Flattie Rigs

Just wondering has anyone got any advice on flatfish rigs, ie, lenght of snood, bead/ sequins etc, cheers..

Surprised nobody responded to this 1, we have some real Flattie experts on here.
Typical pleasure fishing rig would be a 2-3 hook flapper, 1 snood above and 1 below the lead etc.
Snood lenght 12-18" 10-15lb BS,put on some beads and sequins and take it from there really.

Have a look at this link and see the flapper Rig,

http://www.traleebayseaangling.com/rigs.html

cheers kstaff i made up a few similiar to what you describe they would be my normal flattie rigs. I was just wondering did anyone have any ground breaking secrets or tips they found good for targetting flatties.

I think depending on conditions you can experiment with the lenght of snoods and have beads no beads etc..

Flatties are usually forgiving in certain areas but when the going is tough subtle changes can help. Light leads and 5-50 yards usually finds them.

Float fish for them in shallow estuarys too, great crack!!

Good luck.

I was just wondering did anyone have any ground breaking secrets or tips they found good for targetting flatties.

well theres the rub - you wouldnt win any comps if you gave that info away - im afraid its learn the hard way - or ply with drink

Ha ha fair play corbyeire i thought thats the reply i would get alright cheers anyway, what ya drinking by the way

hi corm,il try and shed some light on the issue from my limited experience,

three hook flappers are spot on most of the time as the fish are within 50 yards, very often their in places where you can see your shock leader knot stick out of the water., though sometimes i use a loop rig or slider when fishing for plaice and flounders at distance. for example under certain circumstances you may have to hit a feature like say a channel in an estuary or a mussel bed off a shingle beach like the one on killiney or bug rock. generally i vary snood lengths from 18'' - to 3 foot depending on conditions, when its very calm and little tide movement is evident, it pays to fish the long snoods with light leads, what little tide there is can waft the baits around enticing a nearby flat, light leads also help in areas which are relatively tidal, as you can ark the rig around your swim covering plenty of ground, remember if the tide is weak you can do this by twitching. when its rough however i like to drop my snood lengths as the wave motion can keep lifting the baits of the bottom away from feeding fish. as far as beads and sequins go i dont generally use them, i use one clear or red sequin combined with black rig tubing to form my bait stop or a small floating bead from Gemini when the going gets tough, (can make a difference some days ), for my snoods i use maxima in 14lb and teklon super natural in 20lb (.035mm), and for my rig body i either use maxima 40lb or memorex 25lb, i dont use crimps on them anymore either, instead i now use a stop knot so i can vary my snood positions depending where the fish are coming from, i otherwords, my three up can become a 2 up one down in seconds.

if you really want to get some flats la touche in greystones has a good head of plaice, dabs and flounder, i believe a turbot showed up there recently too, whiterock in killiney on an ebbing tide is great too and is in your area, good flounder, small turbots and dabs show there, both marks fish best when relatively calm, though at whiterock a small relaxed surf can bring the bigger flounder out.

hope this helps,
Eric

Told ya Corno! Great post Eric nice one, that should pretty much cover it!!

Excellent post eric thaks for that. I was curious thats all as i always stuck to the same type of flattie rig over the years, three hook flappers 2 up 1 down 15inch snoods some with a couple of beads some without. size 4/6 hooks. I find fishing 5 -10 yards the best range in estuarys anyways. Casting/ lobbing out letting the tide flood in. I also like to let off plenty of line and leaving it very slack to ensure the baits are snug to the bottom with little resistence and i have found this can be very effective also. I always had limited success some good days some bad, nothing amazing. I aways thought of experimenting with very long snoods but have never tried it. I agree with you that tide state, weather etc all effect feeding. I guess the same story goes if the fish are there they should take the bait no matter how its presented as long as there feeding.
And oh yea i have a flattie comp on saturday

a floating bead is a good addition to a flapper rig. sometimes this snood is takin in preference...

Never tried the floating beads worth looking into..

cheers mark.