NEW SERIES
UK & IRELAND SPECIALIST SPECIES HUNTING
In a brand-new series on locating and targeting rare, unusual or rarely targeted species around the UK and Ireland, Dave Lewis gets into deep water with the stunning bluemouth
I can clearly remember the first time I saw a bluemouth. We were drifting for blue shark about five miles to the north west of Sybil Head, off the mouth of Smerwick Harbour, County Kerry. An avid species hunter always looking to catch something new or unusual, I had heard bluemouth were occasionally caught over the ground we were fishing.
When I mentioned this my boat partner rigged up a rod with baited Hokeye lures, lowered it down to the bottom, had a bite almost immediately and reeled up a small bluemouth. Of course, I tried to catch one, but despite several hours reeling up all manner or different species, that day we never saw another bluemouth.
Several years later I did catch my first bluemouth, closely followed by a second, third, fourth and so on. I was fishing the northern edge of the Straights of Gibraltar, trying to catch some of the unusual species of bream found in those waters. We were fishing very deep water of 400ft plus and it was hard work, especially when within seconds of any bait hitting the bottom it was getting eaten by small bluemouth. The biggest of the many we caught that day would not have weighed half a pound.
SCORPION FISH
Bluemouth, Helicolenus dactylopterus, are described as being a bottom living fish, typically found on the continental shelf between depths of 200 and 1000m. They are widely distributed from northern Norway south to the Mediterranean and are said to reproduce in southern waters between November and December. They are actually a species of scorpion fish, family group sebastidae, and are also called ‘blackbelly rosefish’ or ‘bluemouth rockfish’. Bluemouth are described as being a typical sit-and-wait predator.
Several years ago I was fishing the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, one of my favourite sea angling destinations outside of the tropics. “How about trying for a bluemouth,” Mike Hennessy, our host from the Irish Tourist Board, had suggested, adding, “There are plenty out on the reefs offshore, and the weather forecast is perfect.” The following morning we had met at Dingle Marina, where we boarded ‘Sarah Ellie’. The bluemouth mark consisted of a broken reef sitting in several hundred feet of water. On Mike’s advice I tied on a three hook Shamrock Rig, which I baited with long thin strips of mackerel and dropped over the side. Mike immediately caug
