Anyone got any "Killer" flatfish rig designs to share!
Got a load of kit for makeing them up but fancied trying something new out!
Any ideas
Got a load of kit for makeing them up but fancied trying something new out!
Any ideas
Flatfish rigs
- Thread starter Pignut
- Start date
I used to spend a small fortune tieing the latest super rig's from SeaAngler etc etc., flattie rigs with spoons and beads and rattles and clips but to be honest i find a simple wishbone with a worm bait tipped with squid to be about as good as it gets.
Simple rigs and good bait are hard to beat.
Simple rigs and good bait are hard to beat.
A simple 2 hook paternoster baited with rag worm, crab , mussels. Beads and sequins just above the hooks (size 1 or 2 aberdeen for worm bait) do help attract the flatties as they are inquisitive fish. Lift the rod and reel in a couple of turns every so often, as the movement and the weight disturbing the sand will help to make the fish come and have a look what's going on and hopefully take your bait. They'll tug and nip at it a bit first if the baits moving but wait until you get a definate hard pull on the rod before striking.
or try spinning a baited flounder spoon. Again let it bounce off the bottom a bit to create some clouds and just a steady retrieve.
If you cast out and leave the bait motionless unless you're paying attention the fish will probably swallow the bait as they have a habit of doing. Use a light weight say 1 or 2 ozs to allow the weight to be moved around by the tide a bit.
If you're fishing over mussel beds which as good place, crabs may be a problem and you can attach some polystyrene a few inches above the hook to keep the bait off the bottom and away from the crabs.
Try and match the bait to the ground you're fishing, so obviously if you're fishing in an estuary with a sandy bottom then go with the lug or rag. Shellfish beds - go with mussels
or try spinning a baited flounder spoon. Again let it bounce off the bottom a bit to create some clouds and just a steady retrieve.
If you cast out and leave the bait motionless unless you're paying attention the fish will probably swallow the bait as they have a habit of doing. Use a light weight say 1 or 2 ozs to allow the weight to be moved around by the tide a bit.
If you're fishing over mussel beds which as good place, crabs may be a problem and you can attach some polystyrene a few inches above the hook to keep the bait off the bottom and away from the crabs.
Try and match the bait to the ground you're fishing, so obviously if you're fishing in an estuary with a sandy bottom then go with the lug or rag. Shellfish beds - go with mussels
Pignut said:
I'm not at all sure that there is such a thing, Pignut.
Like RB and a lot of others, going down the path of complicated, eye-candy rigs is a good way to pass an evening and, may work for you, on a one time , one-off basis.
One thing I wouldn't do, is go for ultra small hooks, as I'm sure you know, you'll end up chopping the snood and retying a new hook.
About the only ploy that I can say actually works with results that can be repeated time after time, is to short cast,in shallow water , on the flood.
Baits, the best you can get and if you can get fresh caught river shrimp, more the better.....catch-em in a bikewheel net, from the "wall" at HW.
Having said all this, the best catch of flatties I ever saw, was by some Owld Bod, in the next peg.......traces were based on brass wire booms, daggy as h8ell,(circa 1955), snoods about 4 inches and with the rottenest 2/0 hook.
Get this , though........he was using salted /preserved lugworm!
Sickening to watch, but at least it wasn't that ever present, perpetual 13 year old, who goes around the country, with borrowed gear, busting all the records.
Ceeg
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