South Coast Chesil... First sole session of the year.

[squidword]

Headed down to West chesil on Saturday to be greeted by calm conditions and dirty water. I chose an area that always holds sole and with the tide being perfect and topping out into darkness the 3 hook clip downs were sent out baited with lug and rag. First fish to grace my nephews rod were pout, my baits remained untouched. The first trickle of left to right movement brought me a flurry of bites, a couple of plaice. I was happy with that! As the tide pulled harder and the light went the usual suspects showed, pot, dogs, straps... Then just before high I missed a lovely pulled down, definitely was a sole! Then just as I'm cursing my luck my nephew has a similar bite and I shouted to give the fish some time . Anyway a few minutes later a lovely slipper of 1lb8oz comes up the beach. Nephew was happy, I was pleased because I'm sure he thought I was winding him up about the sole being there. All in all a very enjoyable session, plenty of bites and early targets achieved. Bloody cold when the sun went mind you!

 

[Reevsey]

Well done on the sole and plaice . Planning a session on the shingle very soon

 

[Gold’nOldie]

Great result, love it when a plan comes together.

 

[Trampster]

Nice one Squiddy! Well done on the Plaice & Sole.

 

[Tatunka joe]

Target achieved bey

 

[Bigfish]

Was going there but ended up at Southbourne, nice to get a sole tho

 

[RemoteWanderer]

Well done on the sole mate, always assumed they weren't worth targetting til June time but clearly wrong. Nice job to pick up a couple plaice too, tight lines,

 

[nearly70ty]

Well done on catching your target fish. When I seen what you were after I thought maybe a bit early so well done again.

 

[squidword]

Well done on catching your target fish. When I seen what you were after I thought maybe a bit early so well done again.

I think that there are sole on the usual spots all year around. If the tides and conditions are right they are very predictable. The thing that stops me targeting them is the nuisance fish, namely being once the whiting arrive. I've had sole every month of the year on chesil, with proper numbers as early as April.

 

[nearly70ty]

I think that there are sole on the usual spots all year around. If the tides and conditions are right they are very predictable. The thing that stops me targeting them is the nuisance fish, namely being once the whiting arrive. I've had sole every month of the year on chesil, with proper numbers as early as April.

=Thats very interesting, and great info, maybe they stay around in the Bristol Channell, though where I fish it's relatively shallow water and more likely effected by the cold.

 

[RemoteWanderer]

That's interesting, I've always thought a lot of the time they're probably in places in decent numbers but don't get caught much because they're a fish that needs to be properly targetted to find regular success with,

 

[squidword]

=Thats very interesting, and great info, maybe they stay around in the Bristol Channell, though where I fish it's relatively shallow water and more likely effected by the cold.

They were being caught up to the end of January in the BC. A mate of mine went out to target them last week of January and had two! I will start targeting them last week of April into May in the BC. I find that they appear up top early, then gradually drop down channel. They do hang around certain areas all year, but there's a reason for this