Plaice Fishing, various marks south coast

They're all over the Plaice

Various marks along the south coast

Gin clear and calm, range fishing a must

Looking back at this years blog, it's been a pretty quiet year fishing wise, a lot of unremarkable sessions, mostly due to ....... bad luck?......bad fishing?......did I upset the fishing god? nah...well maybe the first two. but I definitely have not upset the fishing god, he doesn't exist you see. there have been a few reasons, some I've touched on before, but the honest truth is I've been exploring the Sussex coast line rather than my familiar Kent coast, feeling a bit like a rambling traveller discovering each beach and mark for the first time, then just watching, listening, and learning as I go. Yes it's been a slow start, and I know I will have loads more to learn and discover over the coming years hopefully. The stand out sessions this year have all been reacting quickly to situations and changing tactics to target the fish in front of me, rather than well researched, planned and executed sessions, but that was about to change! The weather's been calm and settled, with clear and sunny sky's, the water is gin clear, and whilst the rest of the fishing community is firmly getting excited about the impending Cod season, for myself and maybe other South East lads, we haven't seen Cod in a fair few years now, and without the Cod bug, I have been setting my sights on another target, the Plaice! especially after the hard work and effort I put in earlier on in the year into finding marks, perfecting rigs, and baits, it was always on my radar to retry and get that one big fish.

The tried and tested Plaice rig

This blog is over 5 sessions during September, and involves 4 venues. The plan was simple, to catch a lovely big fat autumn Plaice!. My rigs through trail and error ended up being very traditional, and for the good reason because they work. 2 hook flappers, nice and simple and very tangle and hassle free, clipped down to provide stream lined baits and rig for distance casting as distance is key on several of my marks, bling was 5 or 7 small 5mm green and black beads between a stop rubber and a sequin. The snods were 16 inches of 12lb fluorocarbon, which was light and long enough to provide lots of free movement and provide some stealth to wary fish as fluorocarbon is a lot harder for the fish to see underwater. bait was only ever going to be Black Lugworm tipped with Squid. Hooks were small match wire size 4 offset Aberdeens, again, light and small, Plaice are experts at sucking worms off hooks, and I wanted them hooks in the fishes mouth, plus the venues I was fishing are quite likely to throw up the odd large Sole at extreme range even in day and clear water, and that is something else I would love!!!

Wait a little longer and catch his friend

My first 2 sessions were quiet successful to be fair, Target fish achieved but only one each session, and only a small plaice each time, and they did serve a purpose, 1.) proved the plaice were back in, and 2.) proved something wasn't quiet right with my rigs. I seemed to miss a fair few bites and dropped a fair few fish on the retrieve, always hard to prove, but I'm convinced I was loosing fish, It wasn't until after a more successful 3rd session where I had 4 plaice that, due to fishing on soft sand at range, often for long periods waiting for bites, the  grip lead was getting buried, and took a fair amount of pulling and tugging to free it up, it eventually popped out quite violently, it was this moment that I think was pulling the hook from the fishes mouth, or at worst tore a hole which then allowed the fish to wriggle off the hook during the retrieve. To over come the the lead digging in problem, I decide to use plain leads, which solved the problem notably! on the 4th session, I landed a fish every bite, 7 fish in total up to 33cm and I didn't loose any on the way in, although working the 2 rods with plain leads at range in a big building spring tide was proving harder work at times. Another thing was, a little bait elastic around the end of the work to stop the Plaice sucking it off the hook, and when I saw an initial bite, I let about 1m of line off the spool, and waited 4/5 minutes just to give the fish some slack to play with the bait, and waited even longer in the hope of a double shot, which worked more than enough times!!

New PB Plaice at 48cm

Hazelnut and bazil crust on Plaice

This was to be my last plaice session, as I'm about to go away on holiday with it's own fishing adventures, but I knew where the fish were, I had the range, the rigs and the tactics, I would be fishing the flood tide from dawn to lunch time, the only thing I couldn't get was fresh Black Lugworm!!! I did ponder at cancelling the trip, but I had some very good quality Frozen Black Lug and I kept thinking that maybe if so many Plaice about that they wouldn't be fussy, so I opted to go. I cast out with a off the ground cast at full wallop and with a stiff off shore wind, I'm sure the 5oz lead sailed well over 100meters, one of the furthest fishing casts I think I have ever done, abet wind assisted, well the first few hours were quiet, not a bite, I didn't mind because just as I predicted they would turn up as the tide began to move. And they did!, it was non stop action for 2 hours! felt like I was mostly baiting up!! elasticating small frozen Black Lugworms onto a size 4 hook is fiddly at best, but necessary!  I had landed 13 Plaice so far in total, and then bang it happened, I slid onto the beach what I thought was another double shot, but turned out to be the Plaice I was after! a whopping 48cm weighing 2lb 12oz!! the plan had wonderfully all come together for a change!,even on the last cast I pulled in a chunky 41cm Plaice! my tally for the day was 15 Plaice. from 26cm to 35cm, and the biggest 2 fish over 40cm. Finally my planning come together, and ended with a session i wont forget in hurry. But now its time for them Cod?.........lol nope, not yet, if the water is clear, when I get back off holiday I'll be hunting the mini Krakens (squid)

Plaice Fishing, aboard Peganina

Grunting around the Plaice

Aboard Peganina skippered by Ant Hills

Peganina leaving Rye Harbour

It was about as calm as it gets, and sunny all day, conditions were so good that even after my last disastrous trip out to sea where I was sick for 8 hours solid ground baiting with the lining of my stomach and totally unable to fish, I was surprisingly eager to get back out afloat and find my sea legs. the plan was to drift for Plaice, having caught quite a few Plaice already off the beach, I was susceptible to target other fish, and I kept thinking maybe a bonus Turbot could be on the cards, so I bought 1 large fresh mackerel for bait and converted a few Pike spoons into 6' long flowing rigs made from florocarbon, with a single size 3/0 hook and the spoon about 2' from the hook. My Plaice rig was a conventional spreader boom with a few different snods with different colour beads with clips to attach to the spreader boom, making it easy to pre bait other snods and chop and change to suit what colour beads are working.

New PB Plaice at 43cm 1lb 10oz

It was to be a short 4 hour trip with 6 of us on the boat, I fished 2 x 12lb class rods, 1 with the Plaice spreader rig baited with fresh Lugworm and tipped with a slither of squid, and one with the 6' long running leger with spoon baited with 4" strip of Mackerel belly just nipped onto the bend of the hook. 8oz plain leads were just right for keeping the rigs on the bottom whilst we started the first drift. I slowly lowered the rig to the bottom in a controlled way as to not tangle the rig, once on the bottom, I let out about 20 meters on line and engaged the reel and set the drag, Whilst I was baiting up and dropping the Turbot rig, I noticed the Plaice rod nodding away. I let off some more line and kept the line slack for a minute, then I reeled in slowly, as the line tightened I lifted the rod gently and knew I was on immediately, A solid start to the session, a new PB Plaice at 43cm and weighing 1lb 10oz!

New PB Tub Gurnard at 2lb 8oz

After a promising start, the rest of the drift was fruitless, the 2nd drift was very quiet up until the point the Skipper had turned the engine on ready to move, and asked us all to reel in, but 2 of the guys on the boat reeled in a nice sized plaice and a Tub Gurnard, so quickly thinking, the skipper advised us to carry on fishing, bites were coming all over the boat, my mackerel bait on the spoon was attracting the Gurnards where I had 1 after another in quick succession, a new species for myself a Grey Gurnard at 1lb 4oz and 3 Tub Gurnards with a new PB at 2lb 8oz, I've only caught a couple of Tub Gurnards before and definitely not of this stamp, they are absolutely stunning fish!! and make a unique grunting sound!! All then went quiet, we set up for the last drift, I was rather hoping for another Plaice, but that never happened, a few of the other guys caught and even a Thornback Ray showed his face, but all I could mange was a solitary Dab, but that didn't matter I had had a fantastic time, 2 new PB's and a new species, even though I went for Plaice, was trying for Turbot, I had found Gurnards and what beautiful fish!! I had been given another Plaice by another angler so I had a brace to take home.  I even didn't feel sick in any shape or form, so I guess I found my sea legs, or maybe as I suspect I may be a fair weather sailor, give me time and I'll start pushing my limits again looking for that special fish. 

Gutted Gurnard and Plaice and ready for the pot.

Plaice Fishing. Hastings

Right Plaice, Wrong Place

Hastings, East Sussex, UK

Spring has sprung, Hastings

In all my fishing it had dawned on my that there was a species that had eluded me, I'm not sure how but the Plaice has managed to avoid me for a long time, to be fair I hadn't really targeted them specifically, more so I had just targeted flat fish in general. Now that the Plaice was firmly on my radar this was now the time to start trying for them, with an exceptionally warm winter I was guessing that they would appear early and with some settled weather the Northerly winds clearing the water, conditions looked good. Now all I needed was a venue, a few stuck out but with only a few Plaice being reported so far this session and that was only hear say, I decided to pick my venue on a hunch, venturing further west along the coast I felt would give me the best chance of a early Plaice and Hasting struck out to me as a low water venue fishing a sand bank good for flat fish, would the Plaice be there? I didn't know but there was only one way to find out!

Homemade rigs are the best

I arrived as early as the bait shop opening times would allow me, with 60 fresh Black Lugworm and a box of Squid I arrived at my mark at 8.30 am a few hours after high tide, my intention was to fish all the way down and up a little for a 6 hour session. upon arrival I had the pick of the beach surprisingly I couldn't see another angler at all. I set up next to a concrete groin where I had had some good sessions before. I fished 1 rod at range with a single 1/0 Aberdeen hook on a up and over rig with beads and sequins to attract the inquisitive sight predatory Plaice, baited with a whole Lugworm and a slither of squid to tip it off, I used a plain lead and cast out as far as I could uptide and let it roll across in front of me seeking out any dips or gullys where food would congregate and hopefully find the waiting fish. the second rod was a simple size 2 hook flapper with size 1 Aberdeen hooks with a gripper lead baited with half a Lugworm, which I cast about 40 -60 yards straight out off the end of the concrete groin, from previous visits on bigger tides, I had seen that there was a gully where the tide flowed stronger around the end of the concrete groin, which I believed any fish swimming from one section of the beach to the other would swim along it.

The Rock Slugs are back!!!

Well, it was fish from the off, both rods were only out a few minutes before the tips were rattling away, small Dabs and small Whiting were out in force keeping me so busy I barely had a chance to have both rods out in the water. Then on the close in rod a bite that was notable bigger than the rest, I struck and lifted into a weight that put a big bend on the light Bass rod, excitedly I slowly reeled in and landed a larger Whiting at 33cm and large Dab at 26cm, 2 keepers right there! Now firmly finding my place to cast to, I recast the close in rod to it, again within seconds rattle rattle the rod tip went, and again a bigger bite than the previous, it bent over again, and I struck, yes something a little bigger maybe a sizable Whiting, but as the fish approached the beach it skimmed across the surface, it was a flat fish and a decent one at that, I expected a Flounder, why I'm not sure I was targeting Plaice!, and a Plaice it was at 34cm, I couldn't believe it,my first Plaice! mission accomplished and the session was only early, so I set myself another mission, as family were over visiting, I thought it would be nice to catch enough fish to put on a Sunday spread.

The Flounder

With in the next 3 hours I had another 2 target Plaice at 33cm and 37cm, a Flounder at 35cm, several Rockling, lots of Whiting and another larger keeper, and lots of very small Dabs, but also another bigger one which I kept. It had been nonstop all day and as the tide turned the fishing very much slowed, there were still plenty of fish biting,but now I was having to wait 5 mins for a bite and frustratingly missed a lot. Whilst most my action and all the keepers I'd caught had been on the close in rod with a plain flapper, the distance rod with a purpose made blinged up drifting Plaice rig had only been picking off Whiting at range of approx 120meters, But It did account for 1 Plaice dead on low water, and the biggest of the 4 that day at 37cm a new PB weighing in at 1lb 1oz.

The days bounty soon to be sunday dinner

Biggest Plaice of the day

I fished the flooding tide for a few hours as planned, and amongst the tiny Whiting and postage stamp sized Dabs with the odd bigger one, i did pluck out my 4th and final Plaice at 28cm, I fished till I run out of bait. I have to say there are some sessions that you hate, some session you love, and some sessions like this one, where you just really enjoy yourself, which is what I did, it seemed the winter cold and dark with gales and heavy rods and line was over, the sun was out, the wind was calm, I was fishing the continental and bass rod both very light rods and back to using braid instead of mono, ok it helps with casting but even more so it makes the bites from little fish exciting. I can honestly say this was a pleasure trip to remember and its not very often I take fish home for the table, but I had 3 Plaice, 2 Dabs and 2 Whiting to take home, just enough to feed the family on Sunday. And not forgetting I had finally found my illusive Plaice, and considering the rigs I used and the range I was casting to, I really cannot believe I've never caught one before as this is exactly the way I've fished for Soles and Dab for many years now, but hey, maybe it was all about location, or maybe as I suspect the Plaice normally turn up a little later in the year when the dreaded May water is about, which is a time where my rods stay firmly in the shed.