Sole Fishing

Summer Sole Searching

Hythe, Dungeness, Hastings

Traps set, now to wait till dusk

This blog is a bit different to the previous ones I post, I have been searching for Sole since late June and it's now September. not only has this been a challenge, but thrown up some lovely fish and a few welcome surprises along the way, this blog is over 11 sessions and a few venues. The plan was simple enough, to fish small hooks and small worm baits close in during dusk and night. and to pin the baits to the sea bed where the Sole are more likely to find it. I had made myself up plenty of 2 hook boom rigs with size 4 Aberdeen hooks in preparation. One of the things about summer fishing, is the fact the calmer sea allow you to lighten up everything, 12lb main line, 50lb leaders, Bass rods rated at 2 to 4oz, and small leads makes for a much more enjoyable and less strenuous session, something which I very much look forward too after the brutal strain and stress that winter fishing into a stormy sea, in bitterly 20 to 30mph winds and rain.

Best Bass of the summer

2 hook boom rig, size 4s

Now having a full time job where I work the same amount of hours again in overtime doesn't leave me much choice in when I can go fishing, so with limited free time and sometimes I was lucky enough to have my last job of the day by the coast also gave me a opportunity to go, rather than the tide, weather and sea conditions, this was where my tackle was ready at a moments notice and I would be taking every opportunity when I could within reason of coarse, but if I'm honest, sacrificing a nights sleep on a work day isn't beyond me either, well my job prepares me well for sleepless long days. Ideally weather would need to be hot and a sunny day with high pressure and a gentle Northerly wind with a clear water and fish a rising tide. I think the first 4 sessions I done, the only thing that was right was that I was fishing in the dark, conditions were not hot, and the sea was angry with stiff Southey wind giving rise to a very muddy and angry sea with big surf, more akin to Bass fishing.

New species Horse mackerel

Although conditions were not right for Sole, The fishing was good, I fished multiple places along Hythe and Dungeness, catching Bass with a few nice keepers for the frying pan, also plenty of Rockling, Pouting, Dogfish, a new species for me Horse Mackerel and more Eels than I've ever caught in my whole life, now I'm not a Eel hater, and I'm happy they seem to be making a big comeback after becoming a protected species, but seriously they are rig wreckers and hard work to unhook, twisting the rigs into slimey "tangballs" (my invented new name for this particular tangle ) which results in it being chucked away. needless to say, the bigger Eels that I caught of around 2.5lb gave brilliant accounts of themselves on the light gear and heavy surf, that definitely gets the adrenaline going.

Biggest Eel of the year

Still Soleless, I decided to try a different bait, I'd been fishing local black Lugworm, but had my suspicions that Ragworm maybe the right bait. This in itself created a new problem, my local bait shops did not supply Ragworm, so I used a online store to deliver live Ragworm to my home address the day I had planned to go fishing, this did not go smoothly. the first delivery ended up at the wrong address, where a elderly lady accepted my delivery of live Ragworm, and opened it up in her kitchen believing it to be a new kettle, I would of loved to be a fly on the wall when she reached in and found the worms, needless to say, now with a traumatised complaining neighbour and having to send my wonderful wife on a peace keeping mission to collect the worms, I did get to go fishing with Ragworm as bait which resulted in my first couple of Sole this year, both were very small and released to grow, but very welcome none the less. Convinced the Ragworm was the difference between catching Sole and not catching Sole, I ordered twice again, but both deliveries failed, and left me baitless and unable to go fishing, I don't blame the online shops, but the parcel companys that seem unable to deliver to my address, and make a purpose made process where getting in touch with them to complain or locate the parcel is almost impossible.

Its a start, a little Slip Sole

Although I'd found a couple of small Sole, I wanted to do better, at least get a keeper to take home and cook!. The next lot of sessions were Soleless even though the weather conditions seemed perfect, back to locally bought Black Lugworm I just continued to catch Eels, Bass, Whiting and Pouting, by now I had worked myself all along Hythe beach front over the summer, fishing a different mark each time, I'd fished close in and at range, I'd fished 2 marks at Dungeness with no avail, I was confident of my tactics and bait, even though the Rag had worked, there was no doubt in my mind the Lug would be taken by Sole if they were there, so more the question was what was I doing wrong? It had to be locations, and work came to the rescue and offered the chance to fish Hastings, obviously I would have to repair a chiller in a store along the sea front, but damn it would be rude not to take the rods with me for after.

Slimey tangballs

After procuring some local Lugworm, a lot smaller than the Dungeness Blacks I'm used to, but they were top quality live Lugworm, and the absolute perfect size for a small size 4 hook and small mouths of the Sole. Setting up on my favourite mark the wind was ferocious, the surf was big, again I thought Bass rather than Sole. I struggled with the light Bass rods, they bounced about all over the place making bite detection almost impossible, but the fishing seemed the same Whiting, small Bass, and yes even more rig wrecking slimey sea snake Eels! I had almost given up hope of a Sole, as I sat there way later than I had anticipated, I had now changed one rod to a live bait rig, which Whitings were happy to attached them selves to, in the hope of a big Bass nailing it during the darkness in the rolling surf, and my other rod still a boomed Sole rigs cast about 15 yards out. Then bang, a big pull down followed by a slackliner on the Sole rig, the biggest and most definite bite for the night!, as I reeled in I knew a fish of a bigger stamp was attached, a bass or big Eel I thought, but no! finally my target species! a 36cm Sole, a plump fat keeper, perfect for dinner for 2!, I was over the moon, it didn't stop there, I had another 3 more smaller Sole in the consecutive casts, until I ran out of bait, and I'm sure I could of had more.

Biggest of the year Dover Sole

Well what have I learnt?, this has been one hell of a challenge catching a Dover Sole, let alone a decent sized one, I tried my hardest, and 10/10 for effort, I'm sure I was just unlucky, or possibly was fishing the wrong venues or tides, I just haven't nailed this Sole fishing quite yet. But I was catching fish, and lots of them, with new species of Horse Mackerel, some lovely Bass, and Eels, on top of the normal species, the surprising thing was how close these fish get to the beach, most of my fishing for Sole was around the range of 10 to 30 yards out, and many of the better fish were taken even closer in! Using the Bass rods light lines and leads was a sheer pleasure, I also enjoyed the warm summer nights and appreciated them knowing the pending winter season is closing in. And I definitely haven't had a very successful Sole hunt this year, but the one bigger one I did catch, was well deserved, I enjoyed sharing this top class eating fish with my wife, and who knows although winter has started, we have just had our hottest day of the year, so maybe just maybe I may get another crack this year before the winter comes.