You just got to love plaice!

Another quickie session today produced my best plaice of the year so far. Only fished for 3 hours due to the weather, but during that time it was very productive. The rig I used was a one-up one down invisible rig with size 6 hooks and fresh crab for bait. Unfortunately the majority of fish came in the form of double headers of whiting; not big ones either, most of them struggling to make 20cm. The day was saved though by this lovely plaice of 2lb 3oz and 40.5 cm. I had been keeping it in a bucket of sea-water and debating whether to release it or keep it for tea. In the end, a helpful persuasion from my mate Lee tipped the scales in favour of keeping it and home it went. A simple mix of breadcrumbs, chilli, parsley and spring onion to top the fillets and then a compliment of  new potatoes and veg went down extremely well. Think I'm gonna have to catch a few more plaice of edible size. God they taste good!

Thanks for reading,
Tight Lines,
Ross

Scottish Raid part 3 : Flattie hunting in the harbours

Day 2 on my adventures with Schogsky and Hutch saw me and Scott heading for Dunbar harbour with Jake set to join us later on. Now both Scott and Jake have caught flatties on the lures already this year, so it was great of them to put me on a mark where they knew I had a great chance of catching some on the lures myself. After pulling up in the car park, Scott showed me round the mark and pointed out the hotspots so all was looking good. A size 16 hook armed with isome was the chosen rig and adding a few splitshots above the hook ensured it was tight on the bottom. Scott was soon showing me how its done getting off the mark with a LSScorpion and then showing me how easy it is to get amongst the flatties with a couple of flounder and plaice. It really was stuffed full of little flatties though and at any one time you could have had double figure amounts of them chasing the isome along the mud, quite a sight. I did finally manage one for myself, a small flounder which was shortly followed by a little plaice, 2 more for the lure caught tally, a great

 way to begin the day. As the tide rose the better fish started to move in and Scott landed a few better ones whilst I was aimlessly trying to catch something tiny, which I thought may have been something different. Unfortunately I didn't manage to tempt it so we'll never find out. Then came Jake into the harbour with an intent of getting himself a plaice for his species count. He didn't have to wait long either and after a single flounder he got what he was after. As usually is the case as well, this wouldn't be his only one and I think he went on to land quite a large number of them as well as more flounder. With the bottom now out of visibility we all started trying a few different areas. I found a nice little spot between some weed and dropped down to see if anything was around. Sure enough a small looking fish took interest and after a few missed lunges at my lure, it took aim and pounced on my jigging isome. On bringing it up it was clear it was a scorpion fish but it looked a little different so I called Scott over for a proper identification. He was more certain about what it was and said without doubt it was a short spined which is my 1st ever after the previous one I thought I'd caught turned out to be a long spined. Looking back at the pictures though it is fairly obvious, but at least this capture puts beyond any doubt that I

 have now got a short spined. We all then decided to move into the old harbour where the guys had told me the larger flounders lurk and also a good number of blennies and coalies. With exception to the large flounders though we got plenty of the other species. I lost count of the number of coalies Jake landed and Scott was also pulling in a good number of coalies with blennies thrown in. I must have been doing something different though as I could not for the life of me hook the coalies, the blennies however came in good numbers. As the time rolled on we had a quick look over the back wall of the harbour, but conditions put us off trying there so it was time for a move. Jake had to shoot, so it was back to just me and Scott with St Abbs being our mark of choice. I'd love to say we cleaned up there but it was quite the opposite, for unknown reasons the fish just weren't there and following an hour and a halfs effort we left without a single fish to our names. It is a lovely looking place though and I'd love to have another go when the fish have returned. Well that was it for Day 2 and it was time to head back to Edinburgh and plan our next days fishing.

Thanks for reading,
Tight Lines,
Ross

An early morning plug followed by a mostyn plaice

 Plugging in the morning 06/05/2012

First of all I'll apologise for the picture. I don't like blanking bits out, but as the mark I fished is a spot I've been shown, it's only fair I white out any features in the background that may be a giveaway. Anyway, I set off for the mark at 3.30am to catch first light which was set to be around 4.45ish. It was around 4.30ish when I actually was at the mark and ready to fish and I was full of optimism. I had come to try and land a sea trout which I know are in the area and I'm desperate to get one for the species hunt. I started plugging with a special little lure I was lent by Terry, one which he's had the majority of his sea trout on so I had a 

decent chance of getting into one.if they were there. After 20 mins it was clear they were with a couple of fish jumping around 20 yards out from where I had waded. I cast the lure to one of the rises, 5 turns of the reel and a take. I got excited but remembered what Terry had taught me, which was to keep the drag loose, as they have delicate mouths and you can pull the hooks easy. So I did that and played it carefully to the beach. As it got closer I could see silver and was convinced I had my first sea trout but realised after I'd beached it it was a schoolie. I don't think I've ever been more disappointed at catching a bass lol. It was a fish all the same though so it still got the adrenaline going. The rises disappeared shortly after my capture but I did manage another fish and another species for my growing tally, a sandeel, all be it foul hooked through the gill, still counts though  :)  (species 32) I called it a day then and headed off to mostyn to meet Colin after a quick stop at Menai angling to pick up some bait, which to my great delight was open at 7am, good effort Gareth and a big thumbs up!

Mostyn

My sole purpose of fishing Mostyn was to get myself a plaice for the tally. Thanks to Stewart (sasnacks) and Webbo for putting me on the mark.  I met up with Colin at 9am and we headed for the ship area. After walking a bit further down to realise the tidal pull was too strong we walked back to the ship positioning oursleves in the centre of a nice eddie that had been created by the flow. We both rigged up 2 rods and began fishing. I opted for a one up one down rig baited with a selection of black lug/squid, crab or rag. We both were getting bites fairly often but were missing a fair few each until eventually I managed a pin whiting to get me off the mark. As we were fishing from mid-water up, we were expetant of a few flatties coming up out of the channel to search out our baits but after an hour we were struggling. It was near midday before the next fish came out which was a little dab for me. The last hour though as the tide hit slack was the most productive. Again we both had plenty of bites but whilst Colin was struggling to hook up, I had a few more whiting before on what turned out to be the penultimate cast I managed to get my target, a plaice (species 33) It wasn't a big one at about 28cm but it made the trip worth while for sure. We packed up shortly after and headed back to the cars. I know Colin enjoyed himself and I look forward to fishing with him again soon, next time hopefully getting into some good fish.

Cheers for reading,
Tight Lines,
Ross