Species hunting road trip: Mull of Galloway.

Earlier in the summer, I arranged a couple of days out on Tuesday and Wednesday last week aboard Mull of Galloway charter boat "On Yer Marks" for myself and my mates, Nick and Ryan. A few weeks after this was booked however, I was offered a place on a boat out of Weymouth to target something quite unusual. Butterfly blenny! This trip was taking place the following day on the Thursday so I had a difficult decision to make as the dates caused problems travel wise. In the end, the opportunity to catch a butterfly blenny proved too tempting for me to turn down, so I broke the news to Nick and Ryan that I'd be driving south whilst they were out fishing on the second day. 

Going all the way down to Weymouth is a long way to go for just one day out on a boat, so I decided to use up the last of my holidays at work and extend my stay afterwards. This would allow me to try and catch a few species down there that I'd not yet caught this year, and also hopefully perhaps even some new ones as well. So, a two day trip to the southwest of Scotland had become an eight day long road trip to the southwest coast of the UK!

Last Monday night the three of us drove down to Stranraer, where our accommodation was booked. The next morning we drove down to East Tarbet where the boat was being launched. The conditions weren't great, it was pretty windy and a bit of a swell was running, so after catching some mackerel to use as bait, skipper Matt headed down around the Mull of Galloway to some sheltered water where we spent a large portion of the day float fishing for pollock. We all caught lots of them, but Nick seemed to consistently pull out the bigger specimens.

One of Nick’s pollock.

In the afternoon, we briefly visited a second mark, where we fished for launce over a sandbank using sabiki. There were shoals of mackerel in the area however, and as a result we only managed to catch two launce, but I got one of them, and it was my first of the year, so I was happy enough.

Look at the size of that mouth!

After a bit more pollock fishing in the afternoon, the wind had dropped off a bit, so we headed back around to the Luce Bay side of the peninsula where we spent some time live baiting joey mackerel for bass. We made several drifts over fairly shallow ground, letting out lots of line in the hope a passing bass would devour one of our baits as they swam along, but sadly this approach didn't produce any results. Before calling it a day and heading back in, we did a few final drifts fairly close to shore over a mark that Matt assured us would, and did, produce a few small tub gurnard.

The second addition to my 2023 species hunt tally.

The first day's fishing over, it was touch and go whether the second day's fishing would go ahead due to the forecast, but in the evening I got a text from the skipper saying that Nick and Ryan were to head to Port Logan for a 09:00 launch. I wouldn't be joining them as I had a long drive to make south. In the morning we parted company and I wished them luck targeting tope, bull huss and conger eel. They wished me luck targeting butterfly blenny! Not something you hear very often!

Tight lines, Scott.

Click here for the next part.

...I'm having such a good time.

When my mate Martin arranged a day out on his mate Scott's boat for us I hadn't reached my target of fifty saltwater species from Scottish venues. When the three of us left Port Logan aboard Scott's boat on Sunday I had already caught fifty two so the pressure was off as far as I was concerned and I was just looking forward to enjoying a bit of fishing in good company. That being said the species hunter in me knew there were still a few species that I could catch during the session that would add to my tally and at the first spot Scott guaranteed that I'd catch a bull huss. He wasn't wrong and before too long I was reeling one in. Being notorious for dropping baits at the side of boats Martin netted it for me. Just as well too as the hook fell out as soon as it went into it. Their strength is quite something else and it was a particularly feisty one, proving very hard to handle, and photograph.

A very badly behaved bull huss.

Lemon sole was another and much more unusual species that Scott had caught at the first mark so I fished a three down rig on a 6-12lb class setup. I had added luminous beads, sequins and a piece of split shot to each snood and put a small piece of ragworm on the #8 hooks. This produced a few other species but no lemon sole or anything else that added to my 2015 tally. After a while we raised the anchor and headed to a second mark where we did some drifting. Scott had caught a lemon sole there too and told us it was a good spot for red and tub  gurnards as well, two additional species that I'd not caught so far this year. Again Scott was spot on and he soon boated a red gurnard, jokingly apologising for doing so. Of course after this every other fish the lads hooked was a red or tub gurnard until it reached the surface and morphed into a haddock, dogfish or something else. Like any other gurnards that might have been down there though, I wasn't biting. 

No more gurnard were caught drifting at the second mark and the action along with the gurnard wind ups slowed down after a while so we finished up the session drifting in a bay to the south of Port Logan. On the first drift Martin caught a tub gurnard on a set of mackerel baited daylights and the gurnard related teasing resumed. I switched to a two up rig with some yellow beads on the snoods, baited with tapered strips of mackerel hooked through the thin end. Over the next few drifts I caught a few more small fish before hooking something a little bigger. I jokingly told Martin to get the net ready for my tub but when a tub gurnard did actually appear I didn't wait for it and swung it in instead.

My first tub gurnard of 2015 was in fine condition. I didn't realise it at the time but it was also my 100th saltwater species of 2015, equalling last years total.

Of course I was still hopeful that a red gurnard would take one of my mackerel baits next but instead it was a plaice followed fairly quickly by a short spined sea scorpion.

Not big by any stretch of the imagination but this was still my biggest plaice from Scottish waters so far. 

Another cracking looking fish and also my biggest ever short spined sea scorpion. 

Soon it was time to head back to Port Logan. It had been a thoroughly enjoyable day's fishing and I'd added two species to my 2015 Scottish saltwater species tally, taking it to fifty four. Between us we'd caught fifteen species in total which isn't bad going for October. It was nice to fish with Scott for the first time too, it was very generous of him to take Martin and I out and I'd like to fish with him again if the opportunity ever arises. Over the last few years Martin has become a great friend and I always enjoy fishing with him. He had again gone out of his way to help me out with my species hunting by arranging the day and it's not the first time either. As well as offering info and encouragement he's put me in touch with some great anglers who've also done their best to help me too. On the way home another of Martin's friends happened to call him and a trip to Crinan was mentioned. Skate, conger eel and black mouthed dogfish are all potential catches and, as you've probably guessed, Martin mentioned me and another enjoyable day out fishing afloat is perhaps on the cards as a result. I'm sure if I do get a place on the boat I'll have another good time and maybe I can edge closer to sixty in the process.

Tight lines, Scott.

A kraken day afloat.

On Tuesday I headed down to Port Logan with two of my mates, Nick and Stewart, for a day out with skipper Spike aboard his boat Go West. I was hopeful that I could add some species to my Scottish saltwater species hunt tally with bull huss, herring, tub gurnard and red gurnard being the most likely captures that would see me do that. In the end I only managed to add one but we all caught a few fish, had a laugh and to top it all off the sun even managed to appear in the afternoon.

Once upon a time herring were plentiful around Scotland, sadly this is no longer the case due to overfishing. They can still be caught in the Irish Sea at certain times of the year and I was happy to catch two of them on a set of sabiki.

Nick caught a couple of tub gurnard after his first one spat the hook at the side of the boat. I had no luck catching one despite us spending a bit of time repeatedly drifting over the area where Nick caught his.

In the afternoon I caught a couple of nice colourful male cuckoo wrasse while scratching around on the bottom. They are one of my favourite UK fish. 

I also hooked and boated a couple of these amazing creatures. The first octopus was friendly enough, crawling around on my arm after I removed my hook from its tentacle, but the second one decided to bite me with it's rather sharp little beak whilst clinging onto my hand. Putting my arm in the water it let go, spurted its ink and swam off.

Later in the day we headed a bit further offshore to try for a ling over some rougher ground but instead we caught a few ballan wrasse and some dogfish before I caught this small haddock.

Before we knew it was time to wind up for the last time and head back to port. It had been an enjoyable day out and the herring had left me with only five saltwater species remaining to catch to reach my goal for the year. There are quite a few species I can catch out of Port Logan that I haven't caught yet this year so I will be back down there again as soon as I can. My mate Martin is trying to organise a day out for us with one of the guys from his angling club, also named Scott. I might also book another day out with one of the charter boats down there too with Stewart and some other guys from my work who are keen to go fishing. Hopefully the weather will be kind. 

Tight lines, Scott.

South Coast and Channel Island Fishathon Part 2 : Cornwall.

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

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

Carl with a specimen greater weever.

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

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

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

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

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

The first haddock of the day.

A fine looking fish.

Beautiful eyes too.

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

Mark gets another species for his own 2014 tally.

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

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

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

Split shot rig put to good effect again.

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

The lads fish from the point.

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

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

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

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

Another species added to my tally.

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

Andy's first blue shark.

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

Second blue shark of the day for Craig.

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

The biggest one so far.

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

My first UK garfish.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A fine male black goby.

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

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

Mevagissey Breakwater is a very popular spot with anglers.

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

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

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

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

A few grumpy pollock were caught.

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

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

All good things to those who wait.

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

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

Tight lines, Scott.

Click here to read the final part.

Three is a magic number.

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

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

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

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

Naz's first bull huss.

A nice feisty bull huss for Nick too.

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

My third grey gurnard of 2013.

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

I'm talkin' about sharkin'! Again.

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

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

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

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

The biggest pollock boated.

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

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

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

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

Woof woof. Who put the dog baits out?

How bizarre! Is it a juvenile spider crab perhaps?

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

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

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

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

Tight lines, Scott.