FLATTIE FANTASTIC!
A boat trip produces more than 40 turbot and brill, so make it your cue to try a spring session
I f there’s one type of fishing trip that really sets my pulse racing, it’s a session on the big flatties. The king and queen of our flatfish, turbot and brill, are not only great fun to catch, they’re also extremely good to eat – and I like eating fish, especially ones that I’ve caught myself.
I bumped into father and son duo Martin and Brian Donald a few years ago, and I’ve been lucky enough to get afloat with them in recent years. Using their boat called BluPrint, they fish out of Littlehampton, West Sussex, where they catch a tremendous amount of quality fish throughout the year. So when Martin messaged me to ask if I fancied a day’s turbot fishing, I jumped at the chance.
Apart from the prospects of catching loads of good-sized flatties, I’d been planning an underwater filming session for months, but just hadn’t been able to get on the right marks and conditions. This trip looked like ‘the one’, and my trusty WaterWolf camera was ready for action. I’d modified the camera a long time ago, adding an 8oz watch lead to the base so it sits upright at all times, even on the drift. However, I wasn’t sure if the camera would work when we drifted a series of banks in 180ft of water.
GREAT START
The morning of our trip dawned overcast, but with very little wind. The forecast was for sunshine in the afternoon, which would provide enough light through the water column so that the camera could ‘see’ what was going on down there.
As we slipped the mooring, our first job was a stop off to catch fresh mackerel to use as bait. It didn’t take long to put 30 or 40 in the tank, and soon we were setting up for our first drift at the flattie bank.
I’d used my DB1 boat rod (see Sea Angler issue 542), rated at 10-20lb, because later in the day I was going to use it to put down the WaterWolf, which weighs around 10oz. It’s not the most sporting approach, but for the purpose of obtaining video footage, I wasn’t too interested in ‘sport’, as such.
Initially, I stuck an 8oz watch weight on a link swivel and set up a running leger rig with 3ft of 25lb fluorocarbon finishing up with a size 4/0 Sakuma Manta hook. Bait was a thin strip of mackerel, which I had shaved most of the meat off with my filleting knife. This makes the bait supple, and it actually looks like a sandeel as it wafts in the tide.
With our three rods fishing, it took a matter of seconds before I felt the telltale rattle of a flattie. It became more pronounced, and instead of dumping line in freespool for a few seconds, like I would normally do in shallower water, I began to retrieve. I could feel the fish kicking on the end of my line, and moments later I had a turbot in the boat. At around 5lb, it was the perfect size for dinner. Soon after my fish hit the deck, Martin and Brian followed suit. What a start!
The action continued at this pace for an hour or more before the tide slackened, and we’d managed to catch turbot, brill, a few plaice and some gurnards.
As the tide died away, I felt a strange bite, and was amazed to see a plump greater weever on the end of my line. The colours were amazing, and although I had every intention of putting it back, my curiosity got the better of me and I kept it to eat. I have been told quite a few times about how nice they are to eat, but I’d never caught one big enough for the pan. Having eaten the fish, I can tell you that they do taste fantastic.
HERE COMES THE SUN
As the tide turned and began to push BluPrint along again, the sun popped out from behind the clouds and burned them all away. It was turning out to be glorious day. That was my cue to send down the WaterWolf.
I shortened my trace to around 2ft in order to keep the baited hook in the frame, and managed to catch several fish while using it, before the ‘sack of potatoes’ feeling when reeling in made me switch back to the traditional rig. I’d managed to grab an hour or so of footage though. When I looked through it at home I was amazed at the quality and clarity. I had action of both turbot and a brill following and attacking my bait; check it out on my ‘davebarhamfishing’ channel on YouTube.
As the day progressed we were still catching consistently, and with the tally up to more than 40 flats, we decided to head off for an hour of bass fishing with really light gear and lures, before returning to Littlehampton. We’d kept half a dozen turbot and brill each, and returned the rest to fight another day.
Needless to say, Martin put us straight on the fish again, and it was bass to 6lb from the start. It was a cracking way to end the day. I’ll have another crack at the flatties this spring.