Happy New Year!
2011 was another busy year for me – trying to catch as many different species of fish on fly in the British Isles. I had posted my
2009 attempt which was specific to saltwater species and I ended up with 17. This year I wanted to expand the hunt to include freshwater fish, as I knew that I would be making at least a couple of trips to England. The Isle of Man isn’t a great place to catch a lot of freshwater species, as most of them are absent. It is a good place to catch saltwater species and game fish.
I set a shortlist of rules for myself (and if anyone else wants a go on the same terms!)
1) The fish had to be caught in the British Isles.
2) No bait or any type of scent/additive. Groundbait ok as long as the fly isn’t soaked in it.
3) Fly fishing tackle only - i.e. no beachcaster, 6oz lead and “fly” etc.
4) The fish have to be separate species. i.e. no sub-species or different varieties. Brown Trout and Sea Trout will count as one. Mirror, Koi, Common, Leather, Ghost Carp etc = one species.
Pretty simple. Only based on my personal views etc.
I thought it best to limit the area to the British Isles again, as a worldwide hunt would depend too much on money and free time. Of course I would have caught more species in the British Isles if I didn’t have to go to work but I did my best with the spare time that I had.
When I had decided to go ahead with this species hunt, I was thinking about what sort of numbers I could expect. If I got 15+ sea species, 4 game and maybe 5 coarse fish, I could be looking at possibly reaching 25. Let’s see....
January
I was limited to local sea fishing from the shore for January. First trip of the year resulted in a blank. I also broke a fly line in half on a snag – good start!
Second trip was at night and was much better, with Coalfish, Pollack and Whiting on a glow-in-the-dark Booby nymph, fished on a DI7.
A further 4 trips didn’t result in any more species. Biggest fish was a 2lb 8oz Pollack.
February
Nothing new for the list, as the only fishing I did in Feb was in North Argentina – I didn’t regret it.
March
The 1st of the month saw an extra species for the list – a Herring on a size 8 orange Clouser from a local shore mark. On the 3rd, I managed to catch all 4 fish from the list in one short session – Coalfish, Pollack, Whiting and Herring. I don’t think I’ve ever caught 4 sea species from the shore in March in one day before. Things were looking good.
5 more trips in the month saw no new species.
April
The river Trout season starts on April 1st and I was out fishing on the first day. I caught a few Brown Trout and a bonus Rainbow. A week later I caught a couple of Salmon Smolt whilst fishing for Brownies with a size 14 Rough Olive.
The first of the Saltwater mini-species were added to the list in April, with Shanny on the 22nd and 2 Long-Spined Sea Scorpions on the 27th.
May
I was on holiday for most of May, so I didn’t get to fish much locally. The last day of the month was a 5 species day – Pollack, Launce, Coalfish, Shanny and Rock Goby. Launce and Rock Goby being species numbers 10 and 11 for the year.
June
June is a prime month for sea fishing in the IOM and it got off to a good start with a female Cuckoo Wrasse on a Sandhopper pattern fished at a low tide rock mark. In the same trip, I saw either a Pouting or a Poor Cod have a go at the fly without getting hooked.
Still in the first week of the month, I had my favourite day of the year so far, catching Thick-Lipped Grey Mullet and a Silver Eel.
I had spotted the Eel whilst I was Mullet fishing and had made several casts to it with different patterns. It eventually (and aggressively) took a red Crazy Charlie type pattern. It was quite a nail-biting fight, seeming like forever before it was safely in the net!
Bass was added later in the month and took the list to 15.
I took the boat out on the 28th and added Mackerel and Ling to the list.
The Ling had taken a size 8 black Clouser fished behind a bigger Clouser on a T14 head fished deep.
Things were going to plan, with 14 sea species and 3 freshwater species at the half-way point.
July
My first fishing trip in July was in England, the River Blythe in Warwickshire. I was more than happy with 5 new species in a 4 hour session with dries and nymphs – Minnow, Perch, Chub, Gudgeon and Dace.
A couple of days later I got to fish a Carp lake, catching a few varieties of Carp to just over 13lb – only one species though.
A change of venue got me Roach and Rudd on tiny nymphs – I was quite pleased with the way this short trip was going despite the constant rain and strong winds.
The Great Ouse was another success, with more Perch, a big Chub and a mini Barbel. The Chub fishing was great fun with this fish on a dry Daddy on my #3wt
The next day I caught this bigger fish on a lure on my #5wt. I didn’t have the scales but the net measures 23.5” across.
9 extra species in a few days fishing in England far exceeded my expectations.
July was a busy month for sea fishing. I made 11 trips. Most of the effort was put into catching my nemesis sea species of the year – the Ballan Wrasse. Usually, I don’t have much of a problem catching Ballan but they were eluding my best efforts in my favourite Wrasse marks. The first Ballan eventually fell to a small (size 8) brown Merkin Crab pattern.
Ironically, I caught my second Ballan just a few days later on a tiny Clouser when I wasn’t even fishing for Wrasse.
On the 26th I got out on the boat again – calm days had been hard to come by. Cod and Red Gurnard made the trip worthwhile along with a few Pollack. This pair of Red Gurnard reminded me of my 2009 species hunt when I also got a double-shot of this species.
Next day I was out in the boat again, making the most of a calm spell. Unfortunately, all I could tempt was a Pollack and 4 more Red Gurnard. I had been hoping for Tub or Grey Gurnard.
July wasn’t over yet – On the 29th I caught a pretty Corkwing Wrasse on a “freshwater-style” shell-back shrimp pattern fished on my #3wt.
Quite a month with 12 additions to the list and reaching 30 species!
With 18 of those caught in the sea, I had also bettered my 2009 saltwater only effort.
August
No new species in August. It was bound to get more difficult with less possible species to catch, but I thought I might get something extra this month. I had a few repeat catches such as Rock Goby and another Corkwing Wrasse.
September
I thought September was going to go the same way as August. The wind never seemed to stop on my days off work, reducing my options. I could have done with getting out on a few more boat trips to try and get the missing Gurnard Species and a couple of others. I had made a few unsuccessful trips trying for Flounder in the Sea and the rivers, and it was in a small river that I managed to get one on a size 16 Copperhead nymph fished Czech style in a pool that I had caught a Flounder by accident last year. It felt good to get another one on the list after nearly 2 months of being stuck on 30.
October
Another trip to England was bound to increase my chances. I had 3 days spare in the North of England with a load of fly tackle in the car. My plan to catch a Grayling in the Eden was foiled with the river in flood – I didn’t even try.
I spent most of the 3 days Pike fishing in Stillwaters, catching plenty of Jacks but nothing big. I had stuck with the Pike fishing because the gale force winds were preventing me from effectively using the lighter rods for other coarse species. Most of the time I used a #10 wt, casting into the white horses and getting regular soakings from heavy showers.
More windy weather prevented me from getting out on the boat back on the IOM.
November
I hadn’t been too disappointed not catching a Grayling in October because at the time I knew that I had 3 days on the Welsh Dee booked after a trip over with the car again.
It took less than 10 minutes of fishing the Welsh Dee to get Grayling on the list and I spent most of the 3 days enjoying the Grayling fishing.
I took a morning off the wading to fish a stillwater for Trout. I had picked Chirk fishery because I had been there a year ago and caught a
couple of Brook Trout. It was a tougher day than last year but I did get 1 Brook trout by sight-casting a size 22 hackled F-fly.
Due to very windy weather on nearly all of my free days in November, I only got out once in the salt – on the boat. A 2lb 4oz Ballan and a few Pollack were fun but not what I was after.
December
I continued to look for any weather window in which to take the boat out. I considered the boat to by my only chance now for further additions to the list. As it happens, I only fished twice from the shore in borderline conditions. I avoided any blanks but also avoided any new species with Pollack and Coalfish all I had to show for December.
It seemed quite an anti climax but quite typical of a species hunt with fewer new species to catch and fewer species around to catch as the sea starts to drop in temperature.
Results and Thoughts
34 is a lot more than I ever expected. I again learnt a good few lessons and have realised that I could have possibly hit 40 if I had included a couple more trips off the IOM and the weather had been kinder to me. The lack of boat fishing certainly made me miss out on a few species and a couple of SWFFing trips in the South of England may have sorted out a couple extra, not to mention the coarse species missed out on.
I’ll not be repeating my efforts in 2012 – I’ll have a break from species hunting and just take the best fly fishing opportunities as they come, depending on the conditions. I will almost certainly give it another go at some point.
Result in order of capture:
1) Coalfish
2) Pollack
3) Whiting
4) Herring
5) Brown Trout
6) Rainbow Trout
7) Salmon
8 ) Shanny
9) Long-Spined Sea Scorpion
10) Launce
11) Rock Goby
12) Cuckoo Wrasse
13) Thick-Lipped Grey Mullet
14) Silver Eel
15) Bass
16) Mackerel
17) Ling
18) Minnow
19) Chub
20) Perch
21) Gudgeon
22) Dace
23) Common Carp
24) Rudd
25) Roach
26) Barbel
27) Ballan Wrasse
28) Cod
29) Red Gurnard
30) Corkwing Wrasse
31) Flounder
32) Pike
33) Grayling
34) Brook Trout
Stats
Total number of saltwater sessions from the shore = 49
Total number of saltwater sessions from the boat = 4
Total number of saltwater fish = 260
Total freshwater sessions = 37
Total number of freshwater fish = 230
86 sessions for 490 fish.
Species Hunt 2011
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