Anyone actively target turbot?

[Seymour]

Interesting post mate thanks for sharing, regarding when you used to get in the water searching for them, did you ever see any nice bigger turbot in the shallows and did you notice a pattern to the kind of features where they'd group up? Have always wanted to do a few drifts over the alderney banks.. tight lines,

The biggest I had was on the edge of a reef in about 12ft of water. It was a 3kg fish. Nearly all the turbot I've seen are single fish and over no discernable feature, almost randomly scattered over the sand. The one thing in common between locations was the presence of sandeels there. I do know for a fact that very large turbot, well into double figures come into shallow water, water less than 20 feet deep. I know other spearfishers that have had some large fish, but that was mostly going back a few decades. Netters have also had some big turbot in trammels on shallow beaches. And most bizarre, again going back a couple of decades, when the practice was allowed, a friend of mine had a 14lb turbot on a trot (a fixed long line on the beach) on a bare stainless steel o' shauhnessy hook. Shows they like a bit of flash.

I think if I were targeting them, I'd keep moving location every cast, whether lure or bait fishing.

 

[RemoteWanderer]

The biggest I had was on the edge of a reef in about 12ft of water. It was a 3kg fish. Nearly all the turbot I've seen are single fish and over no discernable feature, almost randomly scattered over the sand. The one thing in common between locations was the presence of sandeels there. I do know for a fact that very large turbot, well into double figures come into shallow water, water less than 20 feet deep. I know other spearfishers that have had some large fish, but that was mostly going back a few decades. Netters have also had some big turbot in trammels on shallow beaches. And most bizarre, again going back a couple of decades, when the practice was allowed, a friend of mine had a 14lb turbot on a trot (a fixed long line on the beach) on a bare stainless steel o' shauhnessy hook. Shows they like a bit of flash.

I think if I were targeting them, I'd keep moving location every cast, whether lure or bait fishing.

Very interesting mate thank you. Have been thinking I might have a deep float setup in a wide sandy cove/bay where a sandeel bait is just dragging along the bottom by the float whether it be by wind or tide. Or alternatively a light weight on an upnover, both methods trying to set up a drift. Reckon similar tactics with worm baits would work for the plaice. When the guy had 4 turbot that morning from the beach, his two other mates were 30-40yds either side of him.. not a sniff. Goes to show they must shoal up in very localised areas at times, like you say probably where the sandeel beds are. He was directly in front of where the streams runs.. tight lines,

 

[Mr Fish]

Very interesting mate thank you. Have been thinking I might have a deep float setup in a wide sandy cove/bay where a sandeel bait is just dragging along the bottom by the float whether it be by wind or tide. Or alternatively a light weight on an upnover, both methods trying to set up a drift. Reckon similar tactics with worm baits would work for the plaice. When the guy had 4 turbot that morning from the beach, his two other mates were 30-40yds either side of him.. not a sniff. Goes to show they must shoal up in very localised areas at times, like you say probably where the sandeel beds are. He was directly in front of where the streams runs.. tight lines,

I reckon the float set up could be a very good way of covering a lot of ground and prompting them to follow/take.

The only issue with floats in my experience generally is conditions aren’t always conducive - too windy, tide too fast/slow, too choppy etc.
So you might find there are days when it’s not really feasible and you’ll need a back up option.

But when things do align it could be a very good shout. I don’t even know that you’d need an especially heavy float.

 

[Seymour]

Very interesting mate thank you. Have been thinking I might have a deep float setup in a wide sandy cove/bay where a sandeel bait is just dragging along the bottom by the float whether it be by wind or tide. Or alternatively a light weight on an upnover, both methods trying to set up a drift. Reckon similar tactics with worm baits would work for the plaice. When the guy had 4 turbot that morning from the beach, his two other mates were 30-40yds either side of him.. not a sniff. Goes to show they must shoal up in very localised areas at times, like you say probably where the sandeel beds are. He was directly in front of where the streams runs.. tight lines,

I think that's a good idea in the right situation. Maybe add some sort of flashy spoon to really grab their attention. You probably know, but when we fish off the boat, we use a 12 ounce watch lead to stir the grit up a bit. If it's a very slow drift I'll give the rod a good yank to try and get their attention. It definitely works. I've read flounder are very inquisitive - I've never caught one, but I have had plaice on a slow retrieved worm of a local pier.

Think flatties are definitely drawn to movement - not sure about sole though.

 

[Mr Fish]

I think that's a good idea in the right situation. Maybe add some sort of flashy spoon to really grab their attention. You probably know, but when we fish off the boat, we use a 12 ounce watch lead to stir the grit up a bit. If it's a very slow drift I'll give the rod a good yank to try and get their attention. It definitely works. I've read flounder are very inquisitive - I've never caught one, but I have had plaice on a slow retrieved worm of a local pier.

Think flatties are definitely drawn to movement - not sure about sole though.

Flounder will follow and hit a slowly spun or twitched bait.
It’s a method we use in my local estuary, especially during the early autumn season.
It’s not a hard hit, a little nibble or flutter much like plaice, then you stop and give them time to take the bait.

It definitely works although how much I do it depends on how lazy I’m feeling

 

[RemoteWanderer]

I reckon the float set up could be a very good way of covering a lot of ground and prompting them to follow/take.

The only issue with floats in my experience generally is conditions aren’t always conducive - too windy, tide too fast/slow, too choppy etc.
So you might find there are days when it’s not really feasible and you’ll need a back up option.

But when things do align it could be a very good shout. I don’t even know that you’d need an especially heavy float.

Yes would definitely be condition dependent, would work on days with very light winds or also thinking offshore winds with little groundswell. Just saves having to keep reeling in baits really slowly. Would be interesting to see how many more sight feeders, plaice, flounder, turbot etc. would be caught from shore if people kept their baits slowly moving all the time.

 

[RemoteWanderer]

I think that's a good idea in the right situation. Maybe add some sort of flashy spoon to really grab their attention. You probably know, but when we fish off the boat, we use a 12 ounce watch lead to stir the grit up a bit. If it's a very slow drift I'll give the rod a good yank to try and get their attention. It definitely works. I've read flounder are very inquisitive - I've never caught one, but I have had plaice on a slow retrieved worm of a local pier.

Think flatties are definitely drawn to movement - not sure about sole though.

Yes mate that's it, was gonna use an inline attractor spoon for attention puffing the sand but also to keep the sandeel on the deck.

When boat fishing for plaice, I do the same and seems to work nicely. I fish for them with the bail arm flicked over and hold/feel for bites through the fingers. As soon as I feel the take just let go of the line, count to 3 and flick bail arm over and wind em in, found far better hookup rate. There's a video on youtube of a kayak fisherman catching plaice dropshotting soft plastics.

Flounder are also very visual feeders, I'm a big believer that a wafting bait in the tide will pick up far more flounder than one static. A 4lber was caught the other week on a lure not too far from me.
Tight lines,

 

[Mr Fish]

Yes would definitely be condition dependent, would work on days with very light winds or also thinking offshore winds with little groundswell. Just saves having to keep reeling in baits really slowly. Would be interesting to see how many more sight feeders, plaice, flounder, turbot etc. would be caught from shore if people kept their baits slowly moving all the time.

Yes it’s an underrated tactic for sure.

Had some cracking float fishing sessions when everything comes together but also some very frustrating ones when conditions conspire against it.