Dabs

Being the time of year I'm looking at scratching for dabs with the hope of getting a specimen. I know a 3 hook paternoster with small hooks is the job from beachs but is there any refinements to this rig I should use. As for bait I know old lug worm the magic bait but I live to far away from the digging grounds so fresh lug is problem for me so uncooked prawn and mackerel seem to be the best choice but has anyone got any favorites. Is fishing for dabs like flounder a daytime activity and are there any common tide patterns. I'll be trying on the south shore of the shannon estuary so any information there would be great.

Donagh

Donagh,
Mackerel is an excellent bait for dabs and I would have no hesitation of fishing it on its own, doesn't half to be spanking fresh either. I've seen it outfish plain lugworm on a number of days. Any dabs I take home I usually examine the stomach contents and interesting have never found any fish, crabs yes particularly green and porcelain but never fish. Still they hammer away at mackerel baits. They seem to have a thing for seaweed too as virtually every fish I've gutted had the stuff in their stomach.

I always fish a single hook rig for them with the snood about 2 foot long, gets that little extra distance and the presentation (I think) is a bit more natural. If there are lots about I'll use a two hook (1 one, 1 down) rig with cascade swivels. Move your bait along the bottom from time to time aswell, can really encourage them to hit the bait aggressively. No real secrets to them although I've never really had good days at them when the sea was calm.

They will feed during the day but at nightime I've had better results especially on a filling tide. Time of the year did make a difference, October to February was definetly better. Bigger fish around then. Down your way it may be different though so you'll probably have to work that out for yourself. One of my favourite fish the dab, good eating too. Hope this helps.

Pete

Hi Pete, Donagh

I've caught dabs over sand off Achill, often several at a time on a two up one down rig loaded with different baits, to which they seemed to show no preference. They will eat anything :D ... God bless their little hearts!

One thing I would advocate is that it is a scent laden bait - forget squid.

The other thing I would do is drop the hook size down to a 1 or 2 or even 4. Their mouths are not that small, just it reduces damage to small ones.

What I have noticed is that I only catch them on an incoming tide (never on the ebb) and that if you get one, get the cast out again quickly as they tend to mvoe in shoals, uniformly sized shoals. As for specimen hunting, all flatfish reach their peak around December after a full season feeding in the best of conditions and will begin to thin out from now on. I've found that the dabs disappear for about two months around June - maybe they move offshore to feed or spawn - maybe someone can shed some light on this? I guess their movement / presence depends heavily on the mark.

I have found them very happy to feed in daylight, even strong sunshine in the summer so you will have no problems from that, but my view just to contradict Pete is that flat calm is best, and yet here I am advocating a smelly bait over visual stimuli! :shock: Interesting to see what other people have to say on this - maybe current is important when it is calm?

Had lots of dabs fairly close to specimen weight but I have never had one over the magic figure. JAKES has had several by all accounts, so you might try dropping him a PM.

Solely a gut instinct, absolutely no evidence to back it up you understand :shock: but I do feel that dabs like strongly saltwater conditions as opposed to the flounder which is happy in fresh or brackish water... head west Donagh!

FWIW...

Hi guys just read your views on dab fishing, we all have diferent opions on fishing tactics and im no exception, however i have to agree with Kieran I will not ever use fresh bait for flat fish or eels, Im in the position of digging bait when i like and in the summer my bait must be at least 4 days old, the smellier the better hope this helps cheers Rod.

Thanks for the information. I was looking through the specimen dabs in the annual reports and most were caught on mackerel. I was going to target glin as they have some big dab there. I'm trying to avoid traveling to far these days to fish as with 2 small kids its hard enough to get out the door without taking whole days off fishing.

keep the exellent information coming. one thing though would off mackerel be better than the well frozen stuff?

Donagh

off mackeral can be good. whip it to the shank and tip it with sandeel, cockle, even fresh mackeral, or squid. keep the bait neat.
depending on where you fish, small floating beads can help, as can flicker spoons/ sequins, especially on shallower venues- not when the waters coloured though. also try lighter snoods in calm seas.
wire booms can be useful when fishing deeper venues with strong tides.

Donagh,
Never tried really off mackerel but the mate reuses frozen sandeel thats been in and out of the freezer numerous times leaving it a bit stale. He uses elastic thread and a baiting needle and makes bait sausages with the 'runny' sandeel. You could throw bits of shellfish and lugworm in aswell and make a mixed sausage. The bait is virtually cocooned in thread but he has had plenty of dabs and plaice on the stuff.

Pete

What is the specimen weight for a dab?

Bill

agree with Pete about the off sandeel, can work a treat. i would still tip it off with a small piece of mackeral or similar. you will just have to try a few things and see what works on the venues you fish Donagh. should be interesting!

low tide up is usually a good time to fish. fish evening and an hour into dark. dabs can come in really close just before dark and things can really liven up at this time. best night fishing session for dab was on a clear, calm, moonlit night. generally i found evening time best.

dropping one rod in close is a worthwhile tactic just as it starts to get dark. at this time on rockier marks/ piers fish just where the sand meets the rock.

Specimen weight for dab is 1.5lbs.

whip a strip of 'off' mackeral to the shank of the hook. now take a strip of sqiud twice its lenght and 1/2 inch wide. pass the hookpiont through the middle of the squid strip. whip one lenght up the shank, over the mackeral. this will make a compact bait, but will leave a little tail of squid whichwill keep the hook piont clear and work as an attractor in clear seas.