An American species hunter in Scotland.

At the start of May I received an email from a young American species hunter by the name of Brandon. One of the things I really like about writing the blog is that it occasionally brings myself and other like minded anglers together. In his email he explained he enjoyed my blog, would be visiting Scotland at the end of May and was keen to meet up, so we could do some fishing together. I told him that I would meet up with him when he was in Edinburgh, and I'd help him catch a few new species for his life list. After I finished work last Sunday I picked him up from his Airbnb, and we visited the Water of Leith, as Brandon was keen to catch his first bullhead. Waiting for it to get dark, we targeted minnows for an hour or so. They weren't particularly active however, although I did manage to catch one. It was an opportunity to try out a small "photo tank" that I recently bought to take to Singapore with me.

My new photo tank works quite well I think.

Once it got dark we headed to my favourite bullhead spot and began searching the shallows with our head torches. The bullheads were out in numbers, and as usual, couldn't resist a maggot on a small hook dropped right in front of their relatively large mouths. Before long we’d lost count of how many we'd caught. Whilst Brandon took lots of photos of bullheads I began scouring the bottom for bigger specimens. A monster bullhead soon appeared, out from underneath an overhanging section of the bank. A new personal best bullhead was soon in my photo tank!

Brandon photographs the latest addition to his life list.

My new PB bullhead. Possibly. I didn't weigh it.

Our mission accomplished, we headed back to the car. After dropping Brandon off, I headed home, satisfied with a successful guiding effort. I was working in the morning, but we arranged to meet up the following evening again.

Whilst I was working on Monday, Brandon was out fishing on Granton Breakwater. He wanted to catch some wrasse and I told him that this was a good spot to try. The wind had a made it a pretty tough session, but he caught his first ever ballan wrasse, so he was happy with that. I managed to get away from work thirty minutes early and headed down there to pick him up. Off we went to Dunbar Harbour for a session targeting, to begin with, flounder and plaice. We arrived a little too early but as the tide flooded and the depth of water over the sandy corner we were fishing in increased, we eventually spotted some flat fish chasing our ragworm sections as we slowly twitched them along the bottom. My first fish of the evening was a small plaice, which was my first of the year. Plaice make up a small percentage of the flatfish I've caught in Dunbar Harbour of the years. so it was a slice of luck to catch one straight away. It was followed fairly quickly by a small flounder.

A small plaice. Another species added to my 2023 tally.

A flounder soon followed.

Soon afterwards Brandon also got lucky and caught his first ever plaice. After the sun had set and light begun to fade I hooked a big flounder that unfortunately came off just as it was coming to the surface. A short time later, Brandon hooked a big one too. Perhaps it was the fish I'd lost. It was certainly too big to swing up, so I grabbed my 5.9m landing net from the car and netted it for him.

A tiny plaice. Size doesn't matter to species hunters. They all count.

Brandon uses a Tupperware tub full of water to photograph his fish. This is a great tool for identification purposes and shows most of the fishes features very well.

A big flounder. Size doesn't matter to species hunters. They all count.

Once it was dark we spent a couple of hours fishing into some mixed ground at the back of the harbour. We were hoping that shore rockling, five bearded rockling or viviparous blenny might take our worm baits, but it wasn't to be and at midnight we packed up and headed back up the A1. The following day I was off work and Brandon had to be back in Edinburgh by 19:00, so we decided to make an early start to a day of species hunting.

After getting about three and a half hours sleep, I jumped in the car and picked Brandon up at 06:00. We drove west to East India Harbour in Greenock where we had a small list of species that I thought Brandon and I could catch around there. A common dragonet was our first target. Rigging up running ledger rigs and baiting small hooks with a little section of ragworm, we cast out as far as we could and slowly wound in. On my second cast I felt a bite and stopped winding. Waiting a second or two before lifting, I felt the weight of a fish and reeled it in. When a stunning male common dragonet appeared on the surface I was absolutely delighted!

I’ve wanted to catch one of these for years! Absolutely stunning! Just look at those colours.

Brandon caught his first common dragonet shortly afterwards too, so our session had got off to the perfect start. After a few more common dragonet and some dab from further out we began fishing over the rocky, weedy ground closer in, but surprisingly this didn't produce anything, so Brandon suggested we try fishing inside the harbour instead.

Dab are another species you can catch at range from East India Harbour.

This suggestion proved to be a great one. In the past I've never had much joy fishing inside the harbour but as soon as we took a look we spotted lots of wrasse moving around over the rocky bottom, including some pretty big rock cook wrasse. One hook paternoster rigs were dropped down and quite a few wrasse were soon being caught. Mainly rock cook wrasse and corkwing wrasse, but we also had some goldsinny wrasse and a ballan wrasse too. The rock cook wrasse and goldsinny wrasse were firsts for Brandon. He'd caught corkwing wrasse in the Mediterranean before but one of his was the most turquise coloured example I've ever seen!

Another very colourful UK wrasse species, the rock cook is probably my favourite.

Brandon caught this bright turquoise corkwing wrasse.

The Tupperware tub put to good use again. Look at those colours!

We didn't catch as many goldsinny wrasse as I was expecting. They normally make up the bulk of catches over the rough ground close in.

As the sun got a little higher in the sky, things really slowed down. We watched as all the wrasse that had been cruising around headed down into the gaps in between the boulders to seek shade. A few shoals of sand smelt turned up at this point, and we caught a few of those, another new species for Brandon. Before we began fishing on the outside again, Brandon caught a rock goby, a black goby and a two spotted goby. The last two being new to him.

The Tupperware tub is great for capturing the detail of fish's fins like those of this sand smelt.

Switching back to fishing the outside of the harbour the bites dried up almost completely, and I only caught three fish in a couple of hours, a common dragonet, a goldsinny wrasse and a black goby.

I'd have preferred to catch a rock goby as I'd already caught a few black goby this year.

It was the early afternoon by this point, and as the fishing had slowed to a crawl, we decided to switch to freshwater targets and headed back east to Magiscroft Coarse Fishery. Brandon wanted to catch his first gudgeon and it's probably the best place to catch them that I know. On the way we hit heavy traffic as we approached the middle of Glasgow. Brandon took the opportunity to have a nap.

A tired species hunter.

Before long the traffic started moving again and we soon arrived at Magiscroft. It didn't take us too long to set up some puddle chucker floats and catch a few gudgeon from a shallow peg on the venue's main loch. All mine were pretty average in size, but Brandon managed to catch a couple that were pretty chunky!

An average gudgeon. Size doesn't matter to species hunters. They all count.

A large gudgeon. Size doesn't matter to species hunters. They all count.

Having caught what we came for, as well as a few roach and perch, we then jumped back in the car and headed to the River Forth so we could spend an hour or so trying to catch dace. I thought it might be tough as the water levels were very low due to the lack of rain recently and this proved to be the case. We trotted maggots down the faster flowing water but all we caught were lots of minnow and the odd salmon parr.

An Atlantic salmon parr in my photo tank. Another species towards this year's challenge.

Soon it was time to go, so we packed up and headed back to the capital where I dropped Brandon off at his Airbnb. It was great to meet him and I really enjoyed both our fishing and our conversations about fish, fishing and species hunting. I hope our paths cross again in the future, and we'll hopefully keep in touch in the meantime.  I enjoyed helping him add ten species to his life list whilst we were together and also gave him advice that helped him add two more in the shape of the ballan wrasse he caught from Granton Breakwater and I also gave him information that led to him catching his first bitterling a couple of days after he left Edinburgh on his way to Manchester. Furthermore, whilst playing at being a guide, I'd also added another two species to my 2023 species hunting challenge, catching my first plaice and Atlantic salmon of the year. The large male common dragonet was probably my own highlight of our time together and is a capture I won't forget.

Tight lines, Scott.

Push it to the limit.

On Monday I headed west to fish two different places with my tanago rod. First stop was the River Forth where my target was the humble minnow. Normally there are lots around down the edge but for some reason there didn't seem to be any around at all. There were however a few small fish taking flies off the surface slightly further out so I decided to find out what they were. After catching and quickly returning a few small salmon parr I caught a little dace.

Dace are a lovely looking fish. I think I'll go back again soon with my float rod and centrepin to spend a day specifically targetting them.

My next stop was Magiscroft coarse fishery near Cumbernauld. Before using my tanago rod I fished maggot under an insert waggler out close to an island using a light float setup. My first two casts both quickly produced small mirror carp. Then, after a few roach and perch, I caught a few more carp which led me to believe the pond had been stocked with them recently.

Good fun on a very light float setup.

Lots of pristine roach too.

After a while I decided to switch to my tanago rod and dropped my pole float down right under its tip. With single maggot on a #26 Gamakatsu 6315 hook to 0.75lb nylon at the business end I was soon pulling out lots of small perch and the odd roach.

I employed a chop stick style grip on my 15g rod.

The main reason for my visit was to hopefully catch some gudgeon. They're a cool freshwater mini species and it had been a while since I'd caught one. Eventually, my persistance paid off when one beat the small perch and roach to my wriggling bait on the bottom. As gudgeon go it was pretty big and on my super light rod I'd go as far as to say it even put up a bit of a scrap!

A cracking gudgeon.

Keen to catch some more I carried on fishing close in but for a while all I caught was more perch and roach. Then, suddenly, my float shot under as something larger began chrging about the swim in front of me. My tiny rod was bent right over and I was worried about my hook bending out but after a few minutes playing the fish, dropping the rod to give it some line when I felt it necessary, I managed to tire out the fish and another small carp was drawn into my net.

This little fully scaled mirror really pushed my tanago rod to the limit.

I fished on for a while and caught a few more perch and roach but sadly no more gudgeon. I'm really enjoying fishing with my tanago rod at the moment. It's a very direct and fun way to fish. The small carp I caught on it has forced me to rethink what it's capable of. I'll be out using it again soon, targetting some saltwater species on a trip to Loch Etive and Oban with a few of my mates.

Tight lines, Scott.

Birds do it, bees do it...

I visited Eliburn reservoir again last week for another session fishing the waggler. I took some groundbait I found in my freezer with me and as well as some maggots I also took a tin of corn. Tossing in a few small balls of groundbait and feeding a few maggots saw lots of small perch greedily gobbling up my single maggot hookbait which kept me fairly busy. It was a lovely day and it was quite relaxing just sitting there watching my float as the sun beat down. After a while the little perch stopped biting and I reasoned that perhaps some bigger fish had moved into my swim. To try and see if I was right I switched to a bigger hook and fished corn. This didn't tempt any fish though so I tried three maggots on my hook instead. Eventually my float went quickly under and lifting my rod the fish was on but after a few seconds it managed to throw the hook. Shortly afterwards however I hooked another fish that felt about the same size as the escapee. It stayed on this time and after a few head shakes gave up fighting. A bream came to the surface where it lay motionless on its side, as they usually do once they give up. It was quickly drawn over my net and was unhooked on my mat. 

...even reservoir bream do it. The fish's forehead was covered with spawning tubercles.

A very nice looking fish indeed. Not a scale was out of place and every fin was perfect. Lovely.

Shortly afterwards a couple more much smaller bream were landed and a few roach too. In the afternoon heat things went very quiet though. As my float wasn't doing much my gaze wandered a bit and I spotted a three spined stickleback in the shallow water directly in front of my peg. I reeled in my rig and spent five minutes trying to catch it. Sticklebacks do it as well and he was far to preoccupied tending to his nest under a submerged broken branch to be interested in half a maggot dangled in his vicinity. Casting my float back out bites remained few and far between so I decided to pack up and head to the River Forth near Stirling to see if there were any dace around. Upon arrival I couldn't resist dropping a maggot down the side and pulling out a few humble minnows first though.

The minnow is a nice looking little fish If you ask me. 

Getting down to business I started firing maggots upstream and letting my float run down through an area in front of me between some reed beds. The river was very low and bites were hard to come by but after catching a few tiny salmon parr and a small brown trout I finally managed to catch a dace. 

Evidence that some salmon have been doing it as well.

A nice little brown trout. 

Small but perfectly formed. A nice reward for my persistence but sadly it would be the only dace caught.

Having had a lot of fun catching a variety of freshwater species I decided to call an end to what had been both a relaxing and enjoyable day's fishing. I can see myself doing more float fishing over the summer and maybe I'll venture down south to try and catch some of the U.K.'s freshwater species that I've never caught before. Goldfish would be an nice species to catch and Forest Lane Fishery near York seems to be the closest commercial that has a few of them in its ponds.

Tight lines, Scott. 

Tiding me over.

Well the weather continues to be fairly rotten but despite this I've been out several times over the last week. With winds forecast to gust at over 40mph last Tuesday I headed down the coast to try and find a few sheltered spots. Firstly I headed over the back of Eyemouth Golf Course where I soon spotted a nice looking platform and after a while figured out how to safely get down to it. The water in front of it was incredibly deep and I started off fishing a paddletail on a cheburashka lead to try and tempt any resident pollock. This didn't produce any fish though so I then tried Gulp! Sandworm on a drop shot rig but this didn't draw any bites either. I was quite disappointed but I think later in the year the fishing at this spot will be productive so happy to have found a new spot to return to I decided to head up the coast to St Abbs.

Once there I sought shelter on the rocks at the back of the harbour, stuck with a drop shot rig and began casting it into gaps in the kelp. Eventually this produced a few sharp taps that made me think I had located a small wrasse but when I hooked the culprit it turned out instead to be a small long spined sea scorpion. Continuing to work my way around the rocks I had no further luck so decided to try inside the harbour before leaving. The tide was almost half way in by this point, normally a good time to catch flounders as they enter the harbour to hunt. Methodically working my way around and slowly covering as much of the bottom as I could I finally caught one.

This flounder seemed to have the whole harbour to himself.

Just after popping it back the wind picked up again making fishing virtually impossible so I decided to call it a day.

Last Wednesday there was a slight break in the weather and feeling frustrated by the previous day's fishing I opted to head to the River Forth to see if there were any dace around, to relax watching a float and practice casting using my centrepin reel. I certainly got plenty of casting practice as the river was a little higher than I expected, was flowing by quite quickly and as a result meant there didn't seem to be any dace around. I did run my float a little closer in though and holding it up I caught a little brown trout and a trio of rather plump minnows which brought a smile to my face.

Minnows are really pretty little fish. Pretty greedy as well.

In the afternoon I headed up to Orchill Coarse Fishery to try my luck there. Fishing maggots on the waggler things were quite slow and I only managed a few chub. Another frustrating day's fishing really and in future I must check the Forth's water level on the SEPA website before I visit it again to target dace.

On Sunday evening I met up with my mate Nick and we headed down to Torness Power Station outflow area to try for bass. Despite a promising start with a couple of them following my lure in on my first cast we had no luck tempting them. As is customary when visiting Scotland's premier blenny mark I dangled a piece of Angleworm into a few rockpools before we left and caught a couple of them, although they weren't as obliging as they normally are.

Even the resident blenny population seemed to not be in the mood.

Yesterday I headed back down the coast and went to St Abbs Head. It was a nice sunny day although still quite windy but the swell below wasn't too bad and I decided to climb down to a new mark. I know fine well that it's not the type of place to go exploring on your own but truth be told I find it quite exciting. Anyway, when I managed to get myself down to water I noticed it was absolutely teeming with millions of small jellyfish. The arrival of jellyfish is normally a good sign as it means the water temperatures are slowly creeping up and summer species should start appearing but I've never seen so many of them. It looked like a great mark but after a couple of hours with no action I decided to climb back up to the top of the cliffs and walk back to St Abbs Harbour to try my luck there. It too was full of jellyfish but unlike the rock mark I'd fished in the morning it also had a few fish in it and I caught several dozen coalfish, a couple of flounders and a little cod before heading back up the road. I also bumped into a mate who came down to fish for an hour after his work which was nice. 

I bought myself a packet of Marukyu Isome during the week. I used to fish with it a lot but whilst it's a superb ragworm imitation and its effectiveness isn't in question, it's not the most durable lure and is also quite expensive. Not a great combination.

This little cod took an Aquawave Straight on a drop shot rig. Another excellent worm shaped product, a packet of these lures cost about the same as a packet of Isome and are almost as effective but they are super durable making them much better value.

Well quite a nice end to a frustrating week really with the persistent strong wind becoming rather annoying if I'm brutally honest. It almost feels like it has been like this all year. The fishing is still tough at times and really by the middle of May I'd expected it to be better than it is. Never mind, in just over a week I'm off on holiday to Nessebar, it can't come soon enough and surely the weather there will be better? I hope so and when I get back from the Black Sea maybe the summer will have arrived here and some better fishing with it? Fingers crossed.

Tight lines, Scott.

If you can think of a better title let minnow.

With a day off on Tuesday and all the preparations done before I headed to Zakynthos the following day for a week long holiday I decided to relax and what better way to relax is there than, you guessed it, a spot of fishing? After a lie in I jumped in the car and drove west, my first stop being the River Forth near Stirling where my target species was the humble minnow. Fishing a sensitive waggler in the margin I had soon caught a dozen of them and a few small dace too. 

Minnows are quite pretty little fish if you take a moment to admire them. 

Pleased to have added another species to this years tally I headed off to Loch Lubnaig to try and catch an Arctic char. As they are a fish normally found in deep water I decided to fish using a swim feeder. Casting out every ten minutes or so I patiently watched the tip of my rod waiting for it to hopefully pull round. In a bit of a trance I suddenly felt something on my hand. Looking down a strange looking insect had landed on me. After looking at it briefly and popping it on the ground I looked up to see my rod tip gently nodding away and soon landed the culprit, a small brown trout. 

Not sure what kind of insect this is. A beetle of some description I think*.

Not the salmonoid I was after. A beautiful fish all the same and my first brown trout of the year too. 

After a while with no more action I moved further down the loch and started fishing the waggler again. Casting out just beyond a row of weed and catapulting a few maggots in around my float after a while it went under and I caught a second brown trout. Again, the trout was followed by a period of inactivity so I started fishing in the margins for minnows again, discovered there were large shoals of them and was soon catching a small fish almost every cast. 

A lovely day on Loch Lubnaig. One of my favourite places to fish. 

The Loch Lubnaig minnows had a much more defined dark stripe down their flanks. 

By the early evening I had caught over fifty minnows and with the sun shining it had been a most pleasant way to spend a day. That was the first time I've fished both these venues this year and I think I'll return to both soon. I'd like to use my centrepin reel to trot maggots for the River Forth's dace and I have to return to Loch Lubnaig with some lures to catch and admire some of its pristine perch. 

Tight lines, Scott.

*I've been informed by my mate Nick that the insect above is in fact a red legged shield bug.