Connemara Plaice

People:Me

Duration:12.00pm-4.30pm

Tide:HW around 4ish

Weather:Perfect

Bait:Mostly mackerel

Rigs:Flappers and two hook clip down

Results:Plaice, flounder and lots of small coalies and pollack




Report: Made the decision last night to head for a bait fishing session this morning to a rock mark in Connemara. I had some good pollack from this spot previously with the spinning rod and I knew it had the potential to throw up some fish. The only problem was that by the time I had made the decision the tackle shops were closed and all I had in the freezer was some frozen mackerel. Not a problem I thought, sure isn't there a good spot to dig lug on the way.

Next morning I was on the road for about 10.00 and drove to the digging spot. After about twenty-five minutes of digging I had the sum total of two of the skinniest lug worms you have ever seen. You would have needed a JCB to get down to the worms they were burrowed so deep. In desperation for some fresh bait I pried a few limpets off the nearby rocks and headed back to the car not feeling too hopeful.

I had a bit of a eureka moment on the way to the mark. There was a small shop that sold some fishing bits on the way and surely they would have some frozen sandeel. Called in and although they had no frozen bait, they did have some dried out sandeel. I had never head of it before and it didn't look great but I still ended up buying two packs of it. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Got to the rock mark and the weather was perfect. No breeze, dry and a balmy 9 degrees. Hard to believe it's December. I fished one rod at distance with a two hook clip down and the other in close with a three hook flapper. I used the mackerel and the sandeel out far and mackerel and limpets in close. The dried sandeel was useless. It was rubbery and had a strange smell so I stopped using it after one attempt. The limpets didn't attract any attention either.

I did notice on the distance rod that I was getting some nibbles but no hookups. I was using large hooks hoping for some ray but I had the feeling that it was flatties that were showing interest. I changed to a 3 hook flapper and threw it back out with my only lug tipped with mackerel. Within two minutes I had a fish on and reeled in a small flounder. A quick photo and back into the sea he went.

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With all the lug gone I was cursing myself for not being more organised. I re-baited with mackerel strips and fired it out to the same spot. Within a minute I had a tell tale flattie bite. I stuck and I could feel that I had something on the end of the line and began reeling in. In my mind I thought it was another flounder but as it came to the surface I noticed bright orange spots. I couldn't believe it was a plaice and I was just waiting for it to fall off the hook. However I managed to get it safely onto the rocks. That was my first ever plaice and I was delighted. A couple of photos before I watched him swim off.

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Things slowed down after that and but I think I could have caught a few more flatties if I had some more lug. Lesson learnt! I took out the lrf rod and went spinning while the other rods were out. I managed a constant supply of small coalies and pollack from the spinning and the close in rod which kept me busy. I headed off home before it got dark delight with the plaice and a little disappointed I hadn't brought lug.

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Nice few fish, interesting report!

nice one on the plaice, a rare catch these days , well done !

A plaice nice one bud sounds like a great session. Class lookin fish.

Nice one on the Plaice. Great to tick another species off the list

Nice plaice...

Yea, the dried out or preserved sand eels have been about for a while now, absolutely useless for fishing off the bottom but I've had a good few pollock and coalies by using them on a float, the handy thing about them in you can keep them in the plastic bag in your tackle box to use if you really need to! There's preserved worms as well, can't remember if it's lug or rag, I was told by a guy that its good for flounder and dabs and I tried it a few times without even a nibble!..

Fair play, nice bit if fishing

Thanks for the replies lads. The plaice was an unexpected surprise and a good one for the species list! Also good to know that the preserved sandeels can be put to some use.

Nice session sean. You never know what that mark will produce have had plaice there before myself but have not fished it this year... have to get out for a sesdion soon...

Yeah fair dues for getting out even with scant bait.

Nice Post Congrats on the Plaice..

it's great when you get something unexpected man, nice plaice

nice session man...made the best of a lousy bait situation bar the mack..good stuff
great to land a few on the spinning rod while waiting for nods,keep the blood flowing...nice fishing lad