A first time for everything.

With the weather not looking suitable for my preferred choice of a session targeting pollock last Sunday I headed instead to Orchill coarse fishery with a couple of mates. Nick and Stewart had never fished a commercial fishery before so it was something new to them but they were both looking forward to trying a new style of fishing. After paying for our day tickets we headed up to Alex's pond. As I set up a float rod for Nick and a feeder rod for Stewart I talked them through the end tackle, quickly explained the fairly simple principles involved and before too long they were both fishing.

Before I had finished setting myself up a float rod Nick was getting bites and after missing some and losing a fish he caught a roach, his first ever. When I started fishing I also caught a few roach. Nick then caught a gudgeon, again his first ever. Stewart's rod tip was soon pulled around by a small carp which he played for a few minutes but sadly it came off as it came near the net. Things were pretty slow after that though but we heard a fair amount of splashing over the other side of the middle island so we moved around to the area where the activity was. Most of the surface activity was fairly tight to the centre island so we started fishing as close to it as we could. It didn't take long for us all to start catching chub and then Nick started landing a few F1 and common carp, another couple of new species for him. I soon caught a few too.

This chub was Stewart's first ever coarse fish.

I really like F1 carp. They are chunky fish and put up a spirited fight for their size.

Stewart wasn't getting as many bites as Nick and I so I switched him over from a black cap swim feeder to a method feeder and made up some halibut and hemp feeder mix with a few pieces of sweetcorn added. On the hair rig went double sweetcorn and this produced three carp on three consecutive casts proving how effective a tactic the method feeder is.

Stewart caught this rather nice mirror carp. You've guessed it, his first.

We had the pond to ourselves so when we weren't chatting away it was fairly quiet apart from the squawking of flocks of geese flying south overhead in formation. As the day progressed several helicopters also passed above us. It was the final day of the Ryder Cup so we surmised these were taking players to and from the golf. As Nick was using my seatbox I had taken his small fold down canvas stool. The next noise to break the relative silence was this suddenly breaking, giving way beneath me and me ending up on my back on the ground. Stewart found this quite hilarious. My accident and Stewart laughing away didn't seem to distract Nick who was by now into a bit of a rhythm and found that firing in a few casters around his waggler was attracting plenty of fish into his swim.

Nick's biggest carp of the session and his first mirror carp.

Stewart and I had a few more carp and chub too before it was time to pack up and head home. It had been a nice relaxing day, we had a good laugh and both Nick and Stewart are keen to do it again so whilst it may have been their first time it certainly won't be their last.

Tight lines, Scott.

With a little help from my friends.

On Monday night I was in two minds about where to go go fishing on Tuesday. It was either a day's fly casting practice with the chance of a tiger or golden trout, or a return to Burntisland for another attempt at catching a Yarrell's blenny. In the end I did what all good anglers do, I asked my mate Lee to decide for me and a session in saltwater was the result. Checking the tides I noted that high water was at about half past three. Perfect for a lazy sod like myself so after a lie in I grabbed my gear and headed over the Forth Road Bridge, arriving at the harbour at about noon.

Walking around to the spot I was going to fish I was surprised to find it already taken, but pleasantly so as it turned out to be Col, the angler who had recently caught a Yarrell's blenny there inspiring my own attempts. Sitting down next to him I quickly rigged up an Angleworm on a drop shot rig. It was nice to have some company but as we chatted away it quickly became apparent that whatever fish that were down below us were not really in the mood, gently nibbling away and proving difficult to hook. We persisted with our lures for a short while but soon both decided to switch to some bait. Col had some worms with him that he had dug in the morning and I had a few raw prawns. This switch didn't seem to produce many more bites but they were a bit more aggressive and I caught a small coalfish. The conversation soon turned to Yarrell's blenny and we were discussing my chances of catching one. Were they a species that live a solitary existence? Was there possibly a small group of them resident in the harbour? Maybe they only moved into the harbour to breed at this time of year? As we exchanged our thoughts Col was next to catch a fish and low and behold it was the one we were talking about. 

Col's second Yarrell's blenny from Burntisland Harbour. 

I was very excited to see this strange looking blenny in the flesh for the first time. It has an odd looking head with interesting structures on top of it as well as on the first two rays of its dorsal fin. I reasoned that Col catching two from the same spot meant that I had a pretty good chance of getting one too. I carried on fishing around the same area and then caught a couple of goldsinny wrasse. The second one had some unusual dark flecks on it. 

I've seen this type of "peppering" on a few long spined sea scorpions before but never on a wrasse. 

Things were still quite slow though and Col decided to try fishing over the back of the harbour wall to see if he could catch a ballan wrasse. I certainly wasn't moving from Yarrell's corner though! Pretty soon Col's rod had a nice bend in it and he was soon catching a few ballans. I wasn't getting many bites but when I finally got a positive one I managed to connect with it and soon had a huge smile on my face after quickly swinging a little pink and brown blenny up the harbour wall and into my hand.

My first Yarrell's blenny. A rather funky little fish.

In case you are wondering why it's called Yarrell's blenny, this is the Victorian naturalist William Yarrell who first identified the blenny and named it after himself.

I was over the moon and shouted over to Col to let him know, popped the fish back and then joined him up on the harbour wall. By now he had caught a few more ballans and landed a corkwing just as I climbed up beside him.

Col really likes corkwings. Who can blame him they are pretty fish.

Corkwing wrasse really like ragworm. Who can blame them they taste amazing!

Pretty soon I caught a few fish too. A ballan wrasse was followed by a couple of long spined sea scorpions and a couple of goldsinny wrasse.

I wish I had visited Burntisland earlier in the year for a few more of these.

A specimen long spined sea scorpion. 

This goldsinny wrasse had a nice golden mark on its flank.

As high tide came and went things went very quiet so we started fishing inside the harbour again. The action was almost non existent though so after a while I called it a day and left Col who kept fishing away. It had been a very enjoyable day in his company and I was very grateful that he had discovered Yarrell's corner and shared that information on his blog.

On the way home I popped into Leith Docks for an hour or so. It's normally a fairly grim place but the area opposite me was brightened up by a ship, a crane and a few other things.

Who said Leith Docks was fairly grim? Oh, I did. 

Keen to see what the murky water might throw up I went with an Angleworm on a drop shot rig. Casting it out and slowly working it back I soon caught a few chunky little coalfish.

Leith Docks are full of these little plump coalfish. 

That was all I caught with no surprises turning up but having caught a new blenny species earlier in the day I couldn't have really cared less! Once again a massive thanks to Col for sharing his original capture, giving me additional info and showing me how to catch one in person. Thanks to Lee too for being decisive when I was dithering. Finally thanks to William for discovering the species and giving it such an imaginative name...

Tight lines, Scott.

Ling time no see.

When my mate Ad asked me if I fancied a weekend staying in Oban and fishing a few spots nearby I reluctantly had to tell him I wouldn't be able to. Having used up all my holidays at work I couldn't book the time off unfortunately. I did however agree to drive through and spend a day with him, his girlfriend Katie and his mates William and Martyn fishing on Loch Etive and on Sunday I drove through early to do so. Arriving at the small stone jetty before they did I spent thirty minutes or so with my ultra light gear trying to tempt the rising trout with a small lure fished on a jighead.

A misty morning on Loch Etive.

I didn't manage to catch any of the trout that were splashing about but did manage a few coalfish and a codling before everyone arrived, we got everything loaded onto the two boats we had hired for the day and headed out onto the loch.

A bit of fun on ultra light tackle before the main event kicked off.

I was in a slightly bigger boat with Ad and Katie and William and Marytn were in the other boat. First off we tied up to some buoys in Airds bay and it didn't take us long to start catching a few spurdogs and dogfish on luminous hokkais and muppets baited with mackerel and squid.

The smallest spurdog I've caught.

This good start didn't last long however and it went very quiet after an hour so we headed north up the loch and tried a few spots there. Drifting near the quarry Ad caught a grey gurnard but apart from that there wasn't much happening.

Gurnards are pretty cool fish.

My one little target for the trip was to try and catch a ling so we drifted over a rocky area where Ad was sure there would be some having caught some there on a previous visit. After a few drifts over the areawith not much happening I eventually felt a few knocks and wound in hooking the fish responsible. I suspected it was a cod but when it came into view I realised I had got lucky.

It had been a couple of years since I last caught one so I was quite chuffed to catch this small ling.

That was it for a while though apart from the odd mackerel which we kept for bait. The afternoon was very slow indeed and despite moving around we just couldn't seem to find any fish. Heading back to where we caught the spurdogs in the morning William and Martyn caught a few grey gurnards and a poor cod. With our time running out we decided to drift in the middle of Airds Bay.

We were all hopeful of catching a few more fish before we had to head back in.

Things remained quiet until William and Martyn drifted over a pack of feeding spurdogs and seeing them boat a few of them we quickly headed over closer to where they were to get in on the action. We ended up catching about a dozen between us.

All of them were quite small but it was nice to end the day with a few of them.

The last one I caught was very small so I stupidly let my guard down and tried to handle it with one hand, only gripping it behind the head. It promptly did a manoeuvre similar to the one a dogfish normally does given the opportunity, wrapping itself round my arm and moving backward, driving its second dorsal spike into my arm, tearing a small but rather deep little gash into my wrist in the process. Just as well it was time to head in as I couldn't stop it bleeding.

 Ouch! Having now experienced what the dorsal spine of a small spurdog is capable of I thought about what a larger fish could potentially do if not handled carefully. As a result I now have an increased amount of respect for them.

Back on dry land and with my wound soon patched up I said goodbye to Ad, Katie, William and Martyn as they headed back to their hostel. I decided to visit a nearby pier for an hour or so to target gobies before driving home. The last time I fished their I caught one that I didn't quite recognise but accidentally dropped it back into the water before I could get a photograph so I was keen to see what might turn up. When I got to the pier the sun was getting quite low and what little wind there had been dropped off making the loch look quite nice.

The remains of an old pier. A snaggy home to many mini species no doubt.

This part of the pier is still in use and the sandy loch floor next to it contains lots of small gobies.

Using a split shot rig, a #18 hook and a tiny piece of Angleworm I had soon caught a dozen gobies but they were all the sand variety. Tying on a jighead I turned my attention to the trout that were once again splashing around as the sun began to set. As with the morning session the resident coalfish were much more obliging and a single pouting also took my lure. 

I think this was my first pouting from Loch Etive.

The sun had soon gone, it was getting a bit cold and with a 120 mile drive to make I called time on a good day's fishing. It was nice to catch up with Ad again and join his fishing party for the day. The fishing may have been slow in the afternoon but it was nice to catch a few spurdogs and a ling, adding another species to this year's tally, especially as it's one that I hadn't caught for a while. I've been invited to do some cod fishing up around Aberdeen with Ad over the winter and I think I'll almost certainly take him up on his offer. Something else to look forward to.

Tight lines, Scott. 

Cloudy with a chance of Yarrell's blenny.

With the recent change in the weather seemingly signalling the end of what has been a great summer my mind is starting to think about getting through another winter. Winter is not a season I particularly enjoy. It's obviously not pleasant fishing in the cold but unlike some anglers who down tools and complain about not being able to fish, I do try to make the most of what opportunities are available and fish all year round. This normally means a shift from saltwater to freshwater. Anyway, my mood was buoyed the other day when I took a look at Streamside Diary to find that fellow blogger Col had caught a Yarrell's blenny whilst fishing in Burntisland Harbour. They say chasing fish is usually not a good thing but blennies are territorial and usual where there is one there are more so on Wednesday off I went to try an emulate Col's catch.  

Burntisland Harbour. Like many Scottish harbours it is sadly pretty run down with several areas shut off including an old condemned wooden pier that is slowly rotting away.

Col kindly gave me very specific details about where he had caught the little pink fish so I fished in a fairly small area. A drop shot rig incorporating a #18 hook and a small section of Gulp! Angleworm was lowered down and it didn't take too long for my rod tip to start rattling away as the resident mini species attacked it. First to get hooked was a blenny but not the rarely caught one I was after. This was followed by a second, a goldsinny wrasse and a couple of small coalfish. 

A common blenny. Aptly named as they are very common indeed and loose all control when presented with most things on a hook. I was hopeful his cousin would be around and have a similarly ravenous/aggressive nature. 

My first ever goldsinny wrasse from Scotland's East Coast was quite a chunky one.

This great start to the session had me thinking that whilst the leaves might well be falling off of the trees maybe there was perhaps still some fun to be had with summer species yet. As low water approached however all activity ceased and after over an hour with no bites I decided to have a break, grab some lunch and try another spot before returning to my Yarrell's blenny swim later in the day. 

After a sandwich and a bottle of water I headed along to the far end of the long sea defences that run east from the harbour, clambered over onto the rocks there and cast out. The bottom was mixed and after loosing a few drop shot leads to patches of boulders I found a few cleaner areas to fish over and was soon getting a few tiny bites when I left the lead stationary and kept tension in the line. Hooking the culprits proved tricky but my persistence paid off eventually and I caught three of the tiny bottom dwelling fish that had been nibbling away at my tiny piece of Angleworm. 

The little rattles on my rod tip were caused by sand gobies. An unexpected bonus being a new addition to this year's species tally. 

With not much else happening though I headed back along to the harbour. When I started fishing again the tide was creeping back up the harbour walls and I was soon getting a few bites. Connecting with a few of them I caught a few more common blennies, goldsinny wrasse and coalfish before catching a corkwing wrasse. 

A very darkly coloured little fellow. 

Then a seal pup appeared right in front of me causing another unwanted cessation in action. 

Hello baby seal. How cute. Now bugger off!

After a short while I started getting bites again and a few strong ones at that. Some ballan wrasse had moved in and I caught four of them in a row. I also pulled the hook on a larger fish, also a ballan I think, one of the downsides of using such a small hook I suppose but at the end of the day I wasn't targeting ballan wrasse. 

Good fun on ultra light tackle but I've watched wrasse chase blennies before so I was keen for them to move off again. No doubt my target, if down there, would be hiding in a crevice whilst these were feeding in the area.

By the time light started to fade in the evening the wrasse and blennies had all become inactive and all I was catching was small coalfish. As it got darker they became even more active and I caught more and more of them. A tiny cod added a final species to my tally for the day but not the one I was after.

Oh well, despite failing to get a Yarrell's blenny it had been a fairly enjoyable day fishing somewhere new. It was a bit slow at times but I think that was due to the tidal state more than anything else. I think it probably fishes better on a bigger tide and over high water. The variety of species caught has also given me food for thought regarding the current state of saltwater fishing. Summer might be over but it would seem nobody told the fish so I will go back, perhaps with some bait, for another go before they hear the news.

Tight lines, Scott.

You won't catch anything in there pal.

It was a nice day on Wednesday and I was in two minds about how to spend it. Should I go fishing down in East Lothian or go fishing closer to home? One of my goals for this year is to travel less to fish but to be honest I have failed miserably to do so. With addressing this in mind I decided to head down to nearby Leith Docks.

Leith Docks is a working facilty but some areas are accessible. 

I hadn't fished there for quite some time and when I did the fishing wasn't great but whilst I had low expectations I was also curious to see how much using ultra light tackle and the deadly Angleworm fished on a drop shot rig would perhaps improve my catch rates. Casting out and slowly working the lure back towards me I got an immediate indication of how the area would fish using this approach when my rod tip arched over and a nice flounder was landed after a spirited fight.

Off to a great start. 

Very pleased I carried on fishing and got lots of bites, catching a small coalfish almost every cast which was good fun. 

Angleworm, not just effective in the crystal clear waters of the Mediterranean also great in the murky waters of Leith Docks.

After a reaching double figures I was approached by someone who was walking by who uttered an expression I've heard once or twice whilst fishing in such venues, "You won't catch anything in there pal!". This always makes me smile as I usually proceed to prove them wrong most of the time. After doing just that I decided to move around the docks to another couple of spots and caught a few more coalfish at each. Pleased to have found a productive mark to have some ultra light fun on locally I then headed along the coast to Granton Harbour to try and catch a herring. I've caught them there before but sadly when I arrived I found that the area I wanted to fish was completely fenced off. Someone from the port authority then approached me and told me it was now off limits as it was unsafe and had been condemned. He then pointed me in the direction of another spot though and after catching a few more coalfish I hooked a fish that put up quite a scrap, making a few strong runs. As I suspected it was a nice mackerel which I decided to keep for my dinner. Heading home I reflected on a couple of hours driving that I hadn't done and a couple spent fishing enjoyably. I might have to re-evaluate the fishing that is available closer to home and will certainly be spending a bit more time fishing Leith Docks in particular. 

Tight lines, Scott.