Plaice Return!! 12/08/16

Plaice fishing on Chesil is fairly predictable with the species returning from spawning around March with numbers increasing throughout April and then numbers decreasing through may when they move off  again for a few months . By August they move back along the beach having put on weight throughout the year so this is the ideal time to start targeting the big ones with September reaching the peak of quality plaice fishing . Then the sequence starts again with the fish moving off to spawning grounds and returning in March ....

With this in mind I decided on a last minute plaice session after work for the last few hours of light to use up some bait and also the tide times and sea state looked good. On arrival I was pleased to see plenty of room along the clay beds and managed to set up just as slack water had ended and the tide had turned . Considering I only had half a rap of blacks and about 20 tiny rag I wasn't expecting much so kept baits small to last , As it turned out the fish were more then happy to take small baits and I had 4 nice plaice on the beach within an hour I  then had a really good knock which I thought might have been a dog fish but it was also a plaice weighing 2lbs 7oz matching this years best . I  was to have a couple more smaller flatties before darkness which made for a great little session .

I  went back down to the same mark a couple of days later and managed another 7 plaice and 1 sole but all were on the small size regarding the length . But one thing is for sure the plaice are back in numbers it's just a question of putting in the hours for the bigger ones !