THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

about. Or so you would think. But actually, nothing could be further from the truth, as over recent years,
two further 'garfish' species have appeared in the angling record lists.
The skipper I already knew about having seen one in the flesh alive, though at that time it wasn't
recorded on rod and line. The other species, the short beaked garfish, is a more recent discovery and
may well have been taken mixed in amongst other gars for who knows how long. Nobody is quite sure.
What fishery scientists are sure of however is that we see it fairly regularly now in home waters, so as
with the skipper, and after much difficulty getting comparative identification information which is so
minuscule that difficulties are bound to arise, the key points of identification are listed below which
suggest possible differences in feeding.
Garfish Belone belone - vomerine teeth, the vomer being pads on the roof of the mouth, are present in
larger mature specimens. Teeth in the jaws are comparatively large and well spaced.
Short beaked garfish Belone svetovidovi – vomerine teeth, the vomer being pads on the roof of the
mouth, are absent. Teeth in the jaws are competitively small and well packed. Has a more compressed
body.
Skipper Scomberesox saurus – Though not a true garfish, none the less, typically garfish like in body
layout, but with a series of five finlets between the dorsal fin and the tail on the top of its body, and
seven finlets between the anal fin and the tail on the bottom side of its body which neither of the other
two garfish species have.
NOTE: Finlets are best described as a row of tiny easy to miss mini fins which for reference are also
present in mackerel.
Essentially, garfish are open water fish, living at least part of their lives well away from the coast. Then,
as coastal waters start to warm during the late spring and summer, quite an extensive inshore migration
gets under-way at or close to the surface, with only occasional specimens taken at depths exceeding
thirty feet, which is probably why angling catches are not reflective of the numbers of garfish available.
A case then of our baits being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Like most people, I've picked up an odd one here and there over the years on feathers and small baits
in the normal course of my fishing without deliberately trying for them.
Occasionally one comes along as you are winding in, and that's how it is. But when I have consciously
set out to catch them, this has always involved the use of rubby dubby or chum, both from the boat and
from the shore.
I first became aware of garfish as near surface offshore targets when fishing for blue sharks out from
Looe. Often when we shook the rubby dubby bags we would see gars darting about picking off the bits
in the slick. So I started free-lining tiny pieces of mackerel belly, and bingo.
On later sharking trips I took along a light float rod, and I remember Graeme Pullen having a similar
experience, only with a fly rod. Great fish to catch on light tackle with their speed and aerobatics. The
nearest thing we have here in home waters to marlin fishing, but obviously on a very much more modest
scale.
Some years later I had a similar experience drift fishing inshore around Guernsey taking dozens of the
things on free-lined and float fished baits.
Elsewhere, I've taken them around Wales and occasionally off Blackpool where in calm weather we
used to see them playing, at times jumping over the anchor rope just where it came out of the water.
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