Flat fish preperation.

[arctic hobo]

No, there's no way to avoid the weever fish except shoes or looking carefully (rather impractical). We had a lady who got anaphylactic shock from a weever fish - very scary. Company policy (sailing school) is to take anyone stung by one to hospital - it can be nasty.
Those fish look great Tony - wish we could get 'em round here.

 

[Burnt Ash]

I really don't think that much of flat fish it just seems to be full of bones to me. I suppose I wouldn't turn down a freshly caught one if there was nothing else. Just IMO.

Bill

You are joking? What about Dover sole; turbot?

BTW, Bushmaster, skate might be flat, but they're not flat fish in the fishmonger/culinary sense. They're rays. Which brings me onto another potential hazard for the merry barefoot wader: stingrays!

Burnt Ash

 

[falling rain]

Hi Tant apart from wearing footwear i really don,t know any other way to avoid them,i tend just to fish for flatties,you dont need anything to fancy for flatties,a small telescopic rod is fine with a 1 ounce weight,hooks should be size1 Aberdeen pattern as they have a nice long shank to aid unhooking, just give a gentle cast into the surf and the bait will roll around covering alot of ground thus giving the bait some life,Flatties love movement and nail the bait with great zeal.As for bait i usually use lug worm cut up into small lenghts,remember the old saying big baits catch only big fish where as small baits catch all sizes of fish,so you don,t need alot of worms as a little will go a long way.

Sorry if this is no help whatsoever.

You can also add a few coloured beads on the trace just above the hook which help attract plaice and flounder.
http://www.fishing.co.uk/article.php3?id=1956
I'm off to Dartmoor this weekend and plan a day at the Exe estuary to try some static line fishing for flatties. I'll let you know how I get on. When beachcasting I always sling out a hand line into a channel or pool with ragworm and a couple or 3 traces and usually end up with a couple of flounder on the handline at the end of the session. Don't use ragworm that are a greeny sort of colour as these are spawning and will taint the rest of the bait making them unatractive to fish.
Weever are indeed a nasty customer to get stung by. And ugly looking things too http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/BMLSS/weever2.htm I've never been stung by one, but holiday makers who sea fish once a year and don't know the species regularly get caught out by them when fishing. It is apparently very painful. I've caught loads from the pier when fishing and the best way to deal with them is to gently place your foot on the head whilst extracting the hook and then gently flick them back into the sea with your foot. I havn't spear fished bare foot myself but I always wear an old pair of plimsoles when swimming exactly for the reason already mentioned to avoid treading on weever. Quite fancy a go at the spear fishing for flatties though. Another one on the list.
By the way (off topic I know but)a few people wanted to know about the lid for the crusader I made. The first one was from some steel I bought at B&Q which wasn't stainless DOH !! :shock: So Mark II was from a budget mess tin from Cadet Direct. I've had it for a while but think it was about a fiver. Turn cup upside down,Trace around the lip of the cup onto some hard board, cut out shape of wood (this is your template) Place the wood shape onto the tin and add on 10mm for the lip of the lid and cut out. Place tin on wooden template and drill into the center and fix with a screw. Hammer down edges around shape and that's it. Making a few cuts along the lip (10mm edge) makes it easier to tap down. If you don't understand this send me a pm. I'm trying to rush this as my lunch break is nearly up.
Cheers :wave:

 

[den]

Weever are indeed a nasty customer to get stung by. And ugly looking things too I've never been stung by one, but holiday makers who sea fish once a year and don't know the species regularly get caught out by them when fishing. It is apparently very painful. I've caught loads from the pier when fishing and the best way to deal with them is to gently place your foot on the head whilst extracting the hook and then gently flick them back into the sea with your foot. I havn't spear fished bare foot myself but I always wear an old pair of plimsoles when swimming exactly for the reason already mentioned to avoid treading on weever. Quite fancy a go at the spear fishing for flatties though. Another one on the list.
:wave:

I catch a few every year. Last year I got a whopper but I’m not even 100% sure it was one. This one had a very long spine on his back and was much bigger than any others I have caught. Any shouts on what it could be would be great.
It's what I like about sea fishing/potting. You don’t always know what you are going to get and you are pretty free to try what you want without breaking the law,unlike on land.

 

[falling rain]

Not sure Den, it could have just been a very large Weever. Look at the picture on the link I posted. :wave:

 

[den]

No cant find him. I’ll have to find the disc with the pic.

Reading that link reminded me of last year with a friend who’s sadly past away last month. Anyway we’ve been out on the boat all day when we decided to pull up on the beach for a bit of a break and a swim. My friend pulled up some sea weed from the shallows and chucked it at me like you do. So I picked some up and chucked it back and so on. After a couple of minutes both of us were covered in red marks which really began to sting quite badly. The sea weed we have been chucking were covered in sea enemies I didn’t even know they stung until then.
I always learn the hard way unluckily
Luckily for me my friend was a lot worse than me and Months down the road he still had scars from where he was stun

 

[Burnt Ash]

I catch a few every year. Last year I got a whopper but I’m not even 100% sure it was one. This one had a very long spine on his back and was much bigger than any others I have caught. Any shouts on what it could be would be great.
It's what I like about sea fishing/potting. You don’t always know what you are going to get and you are pretty free to try what you want without breaking the law,unlike on land.

There are two species: Lesser and Greater Weever -both venomous. The Greater Weever can weigh up to 3lb. As far as I know, the Lesser Weever is the more common of the two.

Burnt Ash