UK & IRELAND SPECIALIST SPECIES HUNTING
Dave Lewis explains where, how and when to add one of the most unusual-looking and highly-rated table fish in the UK to your species list. What’s more, any shore catch could instantly become a new UK record!
The John Dory, also widely known as St Peter’s fish, has a wide distribution around much of the world. Along the coast of northern Europe they can be found around much of the southern half of the British Isles, including parts of the North Sea. They are widespread throughout the Mediterranean and can be found around the entire continent of Africa.
John Dory can be caught in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and parts of the Pacific, including New Zealand, but are absent around the Americas.
John Dory are a demersal, coastal marine fish. They make excellent eating, and consequently command a high price when caught commercially. It is extremely unlikely that John Dory could be confused with any other species as they are so distinctive in appearance. They have a laterally compressed olive-yellow body with a large dark spot, known as St Peter’s thumb print. They have noticeable long spines on the dorsal fin and large eyes at the front of the head which provide it with excellent binocular vision and depth perception. The John Dory’s ‘eye spot’ on the side of its body is said to confuse prey, which are then scooped up in its big mouth.
John Dory are mostly found in the south-west of the British Isles. They have an average size of between 1-4lb but occasionally much larger specimens are caught. The current British Record is held with a fish that weighed an impressive 11lb 14oz, caught off Newhaven in Sussex in 1977. The shore record is vacant.
A difficult species to specifically target, each year John Dory do tend to show over the same inshore reefs and wrecks with some degree of regularity. As you will see, in a few areas off the Cornish peninsula for example, local skippers can give you a fair chance of catching one throughout the summer and early autumn months.
Unsurprisingly most John Dory are a surprise bonus catch caught when targeting other species, almost always when fishing over some sort of broken ground. In the UK many of those fish which are caught are taken on lures, especially Red Gills and soft plastic shad-type lures. Others are occasional taken on
