Serran: a purebred rockfish!
The first time I had the chance to reel in a serran, I was immediately surprised by its beauty. Just a few seconds earlier, I'd already been surprised by a dry tap on my lure and surprised to reel in such a "small" fish given the short but nervous fight I'd had.
This was my first rockfishing fish, and it inspired everything I was looking for in this new technique: fun, surprise and thrills, even with small fish!
Sea perch
The serran, also known as saran or sea perch, is a playful, friendly and photogenic rockfish. It is very colorful and has all the characteristics of a rockfish. On the French and Corsican shores of the Mediterranean, there are three types of sarran. The serran chèvre (or chevrette), the serran écriture (or scribe) and the much rarer serran hépate (or serran tambour).
Behind these poetic names, serrans hide a voracious little fish whose beauty is matched only by its aggressiveness.
The serran, also known as the "sea perch", is found throughout the Mediterranean basin. The writing serran is slightly smaller, but behaves in a similar way to the goat serran, which lives deeper.
The serran's morphology is reminiscent of a small perch. However, its caudal fin is different (round) and it has only one dorsal fin (15 hard rays followed by soft rays). This fish has a relatively large mouth with small, sharp teeth. These fish belong to the serranidae such as brown grouper.
Two main serrans to capture
It's easy to tell the difference between the two serrans.
Serran goatfish are salmon to light beige in color, horizontally marbled with orange and vertically striped with brown. The deeper it lives, the more contrasting its color becomes, turning bright red.
The writing serrano has an orange-yellow tail and an electric-blue spot on its belly. It is light brown with dark brown to black vertical mottling. Its lower jaw has bluish meanders, reminiscent of writing, hence its poetic name.
Serrans don't grow much larger than twenty centimeters, and a twenty-five centimeter specimen is a fine fish.
Where to find it?
In the Mediterranean, finding it isn't very complicated. The serran prefers rocky bottoms made up of boulders. This fish lives in the crevices and cavities between these boulders. It is also fond of posidonia meadows.
The sea perch is one of the easiest fish to catch during rockfishing sessions. Like the girelle, it is the emblematic fish of longline anglers. Fishing for this fish is fully in line with the rockfishing trend (born in Japan), also known as "light shore game".
There are many reasons to fish for serran
First of all, this fish is relatively easy to lure. You can then take advantage of your sessions to initiate your children, your partner... You'll be sure to have a great time on the water and share some of the thrills and pleasures of fishing.
Moreover, aesthetically speaking, this fish is one of the most beautiful in the Mediterranean. In addition to its simplicity, its fishing is really fun and pleasant, with fairly brutal bites and a serran that fights like a devil despite its size. It's a rock fish that's a lot of fun to catch, light, full of sensations and really fun, even for a small fish.
Let's see how you can approach fishing in a technical, light and subtle way, and why not catch a photogenic "big" redfish.
