Petra, Lesvos

This was the last full day, and the last possible day I had for fishing as my luggage was to be collected from the hotel early in the morning. I'd caught 9 new species so far, equalling my previous record of 9 species on my trip to La Palma earlier this year. I was really hoping for a big slurry of species on the last day.

My last session of fishing on the jetty and as the previous couple of days, no suprise, it was a tiny comber. Next, caught a species of wrasse, which looked similar to a Corkwing back home, but not as colourful. It had a black spot at the bottom of the base of the tail and a black spot on the start of the dorsal, later identified as a Grey Wrasse [#112].


Comber - Serranus cabrilla


Grey Wrasse - Symphodus cinereus #112


Grey Wrasse - Symphodus cinereus

Next, I had two species of goby, a family of fish that had eluded me for the entire trip, even though I'd seen several in the water. The first of these was an orangish goby with black spots, a reddish head and several brownish streaks on its face. I have identified this fish as a Red-mouthed Goby [#113], but I am not 100% sure. The second species was a Black Goby [#114], easily identified by its long first dorsal and black spots at the base of each dorsal.


Red-mouthed Goby - Gobius cruentatus #113


Red-mouthed Goby - Gobius cruentatus


Black Goby - Gobius niger #114


Black Goby - Gobius niger

It started getting difficult to catch anything after these, Im not sure what it was, but in the next half and hour or so, I had many takes but only caught a single Pandora.

Giving up, I packed all my gear and started walking back, when I saw several nice mullet cruising around the boats in the marina just behind the jetty, so I baited up a handline to see if I caught catch them. Managed a tiny Two-banded Bream and an Annular Bream, but not the mullet. On my very last cast, I hooked into a really good comber, the largest one I'd seen so far on the trip, but as I handlined it in, the hook transfered into a rope used to moor a boat, and I was shattered. I spent rest of the morning (and afternoon) sulking....


Common Pandora - Pagellus erythrinus


Two-banded Seabream - Diplodus vulgaris


Annular Seabream - Diplodus annularis

Petra, Lesvos

10th Morning, Petra

Fished the same jetty again, but there was a frighter unloading roof tiles on the inshore side so I had to fish seawards. Casted one rod out with larger hooks hoping to get something decent and fished straight down with my other rod. Spent about and hour missing takes on my straight down rod after lossing a few leads, I decided to fish inshore again. This paid off as the first fish of the day again was a tiny comber. Several more came to hand before I had something different. It was a small Rainbow Wrasse [#108]. They are a species of Coris which is a very big genera of tropical wrasses and this was my first. A few minutes later, I had a larger male and this was a much nicer looking fish with its comb shaped red markings.


Comber - Serranus cabrilla


Comber - Serranus cabrilla


Mediterranean Rainbow Wrasse - Coris julis #108


Mediterranean Rainbow Wrasse - Coris julis


Mediterranean Rainbow Wrasse - Coris julis


Mediterranean Rainbow Wrasse - Coris julis

I caught a few more annular bream after the wrasse and I must say that they are quite powerful fish and put up a good fight even though they were only tiddlers. Then I finally hooked into one of those pink bream I saw being caught a few days earlier. They were a nice pink with bright blue spots all over and a red gill plate and a indistinct dark spot at the end of the dorsal. It was a Common Pandora [#109] and there were plenty of them about.


Annular Seabream - Diplodus annularis


Annular Seabream - Diplodus annularis


Common Pandora - Pagellus erythrinus [#109]


Common Pandora - Pagellus erythrinus

10th Afternoon, Petra

I decided to fish again in the afternoon today. Didn't have much luck with my standard rig so decided to fish with small hooks, split shots and bread for bait and landed my one and only Damselfish [#110] for the trip. Its the dullest looking damselfish out of all the ones I've caught or seen in the wild.


Mediterranean Damselfish - Chromis chromis #110


Mediterranean Damselfish - Chromis chromis

11th - Skala Kalloni (Σκάλλα Καλλονής)

Today, I drove around the centre of Lesvos around the Kalloni area, from visiting monastaries to seeing flamingoes other waterbirds at the saltworks. I fished around the harbour at Skala Kalloni to see if I could get something different. There were thousands of prawns around as well the the ever present mullet, and many blennies and gobies around the rocks, but I couldn't manage to hookup. I had one take but I missed it, watching a very large goby (possibily a giant goby) take my bait, but it and all the other visible fish didn't want any of it, they seem to be all satisfied with just scurring about.


12th Morning, Petra again.

This morning, I only managed to catch bream. The first fish of the day was a lifer, a Two-banded Seabream [#110], its probably the most striking of all the 10 seabream species I have caught so far. It was a young fish but, it has a standard seabream shape, a black band on the collar and one on the tail, with black extending into its dorsal and anal fins. The pelvic fins are completly black as well. It has yellow horizontal stripes across its body, and a metallic blue nose. I had previously seen this species snorkelling in Turkey and in the Canary Islands, but never an adult of the species (except in an Aquarium). I also caught some Annular Seabream and Pandoras.


Two-banded Seabream - Diplodus vulgaris #111


Two-banded Seabream - Diplodus vulgaris


Common Pandora - Pagellus erythrinus


Annular Seabream - Diplodus annularis