Plaice dominate the local boat fishing at this time of year and traditionally herald the start of spring. Of course this year has been slightly different what with winter out staying its welcome but rather surprisingly the Plaice have been showing in very good numbers out of Southsea and Hayling Island beaches when the weather has actually allowed boats to get out with some good numbers of fish being caught at some old traditional venues that have been poor for several years, the bonus being these marks are right on my sea-door-step and very lure friendly so when the weather obliged last weekend we got old Drifter afloat and set about finding some fish.
With last years lure caught Plaice in mind we looked to work our day around the tide to get maximum time with the plastics while drifting but a lovely if cold spring morning quickly turned windy and colder and forced us to drop the anchor rather than battle against the wind. This made me fish heavier than I would’ve liked but just about enabled me to fish 8g jigheads and an LRF setup with the idea being that it was going to be a tough day to get a lure caught Plaice but if I did it would be worthwhile for the sport if nothing else. A few hours past without a touch on any lures we offered and it was frankly hard going but eventually I started to get a few tentative touches on XL Isome that I was casting uptide and very slowly retrieving. After a few lure and retrieve changes I switched back to the Isome and got my first fish of 2013, a small Plaice of around a pound that christened my new Tenryu Lunakia/Stella 1000 combo very nicely.

Adam also picked up a Plaice this time on a Reins plastic rigged on a jig head and fished tight to the bottom, we have found that Plaice will really attack when confident but its having the patience to keep working the lure without frightening an interested fish away that’s the key.

A nice start what we hope is a productive season, Plaice will continue to be the target for a month or so until the Bream and Wrasse take our attention.

Like lots of fellow anglers I like to keep a tally of species every year and I enjoy the challenge of seeking out a particular species to tick off the list. In the old days of bait only fishing I would hit maybe 18-20 species a year but now I mainly lure fish that total has risen year on year. Before any bait-boys get there bait elastic in a twist this isnt because fish all of a sudden like plastic more than food it purely down to the fact I am fishing more. Lure fishing for me is all about freedom to wander without being pinned down to one spot and if the fishing is poor I can wander straight home again without feeling obliged to stick it out because I have spent a fortune on bait or set-up the beach buddy for a cozy night watching the rod tip, the net result of my laziness and lure fishings’ easiness is that I get more time to fish because I can go at the drop of a hat without putting tons of prep into a session.

LRF is the greatest asset to the mini-species hunter and its the perfect way to target the Gobies and Blennies that will keep a yearly tally ticking along but what do I do when I need something different? Round my way if you want something a bit weird then its time to fish Southsea castle, during my beach fishing days this area would throw up unusual fish from Red Mullet to Gilthead Bream and although I would very much like both of these the humble Tub Gurnard was a far more achievable target. Not common from Portsmouth beaches the Tub Gurnard like broken ground and this is a rare commodity local to me but at low water behind the castle I knew I had half a chance of finding the right ground and the right fish.
I tried a few methods before fishing a Power Isome on a 3.5g Decoy weedless jighead and I simply wandered along the shoreline casting around before moving along a few paces and repeating but without so much as a touch I was wondering if I had left it too late in the year but I stuck at it as I hate to blank. Once the first flood started things began to improve and I got a few tentative takes which if I am being honest stopped me going home so I focussed on two ‘swims’ that just felt right and fished no more than 10 yards out slowly retreiving the Isome along the bottom. After a couple of hours I had the take I had been waiting for, I knew instantly it was something different, a very subtle take and I had to force myself to keep reeling and eventually the fish committed and got hooked, I will not pretend that this was the fight of a lifetime but it gave a good show in the shallow water and I was relieved to lift this little fella from the sea.

Mission accomplished and back indoors for lunch, cant be bad. I can say without any shadow of a doubt that if I had been bait fishing that day in that spot I would not have caught that particular fish as it took the lure in 2 feet of water and only 5 yards out and just shows where these fish like to hunt on a flooding tide.
For the record I am on 27 species for the year, 22 are lure caught with 20 of those LRF captures. I hope to add to that list yet this year with a few winter species to aim for, what I would not give for a lure caught Dogger!!!!

As the heady days of summer disappear so does my late evenings spent wandering the shore looking for a Bass or two, there are still Bass to be caught from the beaches this time of year but to really get amongst a few fish a boat needed to get offshore a few miles and look for the shoals of Bass that are starting to feed up for winter. On a recent trip out we headed to some sand banks where we know the baifish hang out this time of year and watched the fish-finder intently looking for the screen to show mid water clouds of prey that would give away the predators location. Sure enough we saw lots of action on the sounder and even small schools of sandeels hiding right under our boat but it was not until the second run of the flood tide that the Bass started to show, the first indication was the birds circling above us and as they have a height advantage we simply let them point us in the direction of the fish, they duly obliged and we found ourselves among a proper feed-up! Gannets diving all around was an awesome sight and a sign that the Bass were starting to push their targets up in the water until the surface exploded with life.

The smaller Bass always seem to arrive first and the above fish was the first of several we had while casting right at the surface commotion with all sorts of lures and for a while we managed to hold them at the back of the boat and tag-team them by holding a fish in the water and dropping a lure behind him for one of his mates, lots of fun. Curiosity got the better of us and we wondered how to pick out the better fish so we backed off the shoal of school Bass 50 yards and threw some bigger lures around. Adam got into a better standard of fish on the x-layer showing some patience to allow the lure to sink to 5-6mts and lazily twitch it back as if to mimic an injured baitfish.



We had lots of Bass in a hectic session using all sorts of lures, some of the best fun was fishing un-weighted plastics skipped along the surface and waiting for the water to pop with a chasing Bass, luring for Bass does not get any more visual than that. My only gripe, and its a common one for me is not taking enough photos but when the fishing is good its a case of landing the fish and getting a lure back in the mix as soon as possible as being among a frenzy like the one we found is all to rare so the camera has to wait for a big Bass to arrive! I don’t want to sound like my Dad but a word of caution to those drifting around chasing Bass this time of year, keep an eye behind you. Its too easy to get carried away spotting fish and lobbing lures around the show but we had a few close shaves with partly submerged pot buoys which would have ruined a good day or worse. Whether there are two or three of us on the boat one of us will be in charge of that particular drift from the boat starting point to eventually going round again and any fishing in between that way the lads with the rods can concentrate on the job without keeping one hand on the throttle ready to take evasive action.
Weather permitting we hope to have another crack at the Bass on the boat very soon.