Species Hunting adventures on São Miguel: Part 2.

On day four of our trip Lee and Ross arrived. Lillian and I picked them up from the airport early in the evening and we headed back to the apartment. After they unpacked we all had a meal together and caught up a bit. Our friendship is one of those we just pick up where we left off and it really didn't feel like we hadn't seen each other for over two years! The lads were keen to do some fishing, so we headed out for a couple of hours after dark. We drove along the south coast to the harbour in Vila Franca do Campo, the most productive spot I'd fished so far. Surprisingly, the session was pretty slow, but we all persevered and caught a few small white seabream and some bastard grunt. Lee did hook into something big that stayed deep and started stripping line before heading under a large fishing boat and snapping him off. We could only guess what it was. I also caught a small fish that I initially thought was an Atlantic horse mackerel. It looked a little different though so I kept it so I could examine it further back at the apartment.

A bit of googling when we got back helped me confirm I'd caught my first blue jack mackerel. My forth new species of the trip. We'd see them for sale in the fishmongers the next morning, locally they are called Chicharros.

Apparently they're called bastard grunt from the Dutch word "bastaard" which means "hybrid". At one point biologists incorrectly believed they were not a species in their own right but a mixture of two others.

We headed back to Vila Franca do Campo harbour the next day so that Ross could catch a black faced blenny. I gave him a tanago hook to use and it didn't take him long to catch several, including some females. It was quite a productive session, although I'd caught most of the species already earlier in the trip. 

After a while we went for a drive around the western end of the island. Stopping off at a small pier in Mosteiros, where we caught endless wrasse from the fairly shallow rocky ground around it. This soon became a bit repetitive, so we jumped in the car again and drove east along the north coast to check out Rabo de Peixe harbour. After a quick walk around we decided to fish from a concrete plarform on the right hand side of its entrance. The water here was pretty deep but all we caught was endless wrasse again and the odd Guinean puffer. 

Keen to catch something else I suggested we head back to Ponta Delgada, to fish the slipway behind the fish restaurant. It turned out to be a good decision. Freelining bread and chunks of raw prawn produced plenty of thick lipped mullet, a few salema, the odd specimen rockpool blenny and you can probably guess what else, wrasse! The average size of the fish was a bit bigger though, some of them even bent our rods a little.

Unlike my failed attempts in Crete last year, I actually managed to land a few salema. They're  quite an attractive fish with those bright yellow stripes along their flanks. They're also supposed to be hallucinogenic if eaten. Never tried one myself to confirm this.

Lee and Ross both caught this specimen male blue wrasse within ten minutes of each other. We realised it was the same fish they'd both caught when we looked at their photos later on and noticed the slightly damaged top edge of its tail fin.

That evening after dinner Lee, Ross and I headed down to Praia das Milicias to ledger sardines for stingray with our heavy gear. While we waited for the sun to set I spent half an hour fishing in the surf with my trusty HTO Rock Rover and a piece of Angleworm on a drop shot rig. I only caught three lesser weever, but was happy enough as it was yet another species added to my tally. By the end of the session it also meant I was the only one of us who didn't blank on the beach that night as we had no joy catching anything on the heavy gear at all sadly.

Some fish can adapt their colouration to match their environment so they blend in. Black volcanic sand means a dark fish is harder for a predator to spot. Not sure what fish eats weever mind you as they live under the sand most of the time and are armed with several poisonous spines!

The following day, after popping into town and sorting out freshwater fishing licenses, we drove west to Sete Cidades. It's a small village located in the heart of the crater of an old volcano that also contains several bodies of water. After a nice walk around the side of the main lake we decided to fish from the bridge that crosses it. There were a few carp swimming around but we turned our attention instead to catching some perch on soft plastics. The resident pike had other ideas however and Lee caught two nice ones on his ultra light gear. Ross and I did catch a few small perch and I also caught a roach on a small piece of freelined bread.

Lagoa Verde and Lagoa Azul make up the largest body of water separated by a stone bridge.

The three amigos fishing away.

One of Lee's pike. Great sport on his ultra light rod and almost got under the bridge.

I was quite chuffed to catch this roach. My first one on freelined bread.

The following morning myself, Lee and Ross got up early and drove up to Porto Formoso harbour where I had booked us a four hour boat fishing trip with North Shore Sea Tours. We started off trolling for pelagic species but had no joy with those so we switched to fishing with jigs on the drift. Pretty quickly I caught a nice blacktailed comber close to the bottom. We also caught a few chub mackerel, blue jack mackerel and bonito higher up in the water column. It wasn't that rough, but despite taking some travel sickness pills in the morning just in case, my sea legs failed me, so I was quite glad when we headed back to dry land again. On the way back to port we spotted an angler fishing from a rock mark that looked pretty good so I marked the location on my phone.

The biggest blacktail comber I've ever caught.

Back at the apartment the lads had an afternoon nap and Lillian and I went down to the coast for a walk along Praia das Milicias, then carried on further along to Praia de São Roque. This spot looked like a potentially good stingray mark. The rocks to the right of it had deeper water in front of them and any large fish hooked could be landed over on the beach. When we got back I told Lee and Ross about the spot and later that evening we dropped the lads off there. Lillian and I went away and had dinner together and then met up with them again afterwards. Just after we arrived Lee caught a small stingray, which was the only one caught of the session.

Lee's stingray turned out to be the only one of the trip.

The following day in the afternoon we headed to the north coast again. This time we headed to Maia where we parked the car. Following the clifftop coastal path west, we then found steps leading down to the rocks where I'd marked the fishing spot the previous day. It turned out to be a great little session and the area was lovely too.

The view westward from the clifftop path was stunning.

The paths were lined with beautiful flowers.

Fenced paths and steps leading down to the sea made accessing the rocks down below very straight forward.

In no time at all the three of us were freelining chunks of raw prawn with a bit of split shot on the line to counter the wind and swell. 

It proved very effective and we had a lot of fun catching several of these hard fighting white seabream.

Ross caught the biggest one of the session.

Heading back to the car we decided to try our luck in freshwater again and drove south from Maia to Lagoa de São Brás, where we would try to catch some largemouth bass. The fishing was tough but eventually we caught a few small specimens.

Eyes bigger than its stomach.

In the evening we headed out locally and fished inside Ponta Delgada's huge harbour. Spotted rockling were the target species but we had no joy catching one. Instead we all managed to catch at least one greater forkbeard each, a new species for all of us and my fifth of the trip.

The greater forkbeard has elongated pelvic fins and a single barbule on its chin. It is the cousin of the tadpole fish, which is also known as the lesser forkbeard.

The next day we headed north yet again to the rocky shoreline to the east of Rabo de Peixe harbour where we spent an hour or so hunting in rockpools for spotted rockling. A few small crabs were found and used for bait on a split shot rig that was lowered into dark holes and in front of potential hiding places. A few dozen rockpool blennies later, we decided that trying to catch rockling during the day was a futile exercise and headed back to the south coast to fish the harbour in Villa Franca de Campo again. We tried a different area but the fishing was incredibly slow. I did catch my sixth new species of the trip though so that was a unexpected bonus.

A small red seabream. Also known as the blackspot seabream due to the small dark mark at the start of its lateral line.

The following day was our last together. Lillian and I were leaving a day before Lee and Ross and had to be at the airport in the afternoon. As we didn't have long before heading off we spent an hour or two fishing in the morning. Fishing in between the fishing boats in the working part of Ponta Delgada's harbour, the fishing was pretty poor sadly, but one species in particular was actively feeding. It was one I hadn't caught yet so I added one last species to my tally, taking my total to thirty one, before it started to rain and we headed back to the apartment.

We caught dozens of black gobies. My last fish of the trip was one.

Soon afterwards Lee and Ross dropped us off at the airport and we said our goodbyes. Lillian and I flew to Lisbon where we stayed for four nights before returning home to Edinburgh. Given the amount of fishing I was allowed to do on São Miguel I thought it might be a good idea if I didn't push my luck on that front whilst we were in the Portuguese capital, so there will be no species hunting adventures in Lisbon catch report to follow.

Anyway, despite the fishing being hit and miss, I was happy with my tally for the ten days and about catching a few new species too. Here's what I caught with new species in bold.

1. Atlantic Chub Mackerel
2. Axillary Seabream
3. Ballan Wrasse
4. Bastard Grunt
5. Black Faced Blenny
6. Black Goby
7. Blacktail Comber
8. Blacktail Rainbow Wrasse*
9. Blue Jack Mackerel
10. Blue Wrasse
11. Bogue
12. Common Two Banded Seabream
13. Damselfish
14. Derbio
15. Emerald Wrasse
    
16. Greater Forkbeard
17. Guinean Puffer
18. Largemouth Bass
19. Lesser Weever
20. Montagu’s Blenny
21. Ornate Wrasse
22. Parrotfish
23. Perch
24. Red Seabream/Blackspot Seabream
25. Roach
26. Rock Goby
27. Rockpool Blenny
28. Salema
29. Striped Red Mullet
30. Thick Lipped Mullet
31. White Seabream

*Unknowingly I'd already caught this species on previous trips to Madeira so not truly a new one.

Lillian and I really enjoyed São Miguel and we'd like to return to the Azores again, perhaps to explore some of the other islands there. I think a visit late in the summer might be better in terms of the weather and the fishing might be better then too, with some pelagic species coming in shore that time of year. It was great to catch up with and also to catch a few fish with Lee and Ross again. It always is, and on that subject, we all agreed that two years without a fishing holiday together was way too long, and we will be fishing abroad together at some point in 2023 hopefully. We haven't decided where yet but all agreed we need to do something special next time. I can't wait!

Tight lines, Scott.

Species hunting adventures on São Miguel: Part 1.

At the end of March, Lillian and I flew from Edinburgh, via Lisbon, to Sao Miguel in the Azores for a ten day long trip. We'd be joined after three days by my mates Lee and Ross, who were flying direct from London Stansted. After a fairly long journey but excited to be somewhere new, Lillian and I explored the capital of Ponta Delgada on foot for the first couple of days, and then picked up a hire car the day before the boys arrived. The weather in the Azores at that time of year is similar to the UK in that it can change very quickly. One minute the sun is shining, the next it's cloudy or raining.

Hardly a cloud in the sky. Black volcanic rock and buildings painted white are a feature of Ponta Delgada architecture and the theme is also used on lots of pavements too.

After wandering around some of Ponta Delgada's quaint narrow streets on the morning of our first full day, we strolled down to the open coast to a small harbour, so I could do some fishing. Someone was already fishing when we got there, usually a good sign.

The local angler's tactics involved bread paste on treble hooks, fished under a float using a rod made of a piece of cane. I love that sort of thing. A reminder that expensive tackle might be nice but is not always neccessary to catch some fish.

After watching the gentleman catch a few seabream, I got quickly set up along from him and was soon pulling out lots of small fish myself on pieces of raw prawn. Ornate wrasse were the first species of the trip. No surprise there really and lots of them. A few other fish did manage to beat them to my bait eventually.

A nice blacktail comber...

...a damselfish that managed to get a relatively big hook in its mouth...

...and a few Guinean puffers. I'm not a massive fan of puffers. I might have mentioned that before.

This was the spot I'd just fished. By the time we left the clouds had rolled in.

We then took a slow stroll back into town, following the coastline. Walking past the main marina inside the town's huge harbour, I had a look to see what fish were in it. As well as shoals of mullet, lots of ornate wrasse and various types of seabream, I soon spotted some black faced blennies sitting still on submerged boulders close to the edge, occassionally shifting their position slightly. They are a tiny fish but the males have a bright yellow body, so they were easy to pick out against the dark volcanic rock. Whilst I was excited, as it was my first time I'd ever come across the species in the sea, I also knew that fishing there was strictly off limits. In fact, whilst I was pointing the black faced blennies out to Lillian, a couple of locals passing by, seeing that I had fishing tackle with me, warned me that the Marina had a security detail. They told me that they were very strict and should they see me fishing, they would be straight over, and I could end up with a hefty fine. Whilst I really wanted to catch a black faced blenny, I also didn't want to risk getting into trouble, so, feeling frustrated, we headed off again.

Full of fish but strictly off limits. The clouds had almost all gone again.

Walking further along the harbour's promenade, away from the marina, we found a small slipway behind a seafood restaurant and I did some fishing there. The chefs were out regularly tossing fish scraps into the water, meaning the area was full of fish. Freelined raw prawn chunks were soon doing the business.

Sun out again. Fish on again!

I caught plenty of these rather plump thick lipped mullet...

...and some small derbio that went off like little rockets and were great fun ...

...and a female emerald wrasse.

Feeling we had perhaps been exposed to a little bit too much sun, we decided to get into the shade and headed to one of Ponta Delgada's botanical gardens. As well as enjoying the cool cover the many different species of trees offered and admiring lots of nice plants, there were also some beautiful, very colourful birds strutting about.

A lovely looking cockerel.

The top of my head felt like it was almost as red as the cockerel's we had seen in the gardens so after getting some aftersun and a bottle of pineapple liqueur from the supermarket we headed back to the apartment to relax, and after a lengthy cold shower each, we enjoyed copious amounts of both. 

The next day we picked up our hire car and headed out of the capital to explore. We drove round its western end, making some short stops at roadside viewpoints to enjoy the scenery before carrying on to visit a few potential fishing spots. Mosteiros was our first destination where we checked out a small pier and then its natural swimming pools. 

São Miguel Miguel is lush with lots of grassy fields. Cows were also a fairly common sight. It could easily be mistaken for somewhere in the UK.

There are several deep rockpools at Mosteiros that people can go swimming in.

Rockpool blennies swim about in them too, rather unsurprisingly!

Leaving Mosteiros, we drove east along the northern coast to Ponta da Costa, a tiny slipway at the bottom of some huge cliffs. The winding path down was pretty steep and to be honest the fishing wasn't great when we eventually made it down to the bottom. I didn't realise it at the time, but I later discovered that I'd caught my first new species of the trip whilst down there.

The slight swell rolling in made fishing difficult.

As well as lots of ornate wrasse, I also caught a few very darkly coloured rainbow wrasse. I'd later discover they were blacktail rainbow wrasse, and also that looking back through my old catch report photos, I'd caught them on Madeira previously and mistaken them for...

...Mediterranean rainbow wrasse. The shape might be almost identical as they're from the same group of wrasses, the Coris genus, but the different colouration of the adult males of the two species is pretty obvious really.

Before we headed back up to the car I also caught a few bogue on small metals fishing out into deeper water.

The climb back up the cliffside paths to the car was pretty tiring so we headed back to São Miguel, visited the supermarket and chilled in the apartment that evening, enjoying a nice meal with some beers and a few passion fruit liqueurs. 

The following day the weather was pretty miserable being both quite windy and wet. We drove east along the south coast to check out the small harbour at Porto de Pescas da Caloura. A fair swell was running out in the open sea and the inside of the harbour didn't produce anything at all.

This spot is supposed to be a good mark to target moray eels after dark so if nothing else it was good to check it out in daylight.

We then drove further east before cutting inland and driving north into the island's interior to visit the Caldeiras das Furnas nature preserve. It has several steaming geothermal pools and geysers. The smell of sulphur is pretty pungent to say the least. Whilst there we also spent an hour or so in the Microbial Observatory of the Azores, learning about some of the types of life that exist in the extreme environments, like the ones found there.

Lillian's not usually a fan of smelly gasses when I produce them, and my gases normally don't smell half as bad as the stench these constantly produce.

To get the smell of rotten eggs out of our clothes we headed up to the north coast to the small harbour of Porto Formoso, a venue I would return to for a boat trip with Lee and Ross later in the trip. With the sea nice and flat due to the wind now being offshore, I fished for a while from the rocks at the outside of the harbour's mouth, but it was very tough going. It also rained pretty heavily for a brief spell while we were there and we both got a bit of a soaking.

It looked quite promising, but I really struggled to catch fish here.

A small common two banded seabream prevented a blank. If memory serves it was the only fish of the entire day!

Heading back up to the car we finished the day by following the coast all the way around the eastern end of the island, stopping off again at various viewpoints to take in the scenery.

The next day the wind had dropped off again and we headed east along the island's southern coast again to visit Ermida de Nossa Senhora da Paz, a small church perched on the hillside at the top of over one hundred steps.

I was happy with this photo but Lillian insisted we climb all the way up.

At the top I spotted a big harbour down below we could explore.

After driving down and visiting a small tackle shop in Vila Franca do Campo we headed to its harbour. Again a friendly local, upon spotting my fishing rod, was quick to approach us and tell me where I could and could not fish. I heeded his advice and headed well away from all the fancy, and no doubt very expensive, moored yachts. As we wandered along, I spotted the yellow bodies of some black faced blennies, sitting on the submerged rocks close to the edge. Out came a packet of tanago hooks, I quickly rigged up an ultra light running ledger and lowered the rig down onto one of the boulders where the black faced blennies were. After a few missed bites, I managed to hook a small fish that I initially thought was a female black faced blenny, but in my hand I recognised it to be a Montagu's blenny.

Only my second ever Montagu's blenny.

A little more persistence eventually paid off when I watched one of my targets take the tiny piece of raw prawn on my equally tiny hook into its mouth and I gently struck, successfully hooking it. My second new species of the trip was quickly swung up to hand. Having been after one of these for years, making several trips to Swanage Pier in Dorset to try and catch one, I was ecstatic to finally get one.

A male black faced blenny. Chilling out on a rock their head is jet black and their body is bright yellow. When caught their coloration dulls and is a little bit mottled. The female on the other hand is a fairly drab looking fish, being a mottled brown colour.

I carried on fishing, trying a few different spots around the harbour and caught quite a lot of fish. Mainly ornate wrasse, blacktail rainbow wrasse in the mix, as well as a solitary ballan wrasse and a nice striped red mullet. That's definitely the furthest west I've ever caught a ballan wrasse! I also managed to add a couple more species to my trip tally and my third new species of the trip in the shape of a blue wrasse, a cousin of the corkwing wrasse that is endemic to the Azores.

In amongst all the wrasse I caught this nice striped red mullet fishing over a clean sandy area.

I also caught this single small male parrotfish. Parrotfish males are the drab sex of the species.

Here's a ruby red female parrotfish I caught on Tenerife a few years ago.

While we're on the subject of sexual dimorphism in wrasse, I think this is a male blue wrasse but could be in the middle of a transition...

...and this ornate wrasse is in the middle of a sex change too I think. It has some colouration features of both. Most wrasse species can change sex from female to male when the need arises.

Anyway I've digressed. It's fascinting but that's enough fish gender politics! So, we were enjoying our time on São Miguel. Despite the fishing being a little hit and miss, I'd made a pretty good start to my species hunting. I was over the moon to catch the black faced blenny and also the two new wrasse species, even if technically I'd unknowingly caught one of them before. With six days left in the Azores we were both looking forward to Lee and Ross arriving as we hadn't seen them for a while due to the pandemic, so it would be great to catch up again and fish together again too.

Tight lines, Scott.

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