Now here's a strange thing I should've mentioned in my previous post; when we were in Skopelos and swimming on the shingle beaches my wife yelped a couple of times and said that she was being bitten by fish. Now I have to admit I didn't believe her so I swam over to where she was and right enough, within seconds I had been bitten too, I also yelled a bit but also laughed.
How strange though!
Well you remember my daughter worrying about the wasps? Well it should've been these fish she was concerned about as on the last beach, she entered the water and got bitten immediately on the inside of her thigh, the thing actually latched on! She had to pull the thing off and I couldn't quite believe the nip it gave her, even drawing blood. She made such a commotion that everyone around left the water and to look as an outsider you'd think she had been the victim of a shark attack!
Well anyway I was wondering if any of you fishy guru's may possibly know what this savage critter would be? I didn't see the fish but my Daughter said it was green and spiky, if you know please let me know.
OK back to the report now.
My next session was just a kind of interlude whilst we were at Maratha beach between Troulos and Koukounaries, nothing terribly exciting and really just more Combers, Wrasse and small Bream but fun nonetheless. I got loads of follows from small Garfish but couldn't get them to commit, not only are they a fraction of the size here, they are also much more finicky!
It wasn't half hot hat day, in fact it was around 40 degrees for that week which saw my in the water more often than out. Predators to hunt or not, they were gonna have to wait until I had cooled my flesh!
Combers certainly were the predominant species caught over my time there, it was a bit ridiculous and they reminded me of the blasted Weever back home, they would just attack anything. I even had them on a small Seaspin Buginu!
In fact when I was snorkelling I even saw one with what looked like the tail end of a rainbow Wrasse hanging out its mouth!
On that note, Snorkelling was a bit of an eyeopener, although I saw the odd larger fish, most were really small indeed, like 3" max! I wish I have had a go pro or something to film it all. I followed a Bream species which I think was either a Dentex or a Gilthead for sometime, he was around the pound mark I guess, but didn't seem bothered too much about me at all!
A few other species like small Derbio, Salema and two banded bream were present too but obviously didn't like lures! I expect if I had've taken my Gulp Angleworm along I would've had a better chance at those.
However one morning when I decided to return to that tasty looking spot between Agia Paraskevi and Troulos I did eventually get a good fight when fishing my Hart RSF Mebaru Blade in a sink and draw style. Immediately after getting the hit at range, this fast silver object was leaping out the water and shining wonderfully in the rising sun, wow my heart was racing. I honestly can say I have never hooked something so damn fast and it didn't half strip line off of my Luvias. It was in fact a species I really had hoped to catch, a Palometa Derbio. I think this could easily be my favourite light game capture of all time, just down to the sheer speed and agility, I seriously thought I'd lose it on a couple of occasions. For this size it'd surely take some beating!
And yep that speck above my head is another bloody wasp in the shot!
Sadly there wasn't anymore like that, just more bloody Painted comber.
On the way back to the Hotel there was something else I needed to search out and indeed I found them where my Daughter told me they could be found about half way along Agia Paraskevi beach;
I am not exactly sure what type of Turtle or Terrapin these are but I bet my friend Russell Roster can tell me when he reads this! Totally cool though if not a little smelly.
With two days left I actually only managed one more session which was very short due to my feeling a bit worse for wear (leave it at that). I spent that time just sitting on a little breakwater (surrounded by wasps), dropshotting for small Bream and that was the end of that.
Now here's the thing; even though the fishing was pretty poor, I am told it really picks up through September and even through the winter and even if that was not the case I'd definitely still return. Skiathos is a pretty magical place in my opinion, the people are great and make you feel genuinely welcome, the food and drink is as good and the scenery is epic, I feel I still have so much to see there. Really I can totally see us returning!
I'm not even sure if there is anything I would do massively different, maybe try and spend more time fishing over the sand? Its just I love scrambling about on rock, its a major part of the lure fishing buzz for me.
I know I would've caught more if I had've fished Berkley Gulp! products too, but that just gets boring for me at times and I need a proper challenge, therefore I would probably just choose a cooler time of year and fish for longer and at night more.
I had a great time meeting new people, seeing friends wed, spending time with my family and more. All in all it was a thoroughly good trip and some fish were just a bonus.
Thanks for reading,
Tight lines.
