Alderney with Ross. It would be a tall order but I was confident that I'd get something new.

Tight lines, Scott.

Click here to read the final part.

Three is a magic number.

Reviewing my list of potential target new species back in July I noted that I could catch a few from the waters around the Mull of Galloway so I booked the services of skipper Spike and his boat "Go West" for a trip in late August. I've been out with Spike before and I knew another day out with him would be a great way for me to enjoy a day boat fishing whilst getting the opportunity to target a few new species. When I made the booking the three species I thought I could realistically hope to catch for the first time were red gurnard, tub gurnard and tope. I caught a tope whilst over on Jersey since then so a bull huss was promoted into the top three of my new species hitlist for the day. Having gone ahead and booked the trip I had to try and get a few of my mates to come along! A text was sent out and my mates Nick and Naz replied saying they'd love to join me.

On Wednesday morning at 05:00 Nick picked Naz and I up and off the three of us went. Stopping in Stranraer on the way for breakfast I received a text from Spike to say we'd be fishing in Luce Bay due to the north westerly winds. Launching from Port Logan and fishing in the Irish Sea is probably better for species hunting but Spike reassured me we'd still be able to target a few different things and we soon arrived at Drummore where we'd be launching from. Spike was already there and after loading our gear onto the boat we were ready to launch.

A rather old and very rusty tractor is used to launch and retrieve the boats.

Soon fishing not far from shore, we made a few drifts to catch some mackerel to use as bait. A small box was soon full and we headed further out into the bay to target tope. Four baits were soon on the bottom and I was quite content to let Naz and Nick have any runs that happened on the two tope rods I had as neither of them had caught one before. I meanwhile fished a third rod with a two up rig to try and catch a few gurnards on mackerel baits. I opted to use #4 Sakuma Chinu hooks on the short 15cm snoods. I decided to try snelling these on to try and improve hook up rates. I soon caught a couple of dogfish and then Naz got a few knocks on his tope rod and caught his first bull huss. A good sign and when Nick caught one too I was confident that I would get one as well.

Naz's first bull huss.

A nice feisty bull huss for Nick too.

I then caught a double shot of grey gurnard, my first of the year. I handed them to Naz so I could get my camera and whilst I did that he put them both back. Just as well they weren't the red or tub variety! Luckily I caught a few more grey gurnard before it was my turn to catch a bull huss.

My third grey gurnard of 2013.

Busy catching gurnards, hoping that a red or tub would show up, I wasn't really paying attention to my other two rods and didn't spot one of them gently nodding away. As it was obviously not a tope Spike handed me the rod, the fish was already on and I wound it in. It didn't fight very much but I was still pleased to get my first new species of the trip.

I'm talkin' about sharkin'! Again.

We carried on fishing for tope, periodically changing our baits and increasing the amount of lead we had on as the tide started to pick up. I caught a few more grey gurnards and Nick had a second bull huss. After seven or eight more grey gurnard I caught a red gurnard, my second new species of the trip which I was very pleased about as they are the least common of the gurnard species in the area.

My second new species of the day, a red gurnard.

After about four hours with no tope runs we decided to head off to fish over a reef. The target there was pollock and we switched over to fishing soft plastics using light lure rods. There were plenty around and over the next couple of hours we caught and released about sixty between the three of us. Nick caught the biggest one and it really tested his light gear but he was able to bully it out of the kelp below the boat after some sustained pressure.

Naz's took this pollock on a Savage Gear Sandeel.

The biggest pollock boated.

The skipper then told us that despite fishing there for almost fifteen years he wasn't sure if the mark we were over held any wrasse so he dropped down my two up rig baited with small pieces of rag worm. Two ballan wrasse in quick succession soon cleared the matter up. Nick and I switched over to the same rig and caught a few wrasse too before we headed to our final mark where Spike told us we had a good chance of catching tub gurnards and also smoothhounds.

Once there Nick decided to ledger some crab to try and tempt a smoothhound and I focused on trying to catch a tub gurnard. Naz decided to lob out a small mackerel flapper to try and tempt any passing bass despite Spike warning him he'd more than likely catch dogfish on it. Having caught thirteen gurnards throughout the day on my two up rig, for some reason that looking back I can't quite explain, I decided to try a different approach and switched to mackerel strips fished on a two down running ledger setup. Spike meanwhile fished with one of my two up rigs baited with ragworm and when he caught the first tub gurnard of the day using it I quickly switched back and did the same! Time was running out though but when I got a decent bite I connected with the fish and it was the one I was hoping for.

My first tub gurnard was in lovely condition. A quite beautiful fish I'm sure you'd agree.

With only ten minutes to go I wanted to catch more of them but a shoal of mackerel arrived which made it hard for me, Naz as predicted by Spike had caught a couple of dogfish, Nick's crab hadn't attracted the smoothhounds and soon we wound our lines up for the last time to head back to port. Making a start to breaking down gear and tidying up the deck of the boat whilst Spike lifted the anchor he showed us some odd crustaceans that had been hanging on to it.

Woof woof. Who put the dog baits out?

How bizarre! Is it a juvenile spider crab perhaps?

"Go West" anchored just off shore waiting to be put back on her trailer.

Soon back on shore we packed our gear into Nick's car and thanked Spike before making the drive back up the road. It had been a long day and we were all quite tired although Naz, who had been up quite late the night before, was clearly more tired than Nick and I and slept most of the way home.

Naz does a good impression of a pollock whilst making sounds like a gurnard.

The three of us really enjoyed our day out in Lace bay. It was a great day's fishing in good company and whilst it was slightly disappointing not to get any tope runs all three of us caught some nice fish and I got three new species in one day. Snelling my hooks certainly seemed to improve my hook up ratios and used in combination with the Chinu hooks I can't recall any fish that weren't nicely hooked in the mouth either so that's another little positive from the trip and I'll carry on snelling my hooks from now on. Spike is a top skipper and the three of us are already talking about booking his services again next year although we may go earlier in the tope season when there are more around. 

Tight lines, Scott.

Most Wanted : Streaked Gurnard.

Knowing your target species and other similar fish can be important if you are going to be able to tell them apart and avoid misidentifying them which could result in potentially catching new species without realising it, a disaster to a species hunting angler like me. The three pictures of gurnards below hopefully illustrate this point.

Some grey gurnards are grey.

Some grey gurnards however have a bit of a red tinge to them. This doesn't make them red gurnards though!

An actual red gurnard caught by my mate Ross. I'd like to catch one this year.

As you can see it's possible to mistake the identity of the second fish. Key identifying features to look out for on grey gurnards are the light lateral line and the dark spot on the dorsal fin. The dorsal fin on red gurnards stands taller than on greys too.

This year I have red gurnards on my list of potential new species to catch along with a further two species of gurnard, these being tub gurnard and streaked gurnard. Tub gurnards and streaked gurnards can look quite similar and are a further example of where misidentification is a possibility. Both species come in a variety of shades from pale beige through to dark reddish brown with a rather striking blue/violet border around their large pectoral fins. There are a few differences that can be used to distinguish them however although to the untrained eye these may not be obvious. Tub gurnards can grow to much larger sizes so a gurnard over 40cm will most certainly rule out the possibility of it being a streaked gurnard.

A great photo of a fairly large tub gurnard showing its colourful pectoral fins.

A brightly coloured streaked gurnard.

Another example of a streaked gurnard. In this photo the colourful fins are turned downward to camouflage the fish. Note the much paler colouration.

Once on the move the colouration on the fins of this streaked gurnard looks a bit like that of its cousin the tub.

If in any doubt the simplest way to distinguish between them is the angle of the front of the head. Tub gurnards have a longer, concave snout while streaked gurnards have a must shorter, more steeply angled, flatter snout.

Whilst tub gurnard are believed to be much more common misidentifications may have caused the perceived rarity of streaked gurnards to be somewhat skewed which is also quite interesting. For example it is believed that streaked gurnards may actually be quite common catches on commercial boats off the south coast of England but are just sold along with the tub gurnards at market.

Another fascinating fact is that gurnards have specially adapted the first three fin rays on their pectoral fins into seperate "legs" that they can use to crawl around on the sea bed. It is thought they also use them to hunt by sensing movement with them of prey in their vicinty. Very bizarre indeed.

Finally, gurnards groan. If you have ever caught one you'll know what I mean by this. I think this is quite amusing as it sounds a bit like they are burping which adds to their quirky character.

Anyway, revolting fish behaviour aside, I hope you've enjoyed this little look at gurnards and I'm looking forward to targeting them later in the year. Whilst red and tub gurnards should be easy enough to track down and I'd love to catch them both I don't think that they warrant a place on my "Most Wanted" list. Streaked gurnard does though as they are very rarely caught. Or are they?

Tight lines, Scott.