2024 Species Tally

2024 has been a great year! I picked up where I left off in 2023 with light rock fishing (LRF), accounting for most of my fishing, though I didn’t limit myself, and did some boat charters, shore fishing with bait, and went back to freshwater to tick off some species I had not yet caught. Below is a tally of all the rod and line species I've ticked off this year...

All photos/icons are my own catches

#1 - Flounder (Platyichthys flesus)

Keen to start off the 2024 tally, I headed over to Charlestown for a couple of hours on New Year's Day for the ever-so-reliable Flounder, which I had some sucess on a few days prior. The conditions weren't really in my favour this time, being right in the middle of the day, and during a bout of hellish rain; though after some persistence, I finally hooked one, on what has fast become one of my favourite lures, the Ecogear Aqua Shirasu.

#2 - Painted Goby (Pomatoschistus pictus)

A stunning January morning in Plymouth gave me the opportunity to catch some relatively common species which weren't as obliging in the marks I had back in Cornwall. The first being a little Painted Goby down on the steps in the harbour, caught on a tanago with Marukyu Snow.

#3 - Pilchard/Cornish Sardine (Sardina pilchardus)

I saw a big shoal of silver fish swim past us just minutes after the goby catch, thinking they were Herring or Pilchard, I let the tanago I still had on from the goby, drift through the shoal, and within seconds, I hook into one; a lightly lip-hooked Pilchard, nice! I wouldn't ever use a tanago for such a fish, but knowing I wasn't fishing blind, I felt like I could avoid deeply hooking the fish.

#4 - Common Blenny (Lipophrys pholis)

I catch the ferry over to Mount Batten breakwater for the afternoon, in hopes of finding something a bit more special. It's not long before I catch a Shanny, in its breeding colours (or should I say, colour, as it is just black). I thought this would've set the tone for the rest of the afternoon, but it was the only one I caught! It confidently took Marukyu Power Isome.

#5 - Pollack (Pollachius pollachius)

With the Winter bites proving challenging to get, I opted to give fishing between the rocks a break for a bit, to cast ahead of the rocks. This didn't take long until catch a Pollack, admittedly an easier, but welcome addition to the tally.

#6 - Goldsinny Wrasse (Ctenolabrus rupestris)

Deciding to jump back between the rocks, I wanted to refocus on the Goldsinny in here. Being more localised in the spots I've fished in Cornwall, I wanted to check them off in Plymouth where they are borderline 'pest' level before the sea gets too cold. Changing over to Berkley Gulp Isome in Slim, those delicate tail nips translated quickly into a hookup!

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Josh Pickett