Plaice Places

My blog has taken a back seat recently as my laptop was stolen and I have had to rebuild my on-line life (that sounds very sad but it is the way we live today). All back to normal now, and time for a quick comment on plaice. We have had one of the best early season plaice catches from The Blocks in a few years, both in size and numbers. Not all will agree, and I am convinced that is because plaice feed in very localised areas. The trouble with The Blocks is that the seabed is almost flat so it is difficult to find a mark with the fishfinder. Plaice feed here on shellfish, and somehow manage to crunch with their mouths shells that are so tough we would have to break them with a hammer. These shellfish live in patches, and if you are lucky enough to find a patch you could catch up to ten a session. Miss a patch and you will just as likely blank. Beads, sequins and jangly stuff all work but it is not essential, my personal best was a plaice of 3lb 9oz on a plain rig intended to find a stray bass. Top fish I heard of was a 4lb 6oz caught by Ada on Arron's boat Aquaholic - see picture

Another lousy day in Paradise

I wish I had thought of that line. I didn't but I'm using it anyway, as it pretty much sums up today. A watery sun, wind F3 SE swinging round to the west and dropping meant a short trip to the Blocks for plaice was possible. There was a fleet of about 20 boats all clustered around the mussel beds, including Arron in Aquaholic and a few others I recognised.

It was slow day, Arron and crew managed four plaice including two very nice pan-sized ones; I saw a few others landed but none came to Salar. The anchor tripped by itself so I took advantage of the move and went over to the Blocks themselves, but nothing doing. I decided to spend the last hour back next to Arron in the hope that some of his charm would rub off on me but it wasn't to be. Tally for the day was a sea scorpion and a very small whiting, but who's complaining? I was out doing what I like doing best - it might have been lousy but it's as close to Paradise as you'll get down here.

Waiting for nothing to happen...