Big Jay White heads to the South Coast and explains how to bag up on hungry spring flatties as they move inshore to feast
In my mind there is nothing more exciting than a day’s spring plaice fishing. The cod have left the beaches for deeper water to gorge on the herring shoals. I start to watch the weather, looking for the northerly and east winds that clear the sea improving visibility and allowing the plaice to switch on and feed.
My first port of call is the shingle beaches around Brighton and the marina arms. Armed with fresh ragworm, black lug, and a rig wallet loaded with bling and black and green beads. Daylight hours are by far the best with a high tide around lunchtime, giving you the best times of the tide and daylight to target them.
Once on the beach my rods of choice for this type of fishing are a pair of Century Tip Tornado LDs. They are perfect for this type of fishing: light blanks with a soft tip and great bite detection. A tip like this helps in the moving tide but has a steely mid-section which aids in sending the baits the required distance when paired with two small casting reels loaded with Asso 16lb Ultra Flex line and tapered leaders. I prefer to use Portsmouth loop rigs with 12 inch 20lb snoods with size 2 Aberdeen fine wire hooks with 5mm black and green beads and a few sequins held above the bait with a rubber bait stop. I like to use ragworm around six inches long. I thread the first worm almost completely up the hook and snood. The second worm I thread up the hook leaving a good amount of the tail section wriggling and moving. Plaice, like most flatfish, are sight feeders and inquisitive, being attracted by movement. Leaving the tail section moving aids this. Once both hooks are baited I make sure the black and green beads are tight to the top of the ragworms, adjusting the bait stop as necessary.
The Banjo, a beach to the right of the marina, is a shingle beach fishing over sand. This can be snaggy in places and early in the tide the movement of the tide flow flooding over the sand colours the shallow water. As a result, you will need to cast further to find the clearer water which is imperative when fishing for plaice. As the tide floods in so the water becomes deeper and the colour begins to drop out allowing shorter casts to be made.
Before casting I walk down the beach to the tide line and dip my baited rig into the flooding water. This helps in tightening the ragworm as they contract on the hooks, helping to keep the moving tails intact during the cast.
Another little trick I do is to only engage one pair of weight wires; this helps the tide slowly move the loop rig along the seabed in the moving tide, thereby covering more ground. However, to do this you have to take into consideration the strength of the tide and how busy the beach is with other anglers. Not wishing to impact on others’ enjoyment with crossed lines you may need to adjust the size of the weight to suit the tide strength and movement.
With my first bait cast out I return to the tripod taking up any slack line. Once the tip starts to register the weight of the rig on the seabed, I hold the rod a little longer. Once I’m happy that the rig is fishing correctly, I put the rod back into the tripod at a 45-degree angle to the shoreline, adjusting the bend in the tip to assist in registering bites. As the rig steadily moves along in the tide, I now turn my attention to my second rod. While baiting and casting out I noticed a small pull-down bite. When I returned to the tripod with my second rod I notice a stronger pull down. Placing the second rod in the rest I picked up the first rod and slowly lifted the tip and pulled into the weight. It feels heavy but it’s still early in the tide so the weight is hard in the sand. As the rig nears the shore I see a flatfish break the surface, almost like a surf board; fingers crossed it’s the target species. After a few more turns of the reel the fish is ashore. It’s a plaice around 30cm and very skinny after spawning, but a target fish none the less. As the day plays out and the tide floods in I have a steady stream of plaice and flounders on both ragworm and black lug. some anglers tip their worm baits with a small sliver of squid. I tend not to as you can catch whiting and not the target fish you’re after.
The Brighton beaches and marina fish for plaice throughout the year, providing the conditions are right. The better months are spring with a late run in autumn, weather permitting. Later in the spring months I move closer to home fishing Dengemarsh, again, weather permitting and conditions being suitable.
Spring is a great time to fish the Sussex piers and beaches with plaice, dabs and rays all showing up. After keeping my ears to the ground I head down to the beaches that are showing plaice when conditions are correct. If I’m heading to Dengemarsh I first check that the firing range is closed and that the road leading to the beach is passable. After a few phone calls to local shops and angling friends to check I travel down. Once parked adjacent to the beach I like to walk off to the left towards the power station, I walk for around 50 yards to the left of the concrete groin setting up back from the flooding tide line. I approach the session in the same way except I prefer fresh blacks rather than ragworm as it’s a natural bait dug locally to the beach. However, I will always have a few rag with me to tip if the fish are playing hard to get! These Kent beaches can hold large numbers of plaice when conditions are correct and I have had fish over 2lb on numerous occasions. I tackle up using two-hook loop rigs long 20lb snoods size 2 Aberdeen fine wire hooks, baiting up using fresh black or yellow tail lugworm.
I present the worm tail first up the snood allowing the hook point to be exposed through the very end and head of the worm, as we are using black worm, I don’t need to dip the bait in the water to assist in tightening the bait on the hook. Again, I only clip one pair of weight grips, thus allowing the bait to drift and covering more ground. As before I adjust the size of the weight to the tide strength. During the first few casts I vary the distances, looking for the fish. Once I find them I adjust my casts to the required distance, allowing my bait to drift at a steady rate along the seabed where the movement attracts plaice and other flatfish. We fished for the full flood tide only finding a few small plaice. The tide had turned, and we were three hours into the ebb when I saw the guy next to me catch what looked like a nice sized plaice. A few casts later I noticed my left-hand rod tip pull down and spring back. I picked up the rod and began to retrieve the line. This fish didn’t pop up onto the surface like others but stayed deep. It turned out to be a much bigger fish than the others, weighing 2lb 1oz and my best spring plaice so far.
No two days are the same, so homework and rod hours are important. Yes, conditions are very important but the fish feed periodically throughout the flooding and ebbing tide. Always try to cover the flood and ebb tide; you just don’t know when the bites might switch on. Each beach has its own characteristics and the more you fish the venue the more you begin to understand it.
SEAFORD BEACH
I have been doing some investigating on social media trying to find out a little more information on Seaford beach in Sussex. This is to the left of Newhaven harbour and is a long, steep shingle beach leading to sand which heads along the coast towards Beachy Head. After speaking to some local anglers, and conditions being spot-on, I headed down. I had been told of two areas to head for: the first was in front of the carpark which is always an indication of a popular mark! I had also been told of an area further down the beach that can produce plaice but it’s not so popular with anglers. I parked in West View Road adjacent to the promenade and walked onto the beach, moving along to the left and fishing in front of the second large house. Using the same set ups as before, I began to fish. The most important thing for fishing for plaice from the shore is weather conditions and fresh bait. You can catch plaice on various types of rigs, and a hand full of different baits, but if conditions are not correct it will have a dramatic impact on the amount you catch.
Homework and watching the weather is of utmost importance. I cannot stress this enough. I set up on the high tide mark positioning my beach shelter with its back to the wind (a stiff northerly). Both rods were set up with 2two-hook loop rigs and baited with fresh black lugworm. I cast different distances to start searching for the feeding fish. It was slow to start; I got hung up on a snag and lost a bottom snood, adjusting my cast to avoid the snag. Because of the various snags I chose to fish a heavier weight in order not to drift into the snaggy area. Three hours into the flood tide I noticed an enquiry on my right-hand rod. I let a little slack line out waiting for the main line to tighten, showing a more confident bite. After a few more minutes I decided to change my bait and a little while later a small plaice was landed. Target fish landed and returned to the sea. The day carried on with a further two plaice landed, one of them had gorgeous colourations. Next time I visit Seaford I will give the carpark section a go to gauge if this area holds more fish, and not so many line snags.
BRIGHTON MARINA EAST ARM
This is a concrete arm protecting the marina and luxury boats within it. You can park in the multi-story carpark then take the 15min walk through the marina up onto the pier wall. I would advise travelling light. I like to walk halfway along the pier and try to arrive early to find a good spot. When the plaice show the pier can get busy. Weekdays seem a little less packed and allow you more room to fish. I like to use two rods with medium size multipliers loaded with 18lb line. Use the same rigs as the beach with green and black beads on the 20lb snoods. Ragworm and fresh yellow tails seem to work really well. Again, I vary the distances I cast until I locate the fish. One thing you need to be aware of is the tide run. This can be very powerful on bigger tides so try to fish medium size building tides. if possible, adjust the size of your weight to help in anchoring your bait to the seabed.
Throughout the day a pier marshall will walk along collecting the daily charge for fishing the arm. You can only use a maximum of two rods at a cost of £7.00 per day with additional rods at £4.00 each. A day session starts at 06.00 and finishes at 18.00. I would also recommend taking a drop net as I have seen some nice plaice drop off the hook while being hauled up the side of the marina wall. In the past I have caught a number of plaice and flounders, and it seems to switch on just as the tide starts to flow, encouraging the fish to feed more confidently. As I have said, conditions are paramount in helping to have a successful day plaice fishing.
TOP 10 TIPS WHEN TARGETING PLAICE
- Use fresh baits, preferably wriggling baits such as small ragworms and if you can hold of them, small harbour rags.
- Failing that fresh yellowtails worms and blow lug are the next best alternative baits.
- Tip with a small silver section of a mackerel belly.
- Use black and green beads or sequins above the hooks to attract these inquisitive fish.
- Use tide movement and flow to cover more of the seabed, adjust weight size to allow slight movement in tide.
- Use clear, 12 inch, 20lb, fluorocarbon snoods.
- Day tides are by far the best as plaice feed on sight.
- Focus on building tides with high tide around lunch time.
- Keep the rod lower in the tripod allowing the snoods to fish hard on the seabed.
- Plaice have small mouths so use size 2 fine wire hooks.
