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.

Click here for the next part.

Hard to beat.

I popped out on Tuesday afternoon for a few hours down the coast hunting gobies. First stop was Dunbar Harbour where I tried to tempt a sand goby. My mate Col caught one on Sunday before Guy and I arrived and I've caught them there in the past too so there must be a small population present.  That said there doesn't seem to be as many in there as there are at some other marks where they can be caught and I guess all the other fish in the harbour predate them and keep their numbers down. Undeterred I spent an hour or so fishing away, twitching a little piece of Isome on a #14 hook along the bottom on a simple Carolina rig. Five coalfish and three flounders later I decided to head down the coast to Torness Power Station to try and locate another couple of little goby species that I've caught in the rockpools there, namely the two spotted goby and the leopard spotted goby.

Once there I had no joy with them either unfortunately so decided to have a few casts into the sea. Climbing down the rocks at the eastern end of the gantry at the inlet area I set up a drop shot rig and put a whole Isome onto the hook. Casting this out and working it back towards me I didn't get any bites for a while. Then as I reeled it up past the submerged kelp covering the side of the concrete platform I was fishing from a rather large pollock shot out and grabbed the little pink ragworm imitation and immediately charged down into the kelp putting a substantial bend in my ultra light rod. Trying to apply pressure to stop it merely resulted in a straightened out hook though. Fun while the short fight lasted I carried on fishing away and a few casts later something else grabbed my Isome as I slowly worked it back towards me. This time the fish was quite far out and whilst it felt decent and made a couple of powerful runs I was able to put some pressure on, got it up away from the bottom and near the surface before it had a chance to get into the thick kelp below me. When it came into sight at first I was surprised how small the fish was given the way it had fought but then I realised it was a mackerel, my first of the year. 

A light game rocket. Beautiful looking fish too with their deep blue, green and black striped backs and pearlescent underside. They taste great as well so it was quickly dispatched. 

Thinking there would be a shoal I tried to catch some more but didn't manage to do so. Pound for pound mackerel are one of the hardest fighting fish in UK waters and are superb fun on light game tackle. Many anglers don't know what they are missing and it's so much more fun than fishing for them with feathers and a much heavier setup. Another species added to my Scottish saltwater tally, not wanting my catch to start going off and with the wind picking up I decided to head home. My goby hunt may have drawn a blank but I'm sure next week I'll get my fill of gobies from the Black Sea where I'm told they are abundant and some of the species found there can get quite large. I will just have to try again for their smaller UK cousins later in the year.

Tight lines, Scott.

The first rule of Fish Club is...

...you are allowed to talk about Fish Club.

Earlier this month whilst standing fishing on my own one evening in an icy cold wind, wishing I had some company, I decided I should start up a little fishing group. I asked a few friends if they would be interested in meeting up once or twice a month for a group fishing session, they all said they would and Fish Club was born.

Our first get together was on Sunday and despite a couple of people having to pull out in the days before and only three of us being able to make it, we headed down the coast to Dunbar to have some light game fun with flounders. The persistant wind that has been blowing for what feels like an eternity and is a royal pain in the rear was also in attendance but we soldiered on.

Col and Guy try there best to control light game rigs in a strong wind. Quite a hard task. 

Eventually Col and I managed a couple of tiny plaice and then I caught a flounder. I also had a fairly big flounder follow my lure up from the bottom and strike at it just under the surface which was great to watch but sadly it didn't connect with my hook.

One of Col's plaice. A 7g cheburashka lead used to good effect to get his lure down and keep it there.

The one that didn't get away.

Another light game angler came around from the harbour mouth and I had a quick chat with him before he left and told him about Fish Club. Hopefully he'll get in touch and join us for future sessions. Remember, you are allowed to talk about Fish Club. As the tide flooded we headed around to the old harbour once there was sufficient water in it and also to seek shelter from the wind. Fishing at its entrance I hooked a flounder but it thrashed on the surface and escaped. This brings me nicely to another rule of Fish Club, namely that if your line goes slack or the fish spits your lure out, the fight is usually over. Trying a few different places I eventually found a little hot spot and caught a few more flounders.

The biggest of four flounders all caught from the same area.

This one had no problem gobbling down a large white isome. My #10 hook was placed half way down it.

Things went quiet again so we moved around a little further and I managed to catch a couple more. Guy then hooked a flounder and had it on briefly but it managed to take advantage of the rules, spat his lure out and shot off back to the bottom. I then had a go at "shellfish falls" to see if there were any huge blennies lurking at the bottom of it but there weren't any there. Things went fairly quiet for a while so we headed down to St Abbs Harbour to try for some coalfish. The shoals that were present when I visited last week weren't around however but I managed a small pollock and a small coalfish before trying inside the harbour.

Col and Guy persist with fishing off of the back of the harbour wall in search of coalfish.

After a bit the lads climbed back down and we all fished the inside of the harbour. Bites were few and far between and we all missed some before I caught a small cod. I had just put mine back when Col caught one too.

Looked like something had taken a small bite out of this cod's tail.

There seems to be a few of these around in St Abbs Harbour at the moment.

Working our way back around I caught another couple of small cod and Col caught a couple of flounders before we headed back up the road. It was nice to fish with Col again, meet and fish with Guy for the first time and have a bit of a chat and a laugh whilst fishing. The fishing wasn't great with Guy having a frustrating day and ending up fishless. Luckily for Guy though there's nothing in the Fish Club rules about having to catch fish so he's welcome to attend again. I'm looking forward to the next outing already and hopefully our group will grow. The venue is still to be decided but it will probably be taking place on Sunday the 14th of June. Interested in joining us? Get in touch.

Tight lines, Scott. 

Tiding me over.

Well the weather continues to be fairly rotten but despite this I've been out several times over the last week. With winds forecast to gust at over 40mph last Tuesday I headed down the coast to try and find a few sheltered spots. Firstly I headed over the back of Eyemouth Golf Course where I soon spotted a nice looking platform and after a while figured out how to safely get down to it. The water in front of it was incredibly deep and I started off fishing a paddletail on a cheburashka lead to try and tempt any resident pollock. This didn't produce any fish though so I then tried Gulp! Sandworm on a drop shot rig but this didn't draw any bites either. I was quite disappointed but I think later in the year the fishing at this spot will be productive so happy to have found a new spot to return to I decided to head up the coast to St Abbs.

Once there I sought shelter on the rocks at the back of the harbour, stuck with a drop shot rig and began casting it into gaps in the kelp. Eventually this produced a few sharp taps that made me think I had located a small wrasse but when I hooked the culprit it turned out instead to be a small long spined sea scorpion. Continuing to work my way around the rocks I had no further luck so decided to try inside the harbour before leaving. The tide was almost half way in by this point, normally a good time to catch flounders as they enter the harbour to hunt. Methodically working my way around and slowly covering as much of the bottom as I could I finally caught one.

This flounder seemed to have the whole harbour to himself.

Just after popping it back the wind picked up again making fishing virtually impossible so I decided to call it a day.

Last Wednesday there was a slight break in the weather and feeling frustrated by the previous day's fishing I opted to head to the River Forth to see if there were any dace around, to relax watching a float and practice casting using my centrepin reel. I certainly got plenty of casting practice as the river was a little higher than I expected, was flowing by quite quickly and as a result meant there didn't seem to be any dace around. I did run my float a little closer in though and holding it up I caught a little brown trout and a trio of rather plump minnows which brought a smile to my face.

Minnows are really pretty little fish. Pretty greedy as well.

In the afternoon I headed up to Orchill Coarse Fishery to try my luck there. Fishing maggots on the waggler things were quite slow and I only managed a few chub. Another frustrating day's fishing really and in future I must check the Forth's water level on the SEPA website before I visit it again to target dace.

On Sunday evening I met up with my mate Nick and we headed down to Torness Power Station outflow area to try for bass. Despite a promising start with a couple of them following my lure in on my first cast we had no luck tempting them. As is customary when visiting Scotland's premier blenny mark I dangled a piece of Angleworm into a few rockpools before we left and caught a couple of them, although they weren't as obliging as they normally are.

Even the resident blenny population seemed to not be in the mood.

Yesterday I headed back down the coast and went to St Abbs Head. It was a nice sunny day although still quite windy but the swell below wasn't too bad and I decided to climb down to a new mark. I know fine well that it's not the type of place to go exploring on your own but truth be told I find it quite exciting. Anyway, when I managed to get myself down to water I noticed it was absolutely teeming with millions of small jellyfish. The arrival of jellyfish is normally a good sign as it means the water temperatures are slowly creeping up and summer species should start appearing but I've never seen so many of them. It looked like a great mark but after a couple of hours with no action I decided to climb back up to the top of the cliffs and walk back to St Abbs Harbour to try my luck there. It too was full of jellyfish but unlike the rock mark I'd fished in the morning it also had a few fish in it and I caught several dozen coalfish, a couple of flounders and a little cod before heading back up the road. I also bumped into a mate who came down to fish for an hour after his work which was nice. 

I bought myself a packet of Marukyu Isome during the week. I used to fish with it a lot but whilst it's a superb ragworm imitation and its effectiveness isn't in question, it's not the most durable lure and is also quite expensive. Not a great combination.

This little cod took an Aquawave Straight on a drop shot rig. Another excellent worm shaped product, a packet of these lures cost about the same as a packet of Isome and are almost as effective but they are super durable making them much better value.

Well quite a nice end to a frustrating week really with the persistent strong wind becoming rather annoying if I'm brutally honest. It almost feels like it has been like this all year. The fishing is still tough at times and really by the middle of May I'd expected it to be better than it is. Never mind, in just over a week I'm off on holiday to Nessebar, it can't come soon enough and surely the weather there will be better? I hope so and when I get back from the Black Sea maybe the summer will have arrived here and some better fishing with it? Fingers crossed.

Tight lines, Scott.

Blown away.

I went out for a few hours fishing this afternoon. I started off at Dunbar Harbour but after trying various spots, struggling to fish in the wind and not getting any bites I decided to head down the coast to the inlet area of Torness Power Station, more to get out of the wind than anything else, but I also wanted to fish in the rockpools there. A couple of years ago I caught a few leopard spotted gobies from them and was curious if they were still around. Before I hit the rockpools though I fished an Angleworm on a drop shot rig from the exposed concrete platform below the gantry at its western end into the deep water below it. Whilst I was slightly sheltered from the wind it was still difficult to feel for bites and when I finally got one I wasn't sure if I had hooked the little culprit. As I slowly reeled in it felt like it was just my drop shot lead that was putting a tiny bend in my rod tip but then I felt a little head shake and to my surprise a sandeel came into view.

I think this the second time I've caught a greater sandeel using this approach. My drop shot lead had jettisoned during the "fight" which explained why I didn't really feel the extra weight of the fish. I was quite pleased as it was other potentially hard to catch species ticked off my Scottish species hunt target list.

Note the dark mark above its upper lip. A key distinguishing feature.

I carried on fishing the area just as the tide had started to lap up over the platform and I was just about to move over to the rockpools when I heard a voice behind me. Turning to see who it was I was confronted by two uniformed officers. It was the station's Civil Nuclear Constabulary who had spotted me as they patrolled the site, were concerned I was fishing in a dangerous place and had come over to make sure I was OK. After thanking them and reassuring them that I was fine and was about to move anyway I  headed over to the rockpools to start searching for a leopard spotted goby. Slowly working my jighead mounted Angleworm around the gaps in the partially submerged sea defence boulders I was searching it soon became apparent that there weren't any leopard spotted gobies around, or any other mini species for that matter. Eventually I managed to coax a solitary long spined sea scorpion out from a crack.

I never tire of catching these little rockpool gremlins.

As the afternoon progressed the wind cranked itself up a few more notches and got so strong that even fishing in rockpools effectively became a bit of a challenge! After a while with no further reward for my efforts I decided to call it a day and headed back up the road. Despite only catching two fish I was happy to have added another species to my Scottish saltwater species hunt tally. It's fair to say that the weather so far this year has not been great with the wind in particular often making things difficult. My mate Nick tells me that the first mackerel have been caught by Dunbar's commercial boats so hopefully it won't be too much longer before they and some other summer species start showing up inshore and hopefully we get some nice weather to go with them.

Tight lines, Scott.