Duration:9.45pm-12.30am
Tide:Rising
Weather:Light breezes with rain for a while
Bait:Mack strip, manky ragworm, Lee did his traditional lug digging with bare hands and got a few of those as well....
Rigs:3 hook flappers to 4s and 6s
Results:Myself, 12 flounder, 1 doggie and a 5lb bass (unhooked and returned in the water and away in good health), Lee 4 flounder.
Report:
Took a notion to head to the usual beach on a flattie hunt, it wouldnt be known for large quantities of flats but I had been down with the kids on the June bank holiday and seen loads of them in inches of water feet from the shore. I'd popped down that night and managed 3 flounder 2 turbot (first ever from this beach) and a doggie in an hour so on that basis, hopes were high of a decent evenings fishing.
Bait was to be a tray of manky (mainly dead, semi liquefied) rag left over from a boat sortie earlier in the week and a couple of mackerel fillets. We arrived to near calm conditions with just a tiny break about 15 yards offshore, perfect!! After a bit of banter, rods were set up and 3 hook flappers were tossed out just behind the little roller. No need for grips here, small flat leads were employed on the long snooded flappers baited with a section of manky rag and tipped off with a strip of mack.
The rain began to come down and after a couple of weeks of handy warm weather fishing, neither of us were prepared for it and had to spend the evening in a semi damp state. 20 minutes later, with both my rods bobbing around, I retrieved a treble shot of flats on one followed by a double on the other, 2 casts, 5 fish...... Not a bad start! Fish came thick and fast with plenty of singles and the odd double making their way onto the beach. One of my rods, which I'd baited solely with mack strip in search of a turbot and tossed about 15 yards nearly took off, lifting off the ground as whatever had hit it headed out to sea, thoughts of a large turbot were dispelled immediately on lifting into the fish as, you guessed it, a decent bass who obviously hadnt read the rule book, made off with my bait.
8lb fluoro, size 6 hooks and mack strip bait on a calm evening in close is most certainly not classic bass tactics and it was surprising to say the least. A careful fight ensued as I didnt want to break off and leave the fish trailing line and in the shallow water the decent fish of about 5lbs really gave me some gip. Managed to beach him in a few inches of water and quickly unhooked and released with the minimum of fuss and without removing him from the water. After a few seconds of coaxing and redirecting, he gave one kick and was away like a rocket thankfully.
The flounder began to slow down with singles mainly coming in, Lee had struggled to connect earlier with just one fish on the board but a minor change in tactics saw him put another 3 fish on the deck in quick succession. With the rising tide we ended up with a small gully in front of us, a little lob into that had the rod lurching over again.... Not another bass says I.... Nope, thankfully, a fat LSD had been roaming in tight to shore and made his way onto the beach. One or two more flounder followed before we finally called it a night and headed home.
A pleasant evenings fishing in nice conditions (aside from the shower) with plenty of fish to boot. Flounder werent massive but the majority were between 25 and 30cms which wasn't bad. No turbot showed so we'll have to have another go at them in the near future. Good to see large numbers of flats, I absolutely love scratching about for flounder on beaches and its great to have the opportunity so close to home. Roll on the next trip!
- had the rod low alright, but my line was tight so my top two hooks were most probably off the bottom. As soon as we put some slack in the line I was into a double...