Going tiny for two spots.

On Monday I popped down to Torness to fish with my friend Ritchie, the winds had died down and conditions looked good for a change! Our plan was to search the cold water inflow for wrasse as well as the possibility of other species as well. I popped into Mike's Tackle shop on route which I really shouldn't do if I want to get anywhere quickly and after an age fawning over lovely shiny lures managed to drag myself away after only buying a couple! I arrived late morning at the inflow and met up with Ritchie. He had already had a few small coalies and due to my lateness we only manged to fish together for about ten minutes before he had to go!

After Ritchie had gone I searched all the usual mackerel holding areas but there were no sign of them at all and even the coalfish were not playing ball. The tide was dropping to low when after a couple of hours of searching I arrived at the Helipad to find the ledge below it exposed. This provided me with a perfect platform to walk onto in order to explore the edges of the structure. With the sea being calm I could see that against the walls and pilings were groups of little fish, hugging the walls and rising for tiny organisms on the surface. These small fish appeared to be the same sort that Scott and I encountered during our recent visit to Ravensheugh beach and with the fishing being so slow I decided to devote some time in trying to bag another new lure caught species. As the tiny fish were so close to the surface I rigged a #22 hook with a tiny piece of Gulp! Sandworm and just gently rested it on the surface film. The little fish were quick to come up and start pecking at the lure but as it slowly sank they became less and less interested. It was only by gently raising the lure back up to the surface that they became interested in it again until one manged to get its tiny mouth around it and I quickly lifted him out to find out my 25th lure caught species this year was a two spotted goby!

My first ever two spotted goby and lure caught saltwater species No. 25 for 2012!

I continued messing about with the tiny fish and managed to catch a further four before I moved off in search of bigger fish. Unfortunately try as I might the next couple of hours resulted in a couple of bites but no further fish and soon it was time to head home. It was slightly disappointing not to catch anything larger than 1" but it's amazing how a tiny fish can brighten your day and it won't be long before I am back to see what else the mark has to offer!

Tight lines, Schogsky.