Woodstown Strand, Waterford

Had some good plaice fishing here on Sunday. Had six averaging 1lb with two going 1 1/4lb. Bait was frozen black lug tipped with mackeral but a couple of others had even more success on rag.

Also upstream at Ballinakill there are reports of good codling catches last week

wherebouts in woodstown were you fishing ? i have been fishing the southern end of the beach at high water but have only been getting flounder on lug and plain mackeral baits

im sure they were flounder you caught buddy, sometimes they have vague orange spots and you can mix them up. Id be very suprised if you were catching plaice consistently at this time of year but if you are youre a lucky man.

Hi Lampoon

Normally I'd agree with you and it is possible they were flounder but I've had reliable reports of small plaice, around the same size, in January in Galway.

Global warming perhaps? If it is, keep the coal fires burning etc :wink:

They did have orange spots but were darker than the plaice i have caught previously. They were caught in the open seas, mostly on the Antrim coast, and i suspected the darkness of these fish was due to the silt and mud in the area.
However the local guy i was fishing beside said they were plaice and i took his word for it.

On reflection the snouts were snubby and less pointed than a plaice so i feel i could have mislead you. sorry....

still a lovely part of the world and good to get some fish!

The mark is on the second point at the southern end. it fished well for the second hour of the flood and then went off the boil. Bit of a trek!

Well Lads - chances are they were place - mussel beds at woodstown would be the probable cause of this - I cought one (amongst loads of flounder) last week. That sais - you wont find me complaining about the odd plaice :)

isnt the tell tale difference between the 2 the knobely bits on the plaices head? flounder dont have em but can have quite bright orange spots in plaices!!!!! Boom Boom

Easiest way to tell is by touch.
Start at the tail and rub your finger right up the back bone.
A Flounder has small lumpy nodules the whole way up this line and is smooth on each side of the line.
A Plaice is totally smooth the whole way to the head ,where there are some of these lumpy nodules.
A Dab is rough all over, the whole way up.
Even if fishing in the dark this can make identification quite easy.

While doing this, you will also feel the fish relax as it enjoys its massage. It is a great stress reliever for the fish and it will swim away well chilled. :)

Thanks Shockleader. I have always battled to tell the difference. Your method seem foolproof.

I'd agree with Shockleader. But I have to say I also fish at woodstown and the Flounder I have cought in the last week or two have made me think twice! Not that I've cought that many :cry:

That's an excellent simple guide shockleader

If you do not mind I will add that into the guide to the species off the index page.

Thanks

fished for three hours last nite two hours before full tide and one on the ebb had ten codling all small and returned one coalie again small and returned and four flounder with very bright spots but definately flounder three were kept and one returned

Fished Woodstown last night with a result very simular to Bazz. 8 Flounder 4 returned, 6 codling all returned. Nothing big enough to talk about but i had a nice tea out of it.
I fished the last 3 hours of the comming tide and was catching from the first cast. On the turn of tide they just dissapeared. Time to go home for the tea! :)