Species hunting adventures around Nessebar : Part 2.

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

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

Usually the last two are much more well defined.

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

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

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

Beautiful Nessebar.

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

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

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

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

Another new blenny species in my little observation tank.

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

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

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

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

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

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

A female tentacled blenny.

The females have a different structure to their tentacles.

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

The male's tentacles are much more impressive.

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

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

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

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

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

Quaint little cobbled streets.

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

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

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

The Balkan Mountains.

On our way back down to the bottom.

Don't look down, just point your camera.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Snake! "The name's Plisken."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tight lines, Scott.

Species hunting adventures around Nessebar : Part 1.

On Monday the 1st of June I flew out to the Bulgarian Black Sea resort of Nessebar for a week's holiday with my girlfriend Lillian. We arrived at our hotel in the new part of Nessebar on the mainland early in the afternoon and after unpacking we decided to have a walk over to the old part of town. Permission was given for me to take my light game fishing gear and off we went. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, the sun was shining and a light cooling breeze was blowing as we headed over the causeway that links the new part of Nessebar with the old. Stopping half way across I had a couple of casts over the fairly shallow water on its southern side. The bottom was a mixture of clean sand and dense weedy areas. It didn't take long for a few little fish to start biting at my Angleworm and before long I had caught my first fish and new species of the trip which was followed by another two new species.

I work my drop shot rig slowly back towards myself, feeling for bites.

This little red mullet was my first fish and new species of the trip.

A round goby. Fairly easy to identify due to the black spot at the rear edge of their first dorsal fin.

My third new species of the trip, a bighead goby. These look a bit like a giant goby in many respects but they have a much shorter body and a brown and green colouration.

I then switched to half an Angleworm on a jighead and fished it around the boulders at the bottom of this statue.

This looming statue of St Nicholas marks the beginning of the old part of Nessebar.

This predictably saw me catching a few more gobies which shot out of the weed and rocks to attack and then I got a nice surprise when I caught a peacock blenny.

This peacock blenny was a much lighter colour than specimens I've caught in the past and its markings were almost white instead of bright blue.

We then had a wander through the cobbled streets and after being given the hard sell by various restaurant owners we eventually made it to a nice shell beach at the eastern end of the southern side of the island which had a little breakwater next to it. I got the nod and had another half an hour catching a few more round gobies from the rocks at the back of it.

A nice spot that I would return to.

To get back to the hotel without being continuously encouraged to eat and drink we decided to walk around the northern side of the island. We eventually passed by a nice looking restaurant that for some reason didn't feel the need to promote themselves in the same way as most of the others, went in and had a lovely meal. The restaurant overlooked a small harbour called the north port and I decided to fish it early in the morning the next day. 

Up at about 6:00 last Tuesday, off I went but before heading to try the north port I fished below the statue of St Nicholas again. This time I fished a drop shot rig and cast it out away from the boulders into slightly deeper water. This saw me catch my first couple of wrasse species of the trip, a few five spotted wrasse and an ocellated wrasse, another new species I had been keen to catch for the first time.

The tail of this five spotted wrasse was a bit ragged to say the least. Given the number of small, aggressive fish in the vicinity I suspect this was from other fish nipping chunks off in territorial disputes.

Another five spotted wrasse, this time in better condition and in darker shades of green and dark brown.

My first ocellated wrasse. A very pretty fish that has a very distinctive and colourful gill plate marking and a dark spot on its tail root making identification very straightforward.

Quite pleased to add a couple more species to my tally I then headed around to the north port. Fishing the eastern breakwater saw me catch a few more gobies and wrasse so I headed along to the end of the western breakwater to try there to see if there were any other species present. The water was crystal clear and I could see lots of blennies on the bottom lazily perched on rocks and slowly swimming around. It looked like there were two different species in residence and I recognised the larger ones with their mottled colouration and red pectoral and tail fins as rusty blennies. I wasn't sure what the second smaller species were though so set about catching some. This proved to be very easy as they were much more obliging than the rusty blennies who weren't at all interested in my little chunks of Angleworm.

Another new species but I didn't know which. Perhaps the fish's little "eyebrows" would help me identify it later?

I caught a few more of the unidentified blennies and also tried to catch their larger cousins but just couldn't tempt them. Before long it was time to head back to the hotel for breakfast so I would have to return and try again for the rather fussy rusty blennies. After breakfast Lillian and I went for a ramble around the streets of old Nessebar again. The quaint old houses are lost amongst lots of souvenir shops and restaurants. There are a little too many of these if you ask me, all competing for tourist leva, and spoiling the feel of the place a little. Wandering along the winding streets it was easy to get lost but we soon stumbled upon a rather good movie prop exhibition and spent a while looking around it. It was nice to get out of the sun and some of the items on display were pretty cool.

Goby. You seek goby.

Why so fishy?

Another unidentified species.

After a bit more exploring we headed back to the hotel where Lillian wanted a nap before dinner so I had an hour or so fishing from the rocks in front of our hotel. Working my way along to Captain Jack's, a large wooden boat that has been hauled up onto the beach, surrounded by rocks and converted into a bar, I caught a few more wrasse.

Another five spotted wrasse with a slightly nibbled tail.

In the evening after dinner we went for a walk south along the beach, up onto the cliffs at the end and back down onto another beach. My gear came along too and when we reached a rather poorly engineered pier made from scaffolding poles and creaking wooden boards that went out into the bay I took my chances and had half an hour or so fishing from it. The pier groaning as I moved around must have scared most of the fish away though and all I managed to catch was a few round gobies and couple of very lightly coloured black gobies before the sun began to set and we walked back to our hotel. 

Not the most robust of structures.

I've caught lightly coloured black gobies like this one before. You find them over sand normally but they are quite rare to find there. 

Last Wednesday after breakfast we headed back to the shell beach on old Nessebar. On the way I popped into the old town's small but well stocked tackle shop to ask for advice on good spots to fish. The owner was very helpful and pointed me in the direction of where we were heading, the north port and also the innermost part of the main harbour. When I asked him what I could expect to catch I wasn't too surprised at his response. "Goby!" he proclaimed rather enthusiastically. Whilst in the shop I also picked up a small packet of ragworm. We walked around the northern side of the island and made a quick stop at the north port so I could catch a few blennies from the end of its western breakwater.

I've found these rusty blennies to be fussy in the past, turning their noses up at Gulp and Isome, which is pretty unheard of really.  Little sections of fresh ragworm soon had them fighting with each other and saw me pulling them out though.

I also caught a few more of the unidentified blennies and a larger specimen made me suspect they were perhaps tentacled blennies.

A larger specimen of the as yet unidentified blenny. This one had much more impressive "eyebrows" and was perhaps a male. A little more research back at the hotel would confirm my suspicions and I was pleased to add tentacled blenny to my tally.

Heading around to the shell beach we paid for Lillian's sun lounger and she settled down in the shade of a parasol to read a book.

Perfect place to chill out in the shade on a nice beach with a good book. So I'm told. 

I planned on relaxing too and strolled out onto the small breakwater where I was soon finishing off my small packet of ragworm catching wrasse, gobies and blennies again. When my bait was used up I used a piece of Angleworm which simply resulted in slightly fewer bites from the same species. Casting out away from the rocks the bites stopped so I tried covering more of the water column using metals and then small paddletails but this failed to produce any bites either so I went back to fishing at close range and eventually I caught a couple more red mullet.

Red mullet lack the dark dorsal fin markings and yellow stripes of their close relative the striped red mullet. They also have a much steeper head, smaller mouth and barbules that aren't as long as their pectoral fins.

Apart from those it was a steady procession of wrasse, gobies and blennies and after a while I went back to the beach to see if Lillian was OK. She was happy enough relaxing and reading her book so I ambled along the coast a bit to the innermost part of the main harbour.

Lots of small fishing boats but what fish are lurking around them? Lots of wrasse, gobies and blennies was the answer!

A slightly darker black goby with elongated fin rays on display. Still lighter than most specimens I catch in the UK.

My second peacock blenny of the trip. This one a lot darker than the first with the typical light blue markings.

Casting out into the deeper water I caught a few bighead and round gobies and then reeling in what I though was another bighead I realised I had caught another new species of goby.

Doing a bit of googling back at the hotel later I'd discover it was a knout goby. Also known as the toad goby. Long and flat, it looks like it has been squashed.

I also spotted some tiny blennies down the harbour wall but couldn't tempt them to take a piece of Angleworm on a #26 hook despite them eagerly attacking it. I eventually gave up and ambled back along to the beach to find Lillian snoozing. Waking her up we were both rather hungry so we headed off for something to eat and a cold beer or two. Soon enjoying lovely views from a restaurant that had been recommended to us we decided what to have. I fancied a plate of battered goby but the waitress told me it was full of bones and recommended another local fish dish instead called vatos. It was very tasty but each piece had a strange flat section in the centre made up of lots of little bone like structures all stuck together in a flat arrangement. I had my suspicions but curious to find out exactly what I was enjoying we got the restaurants Wi-Fi code from the waitress and did a bit of googling. This would reveal I was unwittingly enjoying some battered strips cut from the wings of a thornback ray. Not a fish I would normally consider eating but it was rather delicious I must say and was finished off with another beer.

Cheers!

Only a few days into the trip and it was quite apparent that wrasse, goby and blenny species were completely dominant at every spot I had tried. I had already exceeded my trip target of three new species but if I was to reach my overall species goal of fifteen I'd have to perhaps venture further down the coast. That might turn up something new or perhaps a boat trip out into deeper water might also get me clear of the terrible trio. A foray into freshwater could also perhaps be another option to add a few more species to my tally should saltwater species dry up. Anyway, forgetting about targets we were having a lovely time and despite the fishing being slightly repetitive I was still having lots of relaxing fun in the sun!

Tight lines, Scott.

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