Boat fishing with Barham
Targeting turbot, brill and plaice during the early spring months can produce some of the best sport of the year
Target early spring’s plaice, turbot and brill.
Come late March and early April, the south coast begins to come alive with flatfish, and it’s during this period when you can have some real big hits, with good numbers of these species.
Plaice, especially, can put in a mass appearance early in the season, with some days producing in excess of 50 fish per boat out of ports such as Eastbourne, Brighton, Weymouth and Dartmouth.
If you want to catch big numbers of flatties, have a try early in the year. However, if it’s big, juicy-eating fish that you’re after, then best time to concentrate your efforts is from late August right through October. This is the time when the flatties are at their best, having gorged themselves throughout the bountiful summer months, fattening themselves up for their annual winter migrations. It’s not uncommon to hear reports of plaice weighing in excess of 6lb at this time of the year, and if you hit it right, you can have some tremendous sport.
TURBOT AND BRILL TACTICS
The standard tactics for catching turbot and brill on the drift is to drag your lead weight over the ripples of sand, with a 3ft trace and size 4/0 hook on the end, with either half a fillet of mackerel or a whole fillet if the water is coloured.
Having said that, a few years ago I learned a little trick for cutting down half a fillet of mackerel so that it looks more like a sandeel in the water. It’s a great tip for when the turbot seem to be a tad finicky, or when there is little tide.
What you do is remove the fillet from your mackerel, but then you fillet the fillet. By this, I mean you remove as much of the meat away from the skin as possible, then simply cut the ‘meatless’ fillet in half lengthways and use the shiny silver belly section.
When there’s not much tide, I also make another change and switch to a really light lead weight; if I can, I’ll go as light a 2oz. The key to fishing this method is to wait until the drift is well and truly underway, and then cast the light lead and thinned-down mackerel strip out across the tide. The boat drifts along in the tide, but rather than drag my bait along, I cast it out the stern so that it runs away with the tide at a similar speed to the boat. This way I can keep connected to it as the tide carries it away.
Doing this also means that the boat doesn’t run over the ground that the lead weight and bait would be dragged over too. In essence, I’m almost freelining a bait some 100ft away from the boat. Fishing in this manner can pose the problem of detecting bites, but the advantage is that because the bait is so thin, the turbot tend to inhale it and hook themselves. Therefore, as soon as you feel a rattle or catch up to the weight of the fish as it lays there on the seabed, you should lift into it and the turbot should be hooked.
I have also caught a fair few plaice using this tactic, on the same thinned down mackerel strip bait, so it’s well worth giving it a go on ground where plaice and turbot are known to inhabit.
DRIFTING FOR PLAICE
The tactics for targeting plaice are almost identical to those employed when drifting for turbot. When the boat is on her way, drifting with the tide, simply lower your baited rig and lead weight over the side until it hits the seabed.
When fishing the sand, I like to let off a fair few yards of line so that my bait is fished away from the boat – but that’s just the way I do it. They key is to stay in contact with the seabed at all times.
When fishing over the mussels, it’s a slightly different story. Your best bet here is to use a heavier lead weight and try to keep the angle of your line as straight up and down as possible. The more line you let out, the more angle you will have on your line, and that only increases the chances of you getting snagged up.
Plaice show a definite liking for long, thin baits. Cram a few wriggly ragworms on your hooklength and follow this by tipping off your hook with a long, thin strip of squid.
Talk to any skipper who fishes out of Weymouth, and they’ll tell you to tip your rag and squid bait off with a whole, uncooked king prawn. For some reason, the plaice down there love them, and most of the 5lb-plus fish are caught using this bait.
Other baits do work well, and a combination of rag, black lug and squid is another option. Peeler crabs, mussels and razorfish also score when conditions are right.
When you’re drifting, your rod tip will transmit to your hands the fact that your lead weight is bumping and banging on the seabed. It takes a bit of getting used to because, at first, every little bump or irregularity feels like a bite. However, there’s no mistaking the tell-tale ‘rattle’ as a hungry plaice grabs your bait.
You need to be on the ball when fishing like this. As soon as the plaice takes the bait, you need to let off line in freespool for a count of five to allow the plaice to eat the bait and find your hook. Then it’s simply a matter of doing up the drag and playing the fish to the boat.
One word of warning is not to bully the fish too much. Plaice have a habit of throwing the hook or ‘letting go’ as they near the boat. Just keep a steady pressure on, and keep winding – then you will reap the rewards.