Species hunting adventures on Zakynthos : Part 2.

After getting back from my early morning session last Thursday Lillian and I drove up to the north west of the island to see the famous shipwreck that lies on the beach in the stunning Navagio Bay.

Rather than make a boat trip we opted to view the wreck of the smugglers ship from the cliffs above.

After this we headed east and visited the Askos Stone Park to see examples of some of the flora and fauna that is found on the island as well as a few more exotic creatures from further afield.

Some of the animals had the freedom to move around the park. We were warned not to touch the male deer. I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of those antlers that's for sure!

Where's the hair you ask?

These raccoons were very funny, sticking their paws out through their cage to take small biscuits from us and snarling at each other. The park staff described them as hooligans. 

We then headed east to the lovely port of Agios Nikoloas for some lunch. A tasty plate of fried squid and a Greek salad were soon eaten and Lillian relaxed in the shade under a tree on the beach whilst I headed over to the harbour's small breakwater for a short fishing session. Fishing a drop shot rig at close range amongst the breakwater boulders to begin with I caught a couple of Madeira rockfish before I spotted a small red fish darting out from beneath the boulders to nibble at my lure. I soon caught one and it turned out to be a Cardinalfish, my second new species of the trip.

Small but nasty. Unlike their UK cousins these scorpionfish are poisonous.

Quite an odd looking little fish with a beady black eye and its head and mouth look a bit out of proportion with the rest of its body.

Spotting a few damselfish off to my left and remembering how hard they are to catch due to their tendency to nip little pieces of lure until the hook is bare I rigged up a split shot rig and #22 hook with a tiny piece of Angleworm. Lowering it in amongst them I was soon hoisting one up.

Unlike during my time fishing on Crete last year where these were everywhere, I didn't see that many Damselfish in the waters around Zante.

Next I decided to drop shot further out into the deeper water behind the breakwater out away from the boulders making it up. This produced a painted comber and an ornate wrasse before I decided to change tactics and started fishing a small Rapala X-Rap to see if there were any pelagic species hunting in the area. After casting it around in a few different directions and trying a few different retrieves I was cranking it back fairly quickly giving it an occasional twitch and pause when a fish charged out from the boulders down to my left and grabbed my lure. A lightning quick turn and the fish was charging off again. My drag was set pretty tightly however and I managed to put enough pressure on to prevent it getting into the rocks and soon had it coming towards me after a couple of very powerful runs away towards open water. As it got closer I got a quick look at it and I was fairly sure it was a small amberjack about 1lb in weight. Not wanting to risk using my rod to lift it up to my elevated position I paused for a moment to think about how I was going to land it. The fish used my delay to make a dash for the rocks directly beneath me and somehow successfully unhooked itself on one leaving my lure snagged in the process. Rather annoyed I found myself regretting not having a net with me. By this point Lillian had wandered over and we made the drive south back to our apartment.

After a hearty dinner consisting of a few stuffed vine leaves, meat balls and giant beans Lillian wanted a nap so I headed down to Porto Roma for an hour or so and fished off of the rocky breakwater there as light faded using metals and small hard lures. My efforts attracted no interest whatsoever though and as it got dark I decided to try fishing from a small floating jetty along from the harbour with drop shot tactics. This was quite slow too but eventually it saw me catch a few small seabream before I called it a night.

Saddled seabream, another species added to the tally. They smell a bit.

On Friday morning I headed to Vasilikos Cape for sunrise again. Fishing drop shot saw me catch a few species I'd caught already before I hooked something at range that gave a good account of itself before coming to the surface in front of me. It was a striped seabream and keen not to loose another fish I quickly took hold of my line and holding my rod under my arm hand lined it up onto the rocks.

A colourful male Mediterranean rainbow wrasse.

A male ornate wrasse. Who says blue and green should never be seen?

Painted combers are pretty aggressive and have sharp teeth.

Greater weevers have some nice blue markings on them.

Striped seabream have a weird protrusible mouth.

Before I left I decided to try fishing around some partially submerged rocks at very close range. I was hoping to locate a blenny but instead I caught a Madeira rockfish.

Handle with care!

Despite taking care when handling it the fish managed to thrash in my hand and caught me with one of its spines on my middle finger drawing blood. I was a bit concerned and it soon started to go a bit numb with the occasional mildly painful tingling sensation. I packed up and headed back to the apartment. On the way it didn't get any worse and running my finger under very hot water, a treatment used for weever stings, soon had it feeling OK again. I'm not sure if the reaction I had to the poison was the normal one. Perhaps the poison isn't very bad or perhaps only a small amount was delivered. Anyway I don't intend to find out and in future I'll be taking extra care when handling poisonous fish!

Next on our itinerary was a trip to Limni Keriou harbour to take a boat trip to Marathonisi sland and around the coast to see the Keri caves. Before we left the harbour though a loggerhead turtle swam past the boat. The skipper turned the boat around so we could see it and a few of the fisherman tending their nets threw in a few fish for it to eat. It swam around for a short while eating them before disappearing again. Turtle spotting over off we went and were dropped off for an hour or so on Marathonisi.

Marathonisi island has a small beach on it that the turtles use for nesting. It looks a bit like a turtle too.

Lillian and I spent the time doing a bit of snorkeling around the rocks at the end of the small beach and saw lots of fish. Back on the boat we slowly made our way past the Keri Caves before stopping for a swim in the crystal clear waters below the cliffs in a lovely bay.

The coast line was quite dramatic.

Short boat trip over we were soon back at port and after getting dried off we headed up the west coast to Porto Limnionas, a beautiful cove where you can enjoy some lunch in the taverna there and go for a swim. After our lunch however I had other ideas and found a quiet spot away from the swimmers to have a fish.

Swimmer free.

Lillian meanwhile relaxed on the rocks and went for a swim when the heat became too much for her. It was a very hot day and this made fishing quite a sweaty experience. I soldiered on through the heat and after catching a few wrasse, a parrotfish and a Madeira rockfish which was very carefully unhooked and quickly returned, I caught my third new species of the trip.

Whilst I realised this was a new species I had to do some Googling later to find out it was an axillary wrasse. The spot on the root of the pectoral fin and the spot at the top of the tail root helping me reach this conclusion.

Very pleased by this I packed up and we headed further north to find a restaurant to have dinner in and enjoy the sun setting over the Ionian Sea. We soon found one that overlooked a small harbour called Porto Vromi and with an hour or so to kill until we ate we decided to drive down to have a wander round it. Soon down at the bottom of the slowly winding road that leads down to the small harbour I had no intention of fishing but when we spotted a small Mediterranean moray eel swimming along the bottom I was given the green light to go back to the car and get my gear. Sadly by the time I got back it had swam off out of sight but I did have a cast of two in the general direction it had swam off in and was rewarded with a couple of fish. A saddled Seabream and a dusky rabbitfish, another poisonous fish that requires careful handling but also another species to add to my tally taking it to seventeen for the trip.

Fish on.

Another fish to look out for. I've been stung by one before and a swollen numb finger was the result. Not a pleasant experience and I dare say some people may suffer a more severe reaction.

Heading back up the hill to the restaurant we enjoyed a lovely Zakynthian beef ragout and watched the sun setting before making the pleasant drive back to our apartment. 

Quite a view.

Well the fishing whilst not epic was varied and still enjoyable and I was getting close to reaching my targets. We were having a great time exploring the island as well and seeing lots of what Zakynthos has to offer. 

Tight lines, Scott.

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Species hunting adventures on Zakynthos : Part 1.

Last Wednesday my girlfriend Lillian and I set off on a one week holiday to the Greek island of Zakynthos. Getting up at 3:30 was a bit of a killer but we were soon at Glasgow Airport and had a bit of sleep on the flight, waking up just as the island appeared in the distance through the plane window.

Out of the blue.

Arriving on Zakynthos we quickly got our hire car and I drove us down to our accommodation on the south eastern tip of the island near Porto Roma. Unpacking our stuff we jumped back in the car and headed off to check out the local area. Parking the car at Porto Roma, the noise from the bugs hiding on the trees around us was quite something else as they continuously chirped away. They were very noisy indeed and it was easy to locate one of them.

Noisy little buggers!

We had a nice walk along a clifftop and then along the beach before driving north to St Nicholas beach and parking up at the small church located on the rocky Vasilikos Cape. After a walk around we headed to a supermarket for the ingredients for a Greek salad and a few other things before heading back to our apartment. After a quick nap we enjoyed our first Greek salad and headed back to Vasilikos Cape for an hour or so before sunset. Lillian perched herself on a rock, read a book and watched the sun slowly begin to dip down over the mountains. I fished away keen to open my account. I went with my tried and tested approach for foreign inshore waters, a drop shot rig with a #10 wormer hook baited with a Gulp! Angleworm. To begin with I tried casting out past the rocks and slowly working the rig back towards me across the sandy seabed. It didn't take too long to start getting the odd little bite and before long I connected with one. The culprit turned out to be a small greater weever.

A potentially nasty start to my trip was safely unhooked and released after a quick photo.

Casting closer in I was got the occasional bite too and I eventually caught a painted comber.

The painted comber is a colourful fish with a blue spot on its flank, interesting facial markings and fine orange spotting on its fins. Also known as the Jackson Pollock. Sorry.

Bites were not coming as fast as I'd have liked though so I moved along the rocks to try another area. Casting out over towards a dark area that had a few submerged rocks in it produced more action and these features obviously held a few more fish. Next to get hooked was a white seabream which was followed by a wide eyed flounder. Lillian came over to have a look at this fish. Unhooking it the Angleworm was still hanging out of its mouth. When I went to take hold of the lure to pull it out the greedy fish swallowed it with two quick little gulps which we both found very funny.

White seabream have thin vertical stripes running down their flanks. 

Wide eyed flounder seem to be quite common in the Mediterranean.

By now the sun had set, the light was fading and it was almost time to go but before we left I caught a small striped red mullet. They are cool fish and the long feelers on their chin are quite strange looking. A member of a group of fish known as goatfishes it's easy to see why.

My first striped red mullet on a lure. In the water they are not red. When caught they quickly begin to change colour though. 

A quality set of food finding barbels that neatly tuck away under the fishes chin when not in use. 

Fairly pleased with my first session producing five different species even if I only caught five fish we headed back to our apartment, stopping for a couple of beers and some spicy olives to enjoy after what had been a long day. When we got back we were greeted by a little gecko sitting on the wall outside the door.

How cool is that little fellow?

On Thursday morning I got up early and headed back along to Vasilikos Cape. Going along to the tip of it I fished into the rocks at close range using Angleworm on a drop shot rig again and this produced my first wrasse species of the trip and a single parrotfish.

A female ornate wrasse.

A juvenile Mediterranean rainbow wrasse.

A male parrotfish.

Spotting some smaller fish amongst the submerged rocks right beneath the ledge I was on I switched to a split shot rig with a #22 hook baited with a tiny section of Angleworm. This soon produced my first new species of the trip, a five spotted wrasse. I  then caught a tiny common pandora.

Similar in shape to a corkwing wrasse the five spotted wrasse has five dark markings along its back and dorsal fin.

 This is a species I caught last year whilst on Crete although I've still to catch an adult specimen.

Switching back to a drop shot rig and casting further out I then caught a greater weever and a striped red mullet before heading back to have breakfast. Just as I was packing up though a kingfisher flew past me and headed out over the bay. I love seeing them and it was a nice way to end the session.

Tight lines, Scott.

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Most Wanted : Menorca.

With a week long fishing trip to Menorca with my mate Lee in October to look forward to I've been thinking about what I'd like to catch. Four species that are possible targets, flying gurnard, common dolphinfish, streaked gurnard and Atlantic stargazer, are already on my "Most Wanted" list but as it's a hardcore fishing holiday I've decided to add a few more.

The one thing I didn't really do enough of whilst on Crete last year or have much success with whilst on Lanzatote in May was fishing hard lures or metals to try and catch some powerful, hard fighting fish that will really test my tackle. Whilst I still plan to have lots of ultra light fun I really want to catch some bigger, faster, more powerful fish from the Mediterranean when I visit the Spanish Balearic Islands for the first time. With this in mind here are a couple of potential targets that would fit the bill nicely.

Greater Amberjack.

A golden stripe down its flank and a dark line across the top of the head make it quite distinctive.

Leerfish

Big and aggressive. A very distinctive lateral line makes it fairly easy to identify. Line being stripped from your reel is another giveaway!

As I've already said however I'll still be targeting mini species on ultra light tackle as well and I thought I'd add one to my "Most Wanted" list as well. It's a member of one of my favourite groups of fish, blennies. Not another blenny I hear you say! Well if you didn't realise already I have a bit of a soft spot for them and this may just be the coolest looking one I've added to my "Most Wanted" list so far!

Peacock Blenny.

Males (top) and females (bottom) look slightly different. Males are deeper bodied, have a crest on their heads and have deeper fins. Both sexes have a similar colouration with rather striking electric blue markings.

I can't really describe how much I'm looking forward to this trip. Lee's a good friend and I really enjoy fishing with him. I'm sure it will be an epic, action packed week and we'll no doubt catch a lot of fish. I've set myself a target of thirty species including ten new ones.

Tight lines, Scott.

If you can think of a better title let minnow.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tight lines, Scott.

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

Trying to find a sturgeon in a carp pond.

After hearing that a small diamond backed sturgeon had been donated to the Magiscroft coarse fishery and was now resident in its main loch I decided to head west on Wednesday to try my luck at catching it. After paying for my permit and seeking advice I headed off to the area where I was informed the fish had been caught a few times. As it was fairly windy and sturgeon are bottom feeders I elected to fish using a float ledger setup to ensure my bait was stationary and tight to the bottom. Unfortunately Magiscroft has a rule banning the use of meat so my bait of choice, a chunk of luncheon meat, was not an option and instead I fished triple maggot or double corn. Fishing this method the float can behave in a peculiar manner but when it shot away after about thirty minutes I knew a fish was hooked and a small common carp was landed about five minutes later.

Nice chunky fish.

After that I caught a succession of tiny perch and a couple of small roach, their bites indicated by the float lifting up and then staying there. This probably caused by them picking up the bait and swimming towards me dragging the small drilled bullet I was using along the bottom in the process. 

Triple maggot no problem for this greedy little chap.

Or this equally greedy roach.

Six hours of patiently watching my float for a more positive take came and went before I decided to call it a day. Obviously there is only one sturgeon in the pond and perhaps it's unrealistic to deliberately target it. That being said while it'll require a huge slice of luck I still think it is possible and I will be back to try again. Maybe a change of tactics or bait will improve my chances and trying to figure these things out is part of what I like about fishing and targeting new species.

On the way home I took an alternative route and stopped off at the latest piece of oversized art that has been installed at the side of a motorway to distract drivers. The looming metallic sculpture "The Kelpies" is inspired by the powerful Clydesdale horses that at one time worked the towpaths of Scottish canals and the fields around them. 

"The Kelpies".

The huge horse's heads now stand either side of a lock on the Forth & Clyde Canal and unlike a needle in a haystack or a single sturgeon in Magiscroft main pond they are hard to miss standing at an imposing thirty metres tall. 

Nearby in the canal there were plenty of boats, pontoons and water features for pike to hide under.

Their location on the canal was of course was my real reason for the quick stop, to check out another stretch to try another spot of lure fishing for pike. It looked quite good so I may be fishing in the shadow of the kelpies soon. 

Tight lines, Scott.