Photo: Diego Delso, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Ballan Wrasse
Labrus bergylta
Season
calendar_month Best: April - Octoberwaves Where to find them
Kelp-covered rock, harbour walls, steep ledges - always tight to structure.
phishing How to catch them
Crab baits under floats or on running rigs; weedless soft plastics through the kelp.
No two ballan wrasse look alike: mottled reds, greens, browns and creams swirl across thick-set flanks like no other British fish. They are creatures of the kelp and the rock face - chisel-toothed shellfish-crackers that live their whole lives within yards of structure.
Hook a good ballan and it does exactly one thing: turn and power back into the rock. The first five yards are everything, and light-tackle wrasse fishing on rough ground has become one of the great modern shore sports - especially with soft plastics, where every bite is a slam.
Crab and hardback baits take the biggest fish; lure anglers score with weedless soft plastics worked through the kelp stalks. Wrasse are slow-growing and poor eating - this is a strictly catch-and-release fishery, and the fish are magnificent enough to justify it.
The UK record is around 9 lb 7 oz; a 5 lb ballan from the shore is a serious fish.
Fancy catching one?
Our skippers run trips targeting ballan wrasse in season.