HEAVEN IN DEVON
Plaice fishing with James Madsen.
Over the past six months I have fallen in love with East Devon. Being very different to my usual stomping ground of the Bristol Channel, it has given me an opportunity to target some different species and fish with a variety of methods.
The lion’s share of my fishing in East Devon has taken place at Seaton, an incredible beach situated in picturesque scenery between the villages of Axmouth and Beer. The steep shingle beach goes on to sand and then out to the depths of Lyme Bay. It’s a bit of a favourite for Sea Angler contributor Chris Clark too, so I must be on to something.
Among the many different species that can be caught at Seaton, my favourites are plaice, mullet and small-eyed rays. The best months for targeting plaice on the East Devon coastline are March and April, and then September and October.
You can still enjoy some reasonable numbers of plaice right the way through the summer, especially when water clarity is good.
Access is a dream come true, with parking spaces all the way along the seafront. It takes you a matter of minutes to get from car to fishing position on the beach. Furthermore, there is a great tackle shop almost on the beach; Seaton Angling and Kayak Centre is located in the left-hand corner next to the harbour.
I don’t know about you, but I seem to find myself constantly glued to the weather forecast in winter and early spring, mainly checking out wind direction and working out where would be most suitable for my next fishing session.
Combining weather with venues that are likely to throw up a few fish at this time of year is not always easy. It was February and I was itching to get down to East Devon and have a try for an early plaice. Rain and strong south-westerly gales made fishing anywhere pretty unpleasant. In among the gales I spotted a break in the weather and a handy change of wind direction that would make a trip to Seaton possible.
You ideally want some north in the wind when fishing here because it is a south-facing beach. I called up my friend and Channel Anglers’ teammate Jamie Sargeant to see if he fancied joining me. He was up for it, but slightly apprehensive because of the recent strong winds. As it happens, fishing about 24 hours after strong winds wouldn’t be a problem at Seaton as it’s set in a fairly narrow bay and the sea tends to flatten much quicker than it would on a more open beach.
If necessary, we could find some additional shelter behind the cliffs on western side of the beach. Tempted by the chance of early plaice and rays in darkness, Jamie and I agreed it was worth a try.
We arrived during a very cold and stiff north-westerly wind, forecasted to drop away to nearly nothing as our session progressed. The sea was already reasonably flat, but there was still a good tinge of colour. You generally want good water clarity when targeting plaice, which feed by sight.
EARLY PLAICE
Nevertheless, we were both keen and stuck to our original plan of targeting plaice for two hours over high water and then fishing some bigger baits in darkness. Nothing happened in the first hour or so and our expectations of catching a plaice were dwindling. We’d both done a good job of feeding the crabs, so regular casts had at least kept us busy.
The light was now starting to fade and a change of tactics was imminent. With our sandeel baits ready for our next casts, Jamie had a good indication on his rod tip. A slow pull down is exactly what you want to see when targeting flatfish. Jamie lifted his rod and began to retrieve a good steady load. The fish hugged the bottom all the way in, even through the surf, which is typical with flatfish. We were both delighted to see a good-sized plaice hit the beach. Weighing in at just under 2lb, this was a bit of a result for February, a cracking early-season plaice.
Still buzzing after Jamie’s success with the plaice, darkness fell and it was time to change tactics.
Seaton isn’t widely known as a good venue for targeting rays, but they do get caught here all year, as they do along the Bristol Channel coast, as detailed by Jansen Teakle on page 8. I caught several small-eyed at Seaton over the Christmas period and recent reports also showed signs of undulates and thornbacks in this area.
Unfortunately. it didn’t happen on this occasion. Instead, we were kept busy by plague proportions of whiting. I enjoy being busy on the beach, particularly in cold temperatures, but it was a bit of a waste of good sandeel baits. We tried our best, but it wasn’t to be this time.