HYTHE’S ALIVE
Flounder fishing may not be what it once was at Southampton Water, but patience has always been a virtue when it comes to catch its flatfish…
Chris Clark goes on the trail of Southampton’s flounders.
F declined in Southampton Water in recent years, but my visit to a largely forgotten stretch of shoreline on its western flank proved there is plenty to offer those who make the effort…and it’s an all-year venue too. e trip with my pal Steve Lawrence, who is something of a flounder guru, produced some good flatfish from the shallow mud flats of the Shore Road section at Hythe. Once at Hythe, this is an easy venue to locate by following Shore Road in a southerly direction. Just as you pass the last industrial site, you go over a small bridge where, on the right, there is free parking for about half a dozen vehicles. From this parking area you walk another couple of hundred metres to the south along the road until you see a path on the left which crosses the sedge. It should be noted that over the high water period this path can become flooded, and on big spring tides the whole sedge sometimes gets immersed. We’d chosen a spot about 500 metres in a southerly direction towards Fawley, which is home to a refinery that is the largest of its kind in the UK.
A ridge of shingle and cockle shells runs along the entire stretch, which makes an excellent fishing platform on all but the biggest tides.
is venue is also sheltered from the prevailing westerly winds. When visiting this stretch of shoreline, I would recommend fishing the last three hours of the flood and the first two hours of the ebb. Walking out on the soft mud at low water should be avoided. Intermediate tides are recommended because there is very little action on full neap tides while big spring tides will wash right over the sedge.
On this occasion we fished for flounders towards the northern end of the venue, but the whole stretch of shoreline does produce some real heavyweights even in daylight. I’d arrived an hour before Steve because he got held up with work. By the time he arrived, I had one decent flounder in the bucket and had returned half a dozen small bass.
WAIT AND SEE
When fishing for flatties, I favour medium to light rods. Distance casting ability is not an issue because a 40-yard cast is more than adequate. I was using a three-hook paternoster rig with 15lb clear mono hooklengths, each about two feet long and armed with size 2 Kamasan B941M hooks.
On occasions when the crabs become troublesome, pop-ups fitted on the hooklength can be beneficial to keep the bait off the seabed. With no requirement for heavy lead weights, I settled for a 3oz plain sinker and it proved more than adequate. Without question the best bait here for the flounders is ragworm, the bigger the baits the better.
Just after Steve arrived complete with rod holdall, beach shelter, several large buckets and a carrier bag, I had a typical flounder pulldown bite. For this species it is advisable to be
patient and leave the bite for several minutes to let it materialise. Flounders often just suck a bait without properly taking it and numerous good flatties have been lost over the years by over-enthusiastic anglers. After five minutes I gently eased into the fish, which put up some resistance. It was time to bring the landing net into action and soon a well-conditioned fish around 1lb 8oz lay at my feet. Shortly after landing the decent flattie I had another pull-down bite, followed a few minutes later by a series of rattles. On this occasion it was a double shot of a small flounder and a school bass. Steve had just finished taking some pictures of my fish when one of his rods sprang into action, and the culprit turned out to be a moderate-sized flattie. He was pleased and no doubt relieved to get his first fish of the session.
After the excitement of Steve’s treble shot coinciding with the sun starting to dip behind the treeline, it was time to head for home. It had been an interesting few hours, proving that there are still flounders within the confines of Southampton Water. Yes, it can really be a hit and miss affair.
As for other species, this is one venue which is really worth checking out during the summer because the smoothhounds are real fighting machines providing some great sport in these muddy shallows.