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I hit the pier this morning for an early morning session over high water and first light. This was to be my first attempt at targeting plaice this year but sadly none turned up though I did get a few other fish....
I had planned to start at the 44 mark but when I got there it was already taken so I set up at the 43. I was fishing a two hook flapper with luminous beads on and a second rod straight down the wall for anything else that might be lurking there. Baits used rag, bluey and rag tipped with bluey. After about half an hour the other lad packed up and I became the only person on the pier for the rest of the session. I moved along to the 44 and fished there until high tide (4.19am) and landed a few coalies and tommies biggest one just under 33cm all caught straight down the wall.
At this point I noticed a strange "huff huff" noise so went to investigate. It sounded like somebody gasping like they were trying to lift something heavy and couldn't quite manage it. "Whuff Huff!!" A bit creepy at that time of night in the pitch black. It was coming from the 45 area at the base of the steps. It turned out to be a seal lying on the platform at the bottom of the steps and it wasn't the slightest bit bothered when I went down the steps and took its photo.
Once the tide started to ebb and the sun started thinking about peeping over the horizon I moved up to the blocks. I had my spinning gear with me and wanted to have a bash from first light to try for an early season pollack. I gave that up after about half an hour of nowt and moved to the SE corner. Set up my spinning rod as a third bait rod straight down the wall and swapped the other big rod over to a second two hook flapper. So with five baits in the water I expected better things and ended up with even more coalies and codling and also a dab on my last cast bringing the total to nine fish.
So not a bad morning. There was a cold wind and the sea was pretty flat. A few fish, a seal and an uninspiring sunrise. The full moon was pretty cool though
I had planned to start at the 44 mark but when I got there it was already taken so I set up at the 43. I was fishing a two hook flapper with luminous beads on and a second rod straight down the wall for anything else that might be lurking there. Baits used rag, bluey and rag tipped with bluey. After about half an hour the other lad packed up and I became the only person on the pier for the rest of the session. I moved along to the 44 and fished there until high tide (4.19am) and landed a few coalies and tommies biggest one just under 33cm all caught straight down the wall.
At this point I noticed a strange "huff huff" noise so went to investigate. It sounded like somebody gasping like they were trying to lift something heavy and couldn't quite manage it. "Whuff Huff!!" A bit creepy at that time of night in the pitch black. It was coming from the 45 area at the base of the steps. It turned out to be a seal lying on the platform at the bottom of the steps and it wasn't the slightest bit bothered when I went down the steps and took its photo.
Once the tide started to ebb and the sun started thinking about peeping over the horizon I moved up to the blocks. I had my spinning gear with me and wanted to have a bash from first light to try for an early season pollack. I gave that up after about half an hour of nowt and moved to the SE corner. Set up my spinning rod as a third bait rod straight down the wall and swapped the other big rod over to a second two hook flapper. So with five baits in the water I expected better things and ended up with even more coalies and codling and also a dab on my last cast bringing the total to nine fish.
So not a bad morning. There was a cold wind and the sea was pretty flat. A few fish, a seal and an uninspiring sunrise. The full moon was pretty cool though
My session this morning had about two hours of daylight before I had to leave so there was a chance there maybe but I think I had the tide wrong. According to Mike Thrussel's article on WSF the best time for plaice is the first of the flood up to mid tide and I was out end of the flood and first of the ebb. Maybe I'll get one next week on a different tide 
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