Flatties

[Nickcook77]

Hi all - new member here!

I line in marazion, Cornwall amd have a boat moored in Porthleven.

I generally catch an assortment of fish, including ray but never flatties.

I have tried and anchor and at drift and different people swear by each one.

Is it best to fish where rough meets sand? dips and depressions in the sand? Baits I have tried are fresh fish baits and worms. I have also tried with and without spoons.
Saturday I was trying a sea tech vibro spoon and was getting constant bites which did not develop. I did wonder if the spoon was causing it.

 

[Wolf]

Welcome to the forum. I would try a longish trace,with mixed coloured beads on with a 1/0 size hook, worm as bait.where the dips & depressions are in the sand,I've never caught when using a spoon on the trace,hope this helps.

 

[Nickcook77]

Thanks i Might give that a go this afternoon for an hour or so!

 

[Nickcook77]

Welcome to the forum. I would try a longish trace,with mixed coloured beads on with a 1/0 size hook, worm as bait.where the dips & depressions are in the sand,I've never caught when using a spoon on the trace,hope this helps.

Do you anchor or drift?

 

[Wolf]

Do you anchor or drift?

I would try both

 

[Beach]

It's a welcome from me Nick

 

[Mr Fish]

You may be doing this anyway, but as soon as you feel a take/rattle, let the plenty of slack line out to give the flattie plenty of time to take the bait.

By plenty I mean several metres off the reel. Sometimes it’s worth doing a couple of times to ensure the fish has lots of time.

Obviously this applies more to drifting, but even at anchor I’d leave it a few minutes.
When drifting, most flatties will attack a moving bait, but if you keep the line tight it will just pull the bait away and past the fish. They may follow and keep nibbling, but you’re unlikely to get a hook up that way, they need time to get it down them.
Never strike a flattie bite - when you think/hope it’s hooked, just ease into the fish gently and start winding.

I don’t know your patch but the other aspect of course is you may not be fishing a productive area for flatties and the bites are something else.

If you’re not hooking anything on the drift bites though, I think yanking the bait away from the fish is the issue.

 

[Mr Fish]

Oh, forgot to add - I have caught quite a few plaice on the boat drifting with baited spoons.
They can work quite well on their day but you need the right drift speed and they’re certainly not essential.

I’ve outfished others using them some days, and other days they’ve been poor.

You can’t really go wrong with a beaded flowing trace of about an arm span in length, set as a running ledger.
That’s the default ‘plaice trace’ off a boat and works pretty well in my experience.

 

[Nickcook77]

Thanks guys - I didn’t fish this afternoon - bloody bank holiday means dads taxi was required!

Tomorrow I am off and they are all back to work/school so whether permitting - I’ll give it a go. I am pretty sure the area does produce flatties - it’s just a case of finding the right spot.

I’ll try both tomorrow - one with a spoon the other a flowing trace! I do let line out when having a bite when drifting but perhaps not enough - so I’ll leave it for longer next time and see.

Thanks guys.

 

[Mr Fish]

Thanks guys - I didn’t fish this afternoon - bloody bank holiday means dads taxi was required!

Tomorrow I am off and they are all back to work/school so whether permitting - I’ll give it a go. I am pretty sure the area does produce flatties - it’s just a case of finding the right spot.

I’ll try both tomorrow - one with a spoon the other a flowing trace! I do let line out when having a bite when drifting but perhaps not enough - so I’ll leave it for longer next time and see.

Thanks guys.

It’s surprising how long you have to leave it sometimes. Depends how hard they’re feeding

 

[Nickcook77]

Well I had a go this afternoon for a couple of hours - I only drifted - so will try at anchor next - loads of bites - no fish - I let line out and let it develop - I did wondeR if it was spider crab stripping the bait .
I had lug worm on one and mackerel strip on another - spoon with some long flowing trace with another! This was the some of the ground I explored.

The yellow dot is a wave buoy.

 

[Nickcook77]

I am lucky from door to going through the harbour mouth I can do it in less than 20 minutes.

 

[Topwater]

Smaller hooks?

 

[Nickcook77]

Smaller hooks?

I was using 1-0 - I am gonna try at anchor next and see what that brings! I’ll take Some Smaller hooks too next time.

 

[Mr Fish]

Well I had a go this afternoon for a couple of hours - I only drifted - so will try at anchor next - loads of bites - no fish - I let line out and let it develop - I did wondeR if it was spider crab stripping the bait .
I had lug worm on one and mackerel strip on another - spoon with some long flowing trace with another! This was the some of the ground I explored.

The yellow dot is a wave buoy.

Are you using braid? That can sometimes make even bumps on the seabed feel like bites at times.
Spiders are a possibility maybe?

 

[Dumnonian]

Hello mate and welcome, Theres no shortage of great ground all around you for flat-fish all along Loe-Bar Praa Sands area etc We used to fish off the bar using Lug worm on long traces just drifting a lot of the flat-fish will pretty aggressively follow and take a passing worm bait, Plaice cetianly will. We had many decent Plaice the odd Turbot and plenty of other species there is some lovely fishing along that stretch. You've had some great advise from others here its only a matter of time my friend.

 

[Topwater]

I will point out that I'm at a stage in my angling where I do my very best to avoid anything but codling(tragically rare on my marks) and bass (that I chase with flies and lures on local marks, often on a boat if weather allows) in an area besieged by flatties and cat sharks. I deliberately fish big hooks and lugworm precisely because it helps to NOT catch flatfish and 'ting. If I were a betting man I'd use smaller hooks and sticky black lug with a bit of bling on mono

 

[Beach]

I was using 1-0 - I am gonna try at anchor next and see what that brings! I’ll take Some Smaller hooks too next time.

Size 4 barbed beak for flatties works for me.

 

[Where’s Wally]

Have you considered using a drogue? Sometimes, particularly atm the tidal race/current is too fast. Also I would recommend watching the fish locker videos on YouTube, had a lot of haters on here, but John is a decent bloke and informative too.

 

[Nickcook77]

Cheers everyone

I am Certain there are plenty of flatties in the area - just perseverance - I’ll crack it I am sure