Who let the dogs out?

My mate Stewart has a mild case of galeophobia so on Sunday we headed west to Loch Fyne for a nice relaxing days' fishing. In order to prove to him that whilst sharks should command respect and require careful handling when caught they are also very interesting, beautiful creatures that are worthy of admiration and are not really that scary, the main targets for the session were dogfish and thornback rays.

It was a lovely sunny day and after a quick stop to pick up a few packs of frozen mackerel and a couple of boxes of squid on the way, we were soon at our chosen spot, a comfortable mark very close to the car. Two rods were quickly setup, one with a pulley rig and the other with a three hook flapper rig. I explained the rigs to Stewart and quickly gave him the lowdown on using my slosh multipliers before baiting up with mackerel and casting them out. Last year I fished the same spot with very light tackle and caught dabs, dragonets, black gobies, sand gobies, haddock and cod so I started to set up a third, lighter rod to fish very small baits on #10 wormer hooks to see if I could tempt any mini species that might be present. Before I had finished doing that however one of the other rod tips started bouncing away.

Lifting the rod it kept nodding so I handed it to Stewart and told him to wind in quickly. Sadly he didn't reel quite quickly enough and the fish was lost on the way in as it came up over the weedy ledges in front of us. Fortunately it didn't take too long for another bite and I thought it would be best to demonstrate how to quickly retrieve a fish up over the ledges to hopefully help Stewart minimise any further fish or tackle losses. Feeling slight pressure to land the fish I was glad when I managed to do so, the first dogfish of the day was soon on the bladderwrack and a quick lesson on handling and unhooking dogfish could begin. I explained how confidence is key when handling sharks and to maintain control of them two hands should be used. Unhooking the dogfish I gripped it firmly behind the gills and brought It's tail forward, holding it against the side of the sharks body leaving one hand free to work on removing the hook. I explained that alternatively the tail of the shark could be placed between the thighs again leaving a hand free to unhook and that the reason for handling them in this way is that dogfish have extremely rough skin, will try to wrap themselves around your arm and attempt to rasp your skin from it causing nasty wounds that will bleed for a prolonged period. Maybe Stewart was right to be cautious!

Dogfish are quite strong for their size. This one was particularly feisty and refused to behave for a photo.

Put back into a shallow bay to our left it adopted a defensive position. As well as being efficient hunters and scavengers they are also pretty tough. Easy to see why they are so prolific in places.

After a while it uncurls itself and gracefully swims off.

It wasn't long before another fish was attacking our bait and Stewart lifted the rod to feel for the fish. Once he confirmed it was on he kept the rod high, wound in fast enough to clear the ledges and soon he was looking rather worried as his first ever shark came through the weed. He was clearly still a bit nervous so I unhooked it for him and again explained how to hold it before he had a go himself.

Stewart lifts the rods and feels for a fish on the end.

Still slightly unsure Stewart faces his fears and gets to grips with his first shark.

A rather cute one if you ask me!

Pretty soon we had landed a few more although it was a bit of a pain getting the three hook flapper rig back through the weed so I swapped that over to a second pulley rig. I also swapped the circle hooks from #3/0 to a #1/0 because a couple of the dogfish had the hook points penetrate close to their eyes and gills and I didn't want to risk causing unnecessary damage to these delicate organs on future catches. This worked a treat as the next few fish were all hooked nicely in the bottom jaw. After about ten dogfish between us I decided to put out a couple of sandeels wrapped in squid, a cocktail that has produced rays for me in the past. I asked Stewart to reel in one of the rods whilst I prepared the baits and low and behold a tiny thornback had taken the mackerel bait.

Speak of the devil and a cute little ray doth appear.

Stewart with his second shark species of the session and he was a bit happier handling it.

Popped back the little ray sulked in the shallows for a while before heading off.

We carried on fishing, hoping for some more rays but all our sandeel and squid cocktails were attracting was more dogfish. Meanwhile my mini species rod hadn't attracted anything at all which was quite a surprise so I decided to pack it up. I then headed along the shore to check out another spot. When I returned Stewart had caught a dogfish, unhooked and released it on his own. I was suitably impressed. In the early evening we headed along the shore to try the other spot but this turned out to be not as productive as our first mark. The water there was a lot deeper but the ledges proved more difficult to get our gear and fish back up over. Three more dogfish were caught before we called it a night taking our tallies to ten sharks each making the day a fairly busy one with plenty of exposure to sharks for Stewart. 

Another lovely evening making it a real pleasure to be out fishing.

After our failed attempts afloat on Loch Etive a couple of weeks ago it was good to see Stewart get his first sharks and I think he has gone some way to curing his mild phobia of them, although more "therapy" is probably required. Maybe in the summer we can up the ante and target tope and bull huss. Stewart's isn't keen on conger eels either so maybe that's an issue we can work on too. He does seem to be enjoy our fishing trips though which is of course the most important thing. Next time we go fishing we'll have a break from sharks but whilst we may target some smaller species I can't promise Stewart we won't encounter some vicious Blennies. If he thinks sharks are nasty he's in for a shock!

Tight lines, Scott.

Know your quarry.

When my mate Nick told me he had some free time in April I suggested we head off somewhere for a couple of days fishing. After considering a few options we settled on a trip to Ballachulish to fish for thornback rays from Loch Leven. On Tuesday morning he picked me up and we made the drive up through some lovely scenery.

As we drove up through Glencoe I did my part to ensure Buachaille Etive Mor remains one of the most photographed mountains in Scotland.

The weather most of the way was rather nice but as we neared our destination it slowly changed to match the forecast, overcast with light rain showers and breezy. Upon arrival we quickly checked out a few places along the shoreline before deciding on one to fish. A short walk down from the car we were both soon set up and baits were cast out. The water was very deep beyond a ledge in front of us and I decided to fish just the one rod whilst Nick opted to fish two.

A small stream flows into the loch.

More imposing mountains line the shore opposite our first mark.

A few hours and a few showers later with no interest shown in our baits we moved along the shore slightly and I decided to switch to a three hook flapper rig to see if I could tempt any other species. For a while this attracted no attention from the resident fish and the only action Nick and I saw was a few helicopters out on exercises flying quite low up out of Glencoe.

Something going on in the water would have been preferable.

A while later Nick was coming along to see if I fancied a move when I got my first bite of the session and lifted my rod to find something fairly small on the end. Reeling it in fairly quickly to get it up clear of the ledge a rather nice looking grey gurnard was soon guided through the floating bladderwrack in front of me and swung up to my hand.

Beautifully marked with lovely golden flecks down its flanks. I think fish from crystal clear water are the most vivid colouration wise.

Carefully put back I watched it swim off quickly through the seaweed. Getting off the mark had been very hard work but we were hopeful this would be the first of a few fish. Alas it was not and whilst my rod tip was gently rattled three more times over the next hour or so I only connected with one small whiting. Little reward for about five hours fishing. More action than Nick's rods had seen though so we agreed to head off, get something to eat and book into the hostel we were staying in before heading out again for a few hours in the evening.

Accomodation and hunger sorted out we headed down to another spot just before dark and found an area that offered us some protection from the wind leaving just the constant drizzle and a fishing platform of slippery slate fragments to contend with. The water was very deep but we'd soon discover that the downside was the numerous slate ledges in front of us which were very difficult to retrieve our gear over. Nick's first cast had barely settled when a cracking bite pulled his rod rest over. Picking up his rod he wound down and soon had a good bend in it. A descent fish but sadly we didn't find out what it was as he lost it trying to get it in over the ledges.

After Nick's first cast action I stand hoping something will pull my rod over too.

We soldiered on and tried a few different spots but retrieving gear was proving extremly problematic and as Nick had already discovered, landing a fish should we hook one would be even harder. After a few hours and thoroughly soaked we decided to call it a night and formulate a plan for the following day over a couple of hard earned alcoholic beverages back at the hostel. 

On Wednesday morning we headed west and checked out a few marks we'd picked out as potential fishing spots on Google Maps but with rain forecast all day and the wind blowing right up the loch we decided to head south to Loch Etive and seek shelter at Bonawe where the weather outlook was slightly better rain wise. It didn't take too long to get there and we were soon at the chosen spot and fishing. Hopeful of catching a shark I went with a pulley rig and fairly big baits. Large mackerel pieces and double sandeel wrapped in squid were my weapons of choice and these were cast out into the bay in front of us. Nick was obviously keen to catch any fish that would bite having blanked the previous day and dropped a two hook flapper down fairly close in. This saw him hook a fish almost straight away and a small cod was soon landed.

Nick's first fish of the trip. Small but most welcome.

After a while with no bites I decided to fish a flapper rig close in too and quickly replicated Nick's result with a small cod of my own. I then alternated between rigs each cast. No action at all on the pulley rig but I managed another two cod and two pollock from close range.

Slightly wet but this rather plump pollock cheered me up a bit. 

Having caught a few fish I then decided to focus again on trying to tempt a shark of some description. Sadly my efforts didn't produce one. Nick caught a few more small cod at close range but in the early evening he packed up and headed back to the car to warm up. I finished off the last of my bait without tempting anything else before joining him. When I got back to the car I found Nick fishing lures next to it and he had caught a few small pollock. Both pretty tired we packed our gear into the car and set off for home. Like my day afloat on Loch Etive the previous Sunday the weather over the two days was pretty miserable and the fishing was tough but it was still an enjoyable trip. I'd like to try Loch Leven again but in better weather. It was good to catch up with Nick again and I'm looking forward to going kayaking with him in not too distant future. He's keen to catch some wrasse on soft plastics too so no doubt we'll be meeting up to do a bit of that in summer as well and I'm sure we'll have some fun doing that down St Abbs Head when the weather is a lot nicer!

Tight lines, Scott.

Wet and windy in the west.

My workmate Stewart has recently stopped playing football, hanging up his boots at the ripe old age of twenty three, this has left him looking for something to do with his Sundays. After enjoying a couple of days out with me fishing recently he was keen to go again last weekend. The weather looked pretty miserable across the country when I checked the forecast at the end of last week so I decided we should head west and spend the day out on Loch Etive to hopefully catch some shark species. The weather outlook there was not any better than anywhere else but I figured we would be able to move around to find a bit of shelter during any bad spells and if things got really bad we could always hide in the longliner's cuddy.

It was an early start on Sunday morning and we arrived at Aird's Bay just after nine, quickly loaded our gear into the boat and started the session by tying up on a large grey buoy in the bay. The target there was thornback rays so I set us both up with a simple running ledger with a strip of mackerel on a #3/0 circle hook with the snood decorated with a few luminous beads. Things were slow though so we switched to a sandeel wrapped in squid to see if we could change our fortunes. Sadly apart from a solitary shore crab for Stewart we didn't though so we both changed to a three up rig with slightly smaller #1/0 circles and small chunks of mackerel to see if there were any whiting around. After another hour or so though we still hadn't made contact with any fish so I suggested we moved up to the front of Bonawe Quarry and fished on the drift to try and open our accounts. This soon proved to be a good move when we both caught a few small cod.

Not much comes back out of a cod's big mouth.

After several drifts and still keen to locate some sharks we headed further up the loch to the next small bay and tied up to another buoy. I switched back to a running ledger but it soon became apparent that there was nothing happening and when the wind picked up, the rain started to fall rather heavily and almost horizontally we took shelter in the cuddy.

Miserable conditions.

Stewart watches his rod tip from the shelter of the cuddy.

We struggled on as the boat swung around but after half an hour or so we decided to head back to Aird's Bay to hopefully find a calmer spot. On the way I got a good soaking as spray came over the sides which Stewart found hilarious. The wind dropped off and the sun appeared as we got half way across the bay so we tied up to another big grey buoy and I started to dry out a bit.

Here comes the sun.

After a while I finally had a couple of bites before connecting with a third. A small but obviously very hungry whiting had taken my fairly large piece of mackerel.

Last time I fished in Aird's bay there were loads of whiting and poor cod around.

I was expecting more to follow but it went quiet again. The sun may have appeared but there was still a strong wind moving the boat about a fair bit which made bite detection tricky. Reeling up the slack line as the boat moved towards my lead I lifted it up out of the soft bottom and felt a little extra resistance. Reeling up I felt a dead weight and soon had a small thornback ray that had taken my sandeel wrapped in squid bait in the boat.

Heads or tails? Both missing. Maybe Stewart can take photography lessons on Sundays?

A rather thorny tail on this thornback.

Stewart still wasn't having any luck and I was keen to see him catch a ray too so we swapped rods. No more action for a while though and with time running out we headed over towards the shore where we'd launched from and drifted fairly close in. Despite being close to the shore we were still fishing in just over 100ft of water. The bottom there was mixed though with some soft and some rocky areas. As Stewart hadn't caught anything for a while he took the rod with the three up rig. I took the running ledger rod and put on a fairly big mackerel strip. Almost completely dry by this point the sky opened again and we got another soaking. I then felt a knock and lifted into it. Fish on. Up came a nice chunky short spined sea scorpion.

Probably the biggest I've ever caught but I don't bother with weighing or measuring anymore. I aways enjoy catching fish regardless of their size.

This was followed a few minutes later by a second. Time was soon up so we made the very short journey back to the shore bringing what was a good session to an end even it was slow at times and the weather mainly poor. I love catching rays and scorpion fish are a favourite of mine too so I was chuffed with those. Stewart enjoyed himself again and I think he's going to get into fishing so it'll be good to add him to my growing circle of fishing mates. I was a bit disappointed he never caught any sharks but it was good to see him catch a couple of cod on his first day fishing afloat. I think we will be having a work day out afloat on Loch Etive over the summer on one of the larger charter boats so hopefully he'll get a few then if we don't go back there sooner.

Tight lines, Scott.

Sh-- Sharks!

I love sharks. Sharks are awesome. At the end of last year I tried to meet up with my mate Martin several times to fish Loch Etive for spurdogs. Each time the agreed date arrived our plans were scuppered by some truly awful weather. Sunday must have been the fifth or sixth time we'd arranged such a session and finally the weather cut us some slack. After picking Martin up in Glasgow we drove up there and were soon at the quarry in Bonawe on the western side of the loch. Martin led the way to a rocky outcrop and we were soon getting set up. We set ourselves a little challenge of catching a shark hat trick of a spurdog, a thornback ray and a dogfish and decided to fish a variety of baits on single hook pulley rigs. I was using a fairly soft rod, a fixed spool reel loaded with 50lb braid and circle hooks whilst Martin was using a shorter stiffer rod teamed up with a multiplier loaded with 18lb mono and a more traditional hook pattern. The water in front of us was very deep but there was a weedy ledge to negotiate when reeling in. It didn't take long for Martin to get a few bites and whilst I was struggling to get my lead to hold bottom and constantly trying to tighten up he hooked a fish.

Martin gets the first fish of the day. A nice cod taken on a strip of rainbow trout.

After losing a rig due to the current pulling it into a snag I moved a few yards to an area where I could cast a little easier. As a result I was getting a bit more distance and a few knocks too. First good bite and I lifted the rod, reeling into a fish. It was hard work trying to quickly get it up over the ledge and I was regretting my choice of tackle if I'm honest.

Reeling like a madman. Sweaty work in several layers and a floatation suit jacket!

A nice thornback ray. Double sandeel proving a tempting snack.

Martin then opened his shark account with a small spurdog before I got my second fish and second shark species of the day, a dogfish.

Martin's spurdog.

I don't care what anyone says, dogfish are cool.

Another spurdog for Martin and a few dogfish too left him just needing a thornback ray to complete the day's shark challenge. We fished on but were both struggling to get gear and fish back up over the ledge. As the tide dropped the black rocks being exposed in front of us were making things difficult too if we had to go down onto them to try and free out gear or return fish. Martin's Vibram soled boots made it particularly treacherous for him. It wasn't too long before I hooked my third fish of the day.

Three fish. Three species of shark. Hat trick completed!

Before the sun set we decided to move to another spot that was more comfortable and easier to fish in the dark. Whilst the water we were fishing into wasn't as deep there was no big ledge to contend with, there was also a bit less tide running and it didn't take long for us to start catching fish again. I had a second spurdog followed by a cod. Martin set up a second rod and after a string of dogfish taking his crab baits he got a cod too followed by a thornback ray.

Shark hat trick completed by Martin.

It then went quiet for a while and as I watched my rod tip I suddenly noticed how clear the sky was and how many stars were visible. Enjoying the view and using an app on my phone to see what constellations I was looking at I also picked out one "star" that was very bright which turned out to be Jupiter. I pointed it out to Martin who was trying to spot an owl which had broken the silence. It sounded like it was very close by and eventually it gave its position away when it turned its head and its eyes caught the light from Martin's headtorch.  A couple more fish were caught before we called it a night, my last one being a tiny thornback ray and Martin ended the session with an equally tiny dogfish.

This little thornback ray was only about ten inches across. Still managed to gobble a pretty big mackerel and squid cocktail though!

The smallest dogfish Martin's ever caught. Note the small parasites on its eye. A lot of fish in Loch Etive have these unfortunately.

All in all it was a good days fishing although I think next time I fish Loch Etive I'll be taking heavier gear and 8oz leads instead of 6oz ones to make holding bottom and retrieving gear and fish easier. On the plus side the circle hooks are proving effective with all bar one of my fish nicely hooked. I'm going to start debarbing them to ease unhooking though. The weather was actually quite nice too being very mild for the time of year and dry most of the day with only a couple of showers in the early afternoon. Martin commented that it was the driest day's fishing he's ever had there.  I always enjoy fishing with Martin and I'm looking forward to meeting up with him regularly throughout the year if possible. We've discussed a few things including him joining me to try and catch a ruffe from Loch Lomond and I'd like to go and target smoothhounds, a species of shark I've never caught before, from the shore down the south west coast of Scotland with him in the summer as well. We're also planning a few days fishing afloat and no doubt we'll squeeze in our annual Zander pilgrimage at some point too so lots to look forward to.

Tight lines, Scott.

Battling against the elements in Jersey.

A few months ago I'd discussed a possible trip to Jersey with my friends Lee Goddard and Ross Johnson whom I first met over in Angelsey back in May at the North Wales Bumble. We decided to go and booked travel and accomodation and whilst they were driving down from Wales and taking the ferry, I was flying down via Gatwick arriving slightly earlier and leaving a day later. A week before we went the weather forecasts for our trip didn't look great but we tried to remain positive and were looking forward to fishing together again and having a laugh whatever mother nature would serve up!

The first day of the trip was last Thursday and after an early start to my journey and two fairly short flights I arrived on Jersey at 9:30. I jumped on a bus and headed into St Helier before catching a second one to Gorey, where the hostel we would be staying was located. On way there I had a text from Lee to say that their ferry had been cancelled due to the rough conditions and that hopefully they'd be on the next one at 5:30 following day. This wasn't great news but I knew at least they could do a spot of fishing to pass the time. Luckily for me I had arranged to meet fellow The Lure Forum member Martin Riddock who picked me up from near Gorey Castle and was good enough to show me a few places to fish near Gorey before dropping me off at the hostel. Before he left we agreed to meet up on Tuesday in the morning before I left as he fancied giving LRF a go.

Gorey Castle. My adventure would begin on the rocks at the back.

No it's not Jersey being nuked! Just a downpour in the distance. Wouldn't be the last either. Many of them hailstones!

After dumping my gear in the room I took my LRF gear and headed down to the back of Gorey Castle to start exploring. The wind and rain made things very difficult to fish the open sea though so I started exploring the rockpools. It wasn't long at all before I caught a rock goby. In the next rockpool a common blenny snaffled my Gulp! Sandworm. I worked my way around the rocks and soon caught another rock goby.

My first fish of the trip. A rock goby.

This Jersey blenny seemed rather shy compared to his Scottish cousins.

Then I spotted a nice rocky outcrop and started to make my way over to it. On the way there however I spotted some smaller gobies in a fairly large rectangular pool. I tied on a #26 hook and put on a tiny piece of pink Power Isome. After a bit of teasing I managed to hook one but it fell off as I lifted it from the water. I soon hooked another though and swung it up to my hand to discover it was a two spotted goby. I popped it back and kept trying in the hope that a new goby species might be in there for me and soon I caught another one. It had strange markings and certainly wasn't a common or two spotted goby. I began checking it and as soon as I inspected its first dorsal fin I realised it was in fact a tiny rock goby.

A bit like buses these two spotted gobies. I've started spotting them everywhere!

The smallest rock goby I've caught. Nothing escapes the #26 hooks!

Light was beginning to fade and I decided to head into St Helier to try around the marinas for scad. By the time I got there the wind was battering the place and heavy showers of hailstones were raining down. I tried in the Elizabeth Marina and also from the Albert Pier but apart from one or two strange bites near the bottom there was very little sign of any fish. Cold, wet and quite tired I called it a night and headed back to the hostel hoping that Lee and Ross would arrive soon so I wasn't going it solo for much longer.

On Friday morning I woke to find I had received a text from Lee during the night saying that they were on the boat over. They were due to arrive just after 10:00 but by 12:00 there was still no sign if them. I tried calling both of them but couldn't get them so I sent a text to say where I'd be and left a message with reception too. I walked down to the shore and just as I got down there and started climbing onto some rocks Lee rang me from the hostel to say they had popped into Mr Fish on the way and Ross would come down to pick me up. Together at last! After they'd told me about their nightmare crossing and how ill Lee had been we headed off to a mark to target giant gobies as Lee had never caught one before. It was a fairly slow start despite spotting some movement in a big rockpool the fish were very shy, hiding under large rocks and refusing to come out. Ross was first to get a fairly small one and then turned his attention to some tiny gobies he thought might be two spotted gobies. After exploring the area for a while I headed back to first pool. After a bit of patience and sticking my rod tip under a few rocks to deliver the Isome I managed to catch two giant gobies.

Giant gobies are the biggest of the U.K. goby species.

I popped it into a small rockpool to show the lads.

Then as I worked my way over to where Lee and Ross were I caught a smaller giant goby followed by a rock goby. Lee then managed to catch his first giant goby and was quite pleased. Ross had been busy still trying to find and catch smaller gobies but hadn't been successful. 

Not all giant gobies are giant!

After searching the area for a while Lee gets his first ever giant goby.

We then decided we'd had enough of the giant gobies and went to visit Mr Fish where we met the guys who work in the shop and had a chat. Lovely blokes and we could have chatted all night long! We were planning to target undulate rays that night and Ross wanted to scratch with smaller hooks to see what else was around in the hope of picking up something new. With ragworm, sandeel and squid purchased as well as a few lures and other bits and pieces off we went to Bouley Bay. I was fishing two bait rods and also intended to try a bit of LRF but bites started coming from the off. I caught a dogfish. Ross and Lee caught some as well but are not fans of the species due to them taking baits intended for other targets but I think they are nice fish and don't mind catching them at all. A short time later one of my rods started nodding again and I picked it up and struck, hooking the fish. It didn't feel like a big fish so I thought it may be another dogfish. It wasn't until it came into view we realised it was a small undulate ray. As I pulled it in over the rocks I caught my other line and pulled it in a fair distance. After taking some photos of the ray and putting it back I proceeded to sort out my second rod only to find I had a fish on it. Reeling it in I knew it was something small but to our surprise it was a topknot that had swallowed half of my sandeel wrapped in squid including a #4/0 hook!

Lee says he hates dogfish. Could have fooled me.

First new species of the trip and an absolute cracker too.

Strange yet beautiful markings are fascinating to look at.

Pure luck but I don't care!

A quite bizarre fish and my second new species of the trip.

One of my dogfish. I like them!

After the initial action packed start to the night it went quiet for a while apart from a group of Portuguese anglers who were huddled closely together at the corner of the breakwater catching squid. Ross caught a few pouting and I had a go for sand smelt in the harbour but they just weren't interested in my tiny pieces of Power Isome or ragworm. As the night progressed most of the Portuguese anglers drifted away but when only one remained he caught a big squid that must have been about 4lb. As we packed up all our gear I decided I'd like to try squiding on my LRF gear! A trip to Mr Fish would be required to buy some small jigs.

On Saturday morning we went into St Helier and headed to the Victoria Pier. I decided to drop shot Gulp! Sandworm sections. It was soon apparent that the spot we were fishing held a healthy goby population. I soon caught a few black and rock gobies. I also hooked a whiting which came of on the surface. This would have added to my lure caught tally for 2012 and it was the second time I've hooked one on a lure only to loose it on the surface. I then caught a small ballan wrasse and Ross had a couple of corkwing wrasse. Lee caught a few sand gobies. Another species he is less than fond of!

A black goby. Note the elongated first dorsal fin. A key identifying feature.

This small ballan made a nice change from gobies!

Male corkwing wrasse are very pretty fish.

In the early afternoon we headed to Mr Fish again to meet up with fellow species hunter Andy Marquis who'd made the trip over from the island of Guernsey to fish with us. Whilst in the shop we all got some LRF squid jigs. Lee still wasn't feeling 100% after being ill on the ferry and had a massive headache so we went back to the hostel so he could have a few hours sleep. Whilst Ross went to dig some lugworm, Andy and I fished from a rock at the back of Gorey Castle and had a chat about fishing. The spot looked quite promising with rocks and weed mixed with sandy areas. We were both drop shotting but there was little action apart from some persistent if tiny bites. These were fairly constant so we scaled down our hooks. Andy went to a #14 whilst I went even smaller and tied on a #20. The bites kept coming and because they felt a little strange we persevered to try and catch a culprit hoping for something odd. When I finally hooked one I was disappointed though to find out it was a sand goby.

Amazing that we could even feel their bites.

Ross returned at this point and he had a go for a two spotted goby for a bit in the rockpool where I had caught mine a couple of days earlier but after half an hour he admitted defeat. We went back up to hostel to find Lee up and feeling a bit better. Ross wanted to fish a rock mark for red mullet and sole which involved a bit of a climb and Lee didn't feel up to it and Andy suggested we could target scad instead so Lee and I went with him whilst Ross went off on his own. The three of us headed to mouth of the Elizabeth marina but it was way too windy so we headed back to Gorey to fish under the breakwater lights. No joy there though so we headed to Bouley Bay again. Fishing there was slow too. A few small pollock were caught and then I turned my attention to the sand smelt again. It took me a while but once I had my first another four soon followed. Lee then hooked a topknot but it escaped as he brought it to the surface. He was pretty gutted to say the least. We then had a go at squiding but had no joy. Even the small group of Portuguese anglers targeting them caught very few. A garfish then swam into the harbour but wasn't interested in the small metals I cast towards it. Lee caught a few more pollock but was still cursing his luck over the lost topknot. We called it a night about midnight and headed back to the hostel. When we got there Ross was already in bed sleeping. We wondered how he'd got on but would have to wait until the morning to find out.

Small pollock kept Lee busy on a tough night.

It took me a while to figure out how to get the sand smelt interested and biting before cracking it and catching my third new species of the trip

When we got up on Sunday morning Ross told us he'd had no luck with red mullet and sole and had instead caught a load of shore rockling, three bearded rockling and pouting. Andy had to leave early due to his ferry being cancelled and having to catch an earlier one so we thanked him for making the effort to come over and said goodbye, not before buying a load of drop shot leads from him though! We then headed to "White Rock" for three hours to try for bass and wrasse. Conditions were tough again but we had a go anyway. Despite it being very windy Ross caught two bass in quick succession and Lee managed a single ballan wrasse. I lost quite a bit of tackle to snags and Ross and I had a break whilst Lee seemed to be feeling a lot better and was enjoying his fishing for the first time.

One of Ross's rockling from the previous night.

White Rock on the north coast.

Lee's only reward for his efforts. We both had a few shy bites but this wrasse was a bit more aggressive.

Lee searches for more wrasse. Ross watches from the top of the hill.

Later that afternoon we had arranged to meet up with two well known anglers, Steve Mullins and Roger Mortimer, to dig some bait for another crack at red mullet. We met up with them at 2pm and after digging enough lugworm for the evening they took us to the first mark. Fishing was quite slow though and whilst Steve worked his way along the shore trying for bass on hard lures Roger who was also fishing a bait rod told us a few fishing stories to keep us entertained whilst we waited for bites. None were forthcoming however and when Steve returned we packed up and headed back to the cars. Roger had to go at this point but he said he could fish with us again in the morning which we happily said yes to. Steve took us to another mark and after we were set up he wished us luck and left us to it. Again the fishing was slow with no red mullet caught and only a few dogfish and pout saving us all from blanking. It was quite a nice evening though and we all agreed that whilst the days fishing had been tough we'd all enjoyed it!

Gorey Harbour as the tide goes out. Lugworm lookout!

On Monday morning we met up with Roger Mortimer again and had a spot of breakfast before going fishing. Whilst enjoying a bacon, sausage and egg roll we all listened to more of Rogers fishing stories. As well as being a great angler he's a lovely bloke and listening to him recall his fishing experiences was a real pleasure. Breakfast over off we went and were soon at the mark, a nice sheltered bay on the north east coast. Ross wanted another go for a red mullet and was fishing two bait rods. Roger was fishing one rod and was first to catch. A nice little bream. Meanwhile Lee and I were trying for wrasse down the sides but were having no luck so I tried drop shotting Power Isome a bit further out to try for a bream. Ross then hooked something and was ecstatic when he reeled it in to find a Baillon's wrasse had taken his lugworm bait.

Finally a new species for Ross. A nice fish too!

Pink lips and fins along with bright orange markings make Baillon's wrasse quite distinct.

I managed a couple of small pollock before the wind suddenly decided to swing round into the bay and it started raining heavily signalling a change of location. We said goodbye to Roger who had to head off to go to his work. He took a quick group photo of us before we climbed back up to the cars and went our separate ways.

Matching hoodies kindly given to us by Mick at Mr Fish.

Back in the car and both the headlamps on Ross's car had stopped working so we headed into St Helier to find a garage to get the problem looked at. After that was done we decided to have an hour or so down at Victoria Pier again to see what may turn up. We tried a new spot but apart from a small dragonet that Ross caught on a rather big lugworm bait the action was slow so we headed back round to the spot we'd fished before. I was hopeful of a whiting but once again the area was full of gobies. I caught nine black gobies and nine rock gobies before we decided to head up to Bouley Bay again so Lee could try for another topknot, I fancied a go at squiding, Ross's mate Dan Ferguson was going to join us and Ross was going to have a final go for red mullet. Whilst I waited for the Portuguese to start catching squid I drop shotted the inside of the harbour to see what may turn up. Lee and I managed a few small pollock and the Portuguese were having very little success squiding so we decided to join Ross and Dan on the rocks. When we got over there Ross said there were some small fish in some of the rockpools so we went to have a closer look. I was pretty sure they were gobies and also that they were a species I'd never seen or caught before. Out came the #26 hooks and Ross and I soon had caught one each on tiny chunks of pink Power Isome. Inspecting them closely I was sure they were painted gobies due to the blue markings on their dorsal fins. A new species for both of us.

You can't see the colours on the dorsal fin in this photo but I didn't have my observation tank with me!

Soon it was time for Ross and Lee to head off to catch their ferry and as I was staying the night and flying home the following evening Dan, who has caught several conger over 30lb, suggested he and I head off to try for one with also the chance of some rays turning up. After saying goodbye to Ross and Lee we jumped in Dan's van and headed north. After a short walk we arrived and set up three bait rods. Fishing one large bait for conger and two smaller baits for rays the action was pretty non stop. A steady stream of bites and you can probably guess which species was responsible! First cast saw two dogfish hooked on a pennel rigged double sandeel bait.

First cast. Two dogfish on one bait. A first for me.

This would set the scene and ten dogfish in total were caught. A single pouting made a nice change and a fresh conger bait but towards the end of the session I caught a lovely ray. At first sight I though it was a spotted ray but it was actually a small blonde ray.

My second ray of the trip and my fifth new species.

Another beautiful shark species. I may be "Talkin' about sharkin'!" more often in the future.

I must say that Dan was very generous with his time, effort and bait, was happy to let me do most of the fishing and helped me enormously by rebaiting the hooks as the resident dogfish munched their way through everything we cast out. After a climb back to the car that seemed a lot steeper than the climb down Dan drove me back to the hostel.

Tuesday morning and after sorting out my stuff I was picked up by Martin and we headed off for a spot of LRF. The wind had dropped slightly and it was a reasonably sunny day. Having had the most success at Victoria Pier we headed there and after explaining drop shotting to Martin and setting up his rod we were soon fishing the bottom in search of gobies. It wasn't long before I caught a few and after missing a few bites and switching to a slightly smaller hook Martin had soon caught his first ever rock goby. After just over an hour or so of catching gobies we decided to try some small metals for an hour at another part of the pier but this didn't produce any action. Martin had to head to work and kindly dropped me off at Mr Fish on his way. I think Martin may have caught the LRF bug and hopefully next time I visit Jersey we can fish together again.

I had a further two hours to kill before catching my bus to the airport so I left the majority of my stuff in the shop and after a bit of advice from one of the guys headed for a bite to eat before trying my luck for flounders from a long concrete waste pipe that runs out into the bay. I started at the end and worked my way back to the shore but the water was a bit cloudy and I didn't have any luck. I collected my gear from Mr Fish and began my journey home five species better off.

Whilst the weather really made the fishing difficult and at times painfully slow I still enjoyed the trip and it was nice to spend time with the lads again. Ross's previous trips helped us locate some fish and the helpful advice from the guys at Mr Fish and a few local anglers also played a huge part in us making the most of our time on Jersey. I'll be back for sure and I know you can't predict the weather but I think next time I'll go in the summer!

Tight lines, Scott.