ANGLING ADVENTURES
There’s a great competition designed to take full advantage of the arrival of these tasty flatfish
On the trail of the South West’s plaice.
Many of us look forward to spring as the weather starts to improve, so we say goodbye to those cold winter months and look forward to the chance to get out the plaice gear. If you fancy a bit of competition thrown in, then why not take part in the 2nd Southwest Plaice Championships being held on April 13-14?
It was back in April last year when the inaugural event was staged and, not wanting to miss out, members of the Sea Angling Adventures Team were all set for the weekend’s main event.
This two-day match sees anglers from around the United Kingdom head to the South West’s beaches and rock marks to target their monster plaice. Event boundaries are from Ferry Bridge on Chesil Beach, Dorset, down to Rame Head in Cornwall. This gives the anglers plenty of options, with many hitting such hotspots as Chesil Beach, Seatown, Seaton, Slapton and Beesands.
For the 2018 event, the Sea Angling Adventures Team decided to try Chesil Beach for the first day. With West Bexington and Cogdon being very busy on the build-up week to the event, I visited Abbotsbury in the hope of catching one good fish. Joining me for the session was SAA’s James Davies Cooke, who ventured down from North Wales, along with species hunter Ross Johnson.
Both were looking forward to getting a rod in the water, so we decided to get to the venue on the Friday afternoon and spend the evening targeting a few thornback rays, then get our heads down on the beach for a 6am start, when we would be joined by the rest of the SAA team consisting of Nick Panther, Mike Comber and Rob Bond.
TWO RODS
At around 6.15am I opened my eyes to the sight of a very excited Nick Panther, who had arrived at 5.30am to be ready for the start and had already got his first cast away.
I shouted to Ross and James to wake up, and all three of us started to set up our plaice rigs and loaded on our baits.
When it comes to plaice fishing, I’m not really one for messing around with two-hook flappers. However, with the event rules stating only two rods and three hooks, it meant that I could fish the way I always tend to do when targeting big plaice, and that’s a basic up-andover rig with a size 1/0 Specimen Extra hook attached to the trace, then loaded with a nice size crab bait. It always seems to do the trick when targeting those bigger fish, and with the first bait up ready to go, I walked down to the water’s edge and blasted the lead weight to the horizon.
On my second rod I used a loop rig, which meant I could fish two rag baits and maximize my chance of catching that winning fish.
While applying my second bait to the hook, I noticed the tip of my Zziplex M427 SU rod arch over and lift back up into slack line.
Straight on my feet, with fishing rod in hand, I started to gain the slack line on to my reel spool. When the rod tip picked up the weight of the fish, I knew that I had got a nice plaice and started to reel slowly to get it closer to the shore. Soon a fine plaice of 2lb 5oz was on the shingle. It was a great start to the day.
Nick Panther was the next to hit into a plaice with a fish of 1lb 8oz, which he caught at range on ragworms supplied by Seaview Angling, of Plymouth. He used the TronixPro bait capsule that allows you to present a worm bait at maximum range without blowing the bait. Once it hits the surface, the capsule opens and leaves you a long flowing trace with a prime worm bait with plenty of movement.
All the guys were now applying fresh baits in the hope of a flurry of fish, but sadly we were all wrong because those were the only fish we saw for the rest of the day.
There were plenty of fish caught by other anglers at West Bexington, but nothing of any size, and after driving back down to Plymouth to weigh the fish in at Seaview Angling, the first day’s results saw me in first place.
fantastic day
The SAA team decided to head to Beesands in South Devon that night and have a barbecue and a few hours’ sleep in the van before another early start. After setting my alarm for 5am, I did not manage to get a lot of sleep due to Nick’s snoring. We both awoke to find anglers already fishing.
Among them were Mark Ash and his friend from Plymouth, who had already pulled out a 6lb spotted ray on a fresh crab meant for plaice. Nick, James, Ross and I set up our gear and sent baits to the horizon. It was a fantastic day and conditions were great – a sunny sky and a gin-clean sea. It was a plaice angler’s dream.
After four hours of fishing without a bite, things were not looking good. But word spread down that Mark Ash had pulled out a slab perhaps nudging 2lb 5oz, which kept me on my toes. I walked along the beach with Nick to see Mark, who had the fish in a bucket ready for the weigh-in. The only one of the SAA team to catch a plaice on Day 2 was James Davies Cooke, but it was small, so he returned it. Finally, at around 3.30pm, we returned to the weigh-in and the awards.
As the contestants gathered there seemed to have been a lot of fish caught from Chesil. However, there were only two fish likely to take the crown and I clung on to top spot with my fish of 2lb 5oz, with Mark’s going 2lb 2oz. Phew!
It was a great event with a fantastic prize table and cash prizes, and a lot of guys that never managed to weigh in also walked away with some great prizes from the free raffle. ■