THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

This happened a couple more times before somebody thankfully found a short wire trace. Now we were
really in business. Every egg a bird in fact. No wonder then that they don't allow bait fishing. Amazing
fish to catch though, which both pull hard and run well.
In many ways they remind me of pike. They even look a bit like a pike in that they have a long sleek
body and lots of teeth, though that's where any similarity ends.
The dorsal fin is long and continuous, rather like that of a ling. But it's the colour and patterning that
can really stand out. Not so much in the fish I caught. But some of the larger wild specimens can be
spectacular in the extreme, with their black base colour covered in prominent white spots and stripes,
plus of course their huge mouths bristling with sharp teeth.
MALLORCA
Like much of the Mediterranean, Mallorca is a holiday destination whose coastline is inhabited mainly
by lots of very small fish. On one visit however back in the early 1970's that didn't matter, as I had been
tasked with the job of collecting the widest range of research specimens possible for external anatomical
studies such as scale and fin ray counts for Dr. Dietrich Burkel, who was illustrating the Collins
Encyclopaedia of Fishes.
Species listed as rare in home waters, but
abundant throughout the Med such as
comber and an assortment of wrasses
and breams. And as most holiday
makers will know only too well from
looking into harbours and around the
rocks in these parts, particularly those
who pack a small telescopic rod, these
fish are everywhere. An absolute collage
of colours, shapes, and layouts. But
barely anything big enough to cover the
palm of your hand.
it was absolute carnage.
Male Turkish Wrasse
With all the above in mind, a boat trip
was arranged with a local character to go
exploring in and around Palma harbour,
fishing with small hooks on dropper
rigs and a box of fresh ragworm where
Fish were coming up by the string full. I didn't know at the time what many of them were, so anything
that looked a bit different was photographed for colours, then popped into the formaldehyde tub for
transportation home.
Back in the UK, after Dietrich's formal identification work, I was absolutely staggered by the variety I
had in there. Far more than I had anticipated. So while it wasn't exactly scintillating sport, it served two
very important purposes. Dietrich got his artwork specimens, and I was able to positively add the best
part of twenty new species to my world-wide list.
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