First British Fish

I was out rockpooling at the Brighton Marina looking at Blennies, Prawns, Anemones etc. On this occassion, I decided to bring my little 5 piece fishing rod and some fresh prawns for bait. Casted the bait out several times but not much happened. On one cast, I wound it in and there was a little tussle on the end. When I got it in I saw that it was a Bullhead. My first british fish [#54]. They kind of look like scorpionfish, but are not venomous at all. They flare out their horns when they are out of the water. Actually, I'm not even sure if I should count it, I don't think it was hooked. It was just holding onto the bait. I released it into a little rockpool where I took the photograph below.


Longspined Bullhead - Taurulus bubalis #54


Longspined Bullhead - Taurulus bubalis


Here are some of the other creatures I photographed on the day.


Shanny - Lipophrys pholis


Snakelocks Anemone - Anemonia viridis


Shanny - Lipophrys pholis


Green Sea Slug - Elysia viridis


Rockpool Prawn - Palaemon elegans

Playa Santiago - La Gomera - Canary Islands

I spent a week in La Gomera in 2008, and it is a fantastic location for a sun holiday, with nice black beaches and nice mountain walks. We stayed in a little town called Playa Santiago which was made up of just a few shops and a church which was set into the side a rocky hill. At the end of the road there is a little jetty where the ferry which takes you to San Sebastation and a Whale Watching trip departs. I didn't bring any fishing equipment on this trip but was able to buy a very cheap telescopic rod and reel from the local store and used some nice baguettes for bait. With these necessities, I headed towards the jetty to try them out.

On the way to the jetty, I spotted a nicely coloured fish, with a yellow body and brown stripes. Later on I found out that it was a juvenile amberjack, a proper gamefish. When I arrived at the fishing mark, there was a fishing boat landing its catch and they had a nice haul of Skipjack Tuna. I'd love to catch one of those one day.


Juvenile Lesser Amberjack - Seriola fasciata


Skipjack Tuna - Katsuwonus pelamis

After I started fishing, I realised that hooks I was using were way too big for the fish I was trying to catch on the wharf but even then managed to catch 3 species of fish, all new species to me. First was the Bogue [#51], which was a very common fish. They look like sardines but are actually a species of sea bream that were enlongated instead of deep bodied. I then had several Canary Damselfish [#52] which where black with electric blue fins. Finally I caught a few Ornate Wrasse [#53], a fish I did see them while snorkelling and they are a very pretty fish, but only a few females and not a more colourful male.


Bogue - Boops boops #51


Bogue - Boops boops



Canary Damsel - Abudefduf luridus #52


Ornate Wrasse - Thalassoma pavo #53


Ornate Wrasse - Thalassoma pavo

On the whale watch earlier in the day, I stopped for lunch and threw in some bread to attract fish. I spotted quite large sized Bogue and a few Derbio. They are in the same genus as Permit but are a lot more streamline. In Australia, fish of this genus with the same shape as derbio would be called a Dart.


Bogue - Boops boops


Derbio - Trachinotus ovatus


I saw many fish while snorkelling in Playa Santiago. White Seabream, Blennies, Lizardfish, Pufferfish and Wrasses were seen.


Moroccan White Seabream - Diplodus sargus cadenati


Red-lipped Blenny - Ophioblennius atlanticus

My First 'European' Fish

In the summer of 2006, I did 8 day sailing trip from Marmaris to Bodrum. Although not strictly in Europe, I did catch this fish in the Mediterranean part of Turkey, off the Datça Peninsular. This site, I've got the location written down as Domuzbükü, but I'm not sure where I got this name from. It was a European Parrotfish and it was 50th species of fish ever caught. It was caught on a piece of turkey ham with a handline and was released safely back into the water.


European Parrotfish - Sparisoma cretense #50


European Parrotfish - Sparisoma cretense

I also saw many other species in the water, including several species of bream, scorpionfish, gobies, triplefin, mullet, wrasses, picarel and parrotfish but this fish was the only fish I caught on the trip.


European Parrotfish - Sparisoma cretense with Sharp-nosed Bream and Peacock Wrasse



European Parrotfish - Sparisoma cretense


Blotched Picarel - Spicara maena


Blackfaced Blenny - Tripterygion tripteronotus


Two-banded Seabream - Diplodus vulgaris


Mediterranean Damselfish - Chromis chromis


East Atlantic Peacock Wrasse - Symphodus tinca

New South Wales Fishing Trips

I've got 3 fishing trips to NSW recorded between 2000 and 2004.

15th July 2000, Montague Island

I did a long road trip from Melbourne, Lakes Enterance, Canberra, Southern Highlands, Sydney then back down to Narooma, Lakes Enterance again and then back home to Melbourne. We didn't make to fish but found a fishing/seal watching trip which took us to Montague Island when we were in Narooma. This was my first and only charterboat trip in Australia. On the Island, we saw New Zeland Fur Seals. Fishing produced Eastern Red Scorpionfish [#37], Maori Wrasse [#38], Blue Morwong [#39], many Mado [#40] and my one and only ever Crimson Banded Wrasse [#41] (a male as well), These were all beautifully coloured fish and all new species.



Eastern Red Scorpionfish - Scorpaena cardinalis #37


Maori Wrasse - Ophthalmolepis lineolata #38


Blue Morwong - Nemadactylus douglasii #39


Mado - Atypichthys strigatus #40


Maori Wrasse - Ophthalmolepis lineolata


Blue Morwong - Nemadactylus douglasii

15th April 2003, Port Stephens

This was mainly a sightseeing trip but managed a few hours of Rock and Beach fishing. The only fish I've got recorded for this trip was my first Blue or Slimy Mackerel [#43]. My father also caught a female Crimson-baneded Wrasse.


Blue Mackerel - Scomber australasicus #43


Blue Mackerel - Scomber australasicus


Female Crimson-banded Wrasse - Notolabrus gymnogenis

1st-3rd February 2004, Tathra

This was a 2 night fishing trip fishing several locations around the Tathra area. Fishing the surf beaches, I caught my first Sand Mullet [#44] as well as the usually Australian Salmon. In the nearby estuary I caught a Silver Biddy [#45]and a Tarwhine [#46], both new species as well. The following day, more Mullet and Salmon and at night, I had a bumper catch of a few dozen yellowtail scad [#47], several nice tailor and a single mackerel.



Sand Mullet - Myxus elongatus #44



Common Silver Belly - Gerres subfasciatus #45


Tarwhine - Rhabdosargus sarba #46



Sand Mullet - Myxus elongatus


Yellowtail Horse Mackerel - Trachurus novaezelandiae #47


Tailor - Pomatomus saltatrix


Blue Mackerel - Scomber australasicus

The Warmies, Newport, Melbourne

Im not sure when I first started fishing here, but I think it must be sometime in the late 1990's. The Warmies is the hotwater outlet of the Newport Powerstation. On very hot and very cold days, the Powerstation is switched on and warm water flows out. This is the best time to fish here.


Southern Black Bream - Acanthopagrus butcheri


Snapper - Pagrus auratus


Tailor - Pomatomus saltatrix #32

The main target species here was the Southern Black Bream, but I had an occassional Tailor or Silver Trevally. The best way to get Black Bream is the fish a small live crab and wait for a take. For Tailor or Trevally I found the best bait was pipis. This also caught a whole host of other species as well including Zebrafish, Weedfish, Blue Weed Whiting, Yellow-eye Mullet, Tasmanian Blennies, Pinky Snapper and Small Bream. At night, it is plagued with Soldierfish so you need to be careful not to get spiked as it has very venomous spines. I've heard of smaller Mulloway caught from here but I have never seen one.


Zebra Fish - Girella zebra


Common Weedfish - Heteroclinus perspicillatus #33


Soldierfish - Gymnapistes marmoratus


Tasmanian Blenny - Parablennius tasmanianus #34


Two species of introduced goby can be found in the area as well. They've probably both been introduced from Japan through the ballast water in container ships. The Chameleon Goby, called the Japanese Goby in Australia can change into several colour forms. I've seen them completely black, brownish with spots and white with a lengthwise black stripe. The second species is called the Yellowfin Goby. In Japan its is called Ma-Haze [マハゼ（真鯊）] and is a delicacy, usually eaten battered and fried. This is actually not caught at the Warmies but a location quite nearby.


Chameleon / Japanese Goby - Tridentiger trigonocephalus #35


Chameleon / Japanese Goby - Tridentiger trigonocephalus


Yellowfin Goby / Ma-Haze [マハゼ（真鯊）] - Acanthogobius flavimanus #36