How do you catch sole?

[Stoaty]

I was out fishing with some friends the other day and the talk got around to catching sole. It turned out to be quite a heated debate. Six anglers, six different meathods. We couldn't even agree on what is the best time of year and whether night was better than day.

 

Myself I believe they are mostly nocturnal, June, July and August is best, bait is maddies/harbour rag, on number 6 long shank hook, 6" trace, ledgered on the bottom with as little weight as possible and as close to the low water mark as you can get.

 

I want you to tell me how you do it.

[five bellies]

I was out fishing with some friends the other day and the talk got around to catching sole. It turned out to be quite a heated debate. Six anglers, six different meathods. We couldn't even agree on what is the best time of year and whether night was better than day.

 

Myself I believe they are mostly nocturnal, June, July and August is best, bait is maddies/harbour rag, on number 6 long shank hook, 6" trace, ledgered on the bottom with as little weight as possible and as close to the low water mark as you can get.

 

I want you to tell me how you do it.

 

 

All the time I dont need a coat I would fish for sole, Small worm baits, stand off booms, six inch snoods, I think location is the main key though. I fished next to a bloke getting a fish a chuck and Im in pout city.Dawn and dusk best times.

 

Only my opinion though

[Stoaty]

I never seem to catch them if I use a boom.

 

Last summer I was fishing with a friend just south of the Medway number 6 buoy. He said do you get sole here? I said "nah not in the middle of the day in june and there is too much tide here anyway." Within 2 minutes he had a bite and produced 2 sole at once on his 2 up killer rig. We fished on for a full six hours and never saw another one.

[five bellies]

I never seem to catch them if I use a boom.

 

Last summer I was fishing with a friend just south of the Medway number 6 buoy. He said do you get sole here? I said "nah not in the middle of the day in june and there is too much tide here anyway." Within 2 minutes he had a bite and produced 2 sole at once on his 2 up killer rig. We fished on for a full six hours and never saw another one.

I think the boom helps more with the tangles than the presentation.

 

I think that the old saying what you have faith in works is true, ther are proven flies that are known fish takers that I havent caught fish on so have no faith in them dont use them that often so dont catch on them it becomes self forfilling,

 

I had this converstion with the skipper on Saturday about sole I have never caught one on a boat even in areas that are hot spots for the trawlers.

I once caught a hughmungas Bull huss off the spoils in Hampshire whilst cod fishing this was after me secounds before, asking the skipper do you get Bullhuss here and him saying small ones and not this late in the year,

keeps things interesting though dont it

Edited April 24, 2007 by five bellies

[Ken Davison South Wales]

I think the dusk to dawn time is the best, I also find a calm sea helps as well, not sure about distance though or state of the tide, only ever caught small ones of the surf beach but some nice ones on North Channel which is the Loughor Estuary.

 

Small hooks a must, rigs single hook below sliding ledger seems to work for me, bait small rag or pieces of rag both work well when they are feeding. Once feeding they don't seem shy giving a series of hefty knocks, handling them can prove quite a challenge they certainly do not give up the fight once landed.

[Stoaty]

I have never caught one on a boat even in areas that are hot spots for the trawlers.

 

This is what started our debate off. We were fishing over a spot where they trawl for soles and nobody seems to catch them on rod and line. Then someone said, "That's because no one fishes at low water slack for them, that's the only time to catch them." ...."Rubbish what a load of cobblers"... "They are trickier than mullet they are"... "No the trick is very very small baits on the point of a small hook"... and on and on.

[Ken Davison South Wales]

This is what started our debate off. We were fishing over a spot where they trawl for soles and nobody seems to catch them on rod and line. Then someone said, "That's because no one fishes at low water slack for them, that's the only time to catch them." ...."Rubbish what a load of cobblers"... "They are trickier than mullet they are"... "No the trick is very very small baits on the point of a small hook"... and on and on.

 

Hi Stoaty,

 

Were you fishing during daylight hours?

 

For me that seems to be the key, only ever caught small 6" type sole during the day and those were rare. I have fished for bass on an evening rising tide with a second rod out for flounders, just as the sun sets they seem to start feeding, maybe they are nocturnal feeders.

[Stoaty]

We were fishing for black bream at the time, but got talking about sole. I only fish for sole dusk to dawn but I have seen them caught during the day. Around here I put this down to the very very cloudy water we have. It seems they are bogie fish for a lot of people but they are very common.

[stavey]

I want you to tell me how you do it.

 

Its easy stoaty, try and find a beach that is not riddled with nets mate then you just might have a chance? that is if you can find one, cheers..........

[Toerag]

Sole are nocturnal, if you have clear water like we do here then moonless nights are pretty much essential. They will come in to shallow water (6ft), and close into reefs so don't be afraid to cast short. Schnorkellers here see lots at night, but hardly any in the day. I've never had one, but my mate's done best with big ragworm baits on standard paternosters or running legers left out for a long time. Perhaps a 2 hook parternoster with 3 normal sized rag on each hook would give a good scent trail and allow a good chance of the fish finding the hook. Normal bait here is rag, but people don't fish with lug so that's no measure of the effectiveness of each sort of worm. We don't get as many as other parts of the country, but we do get a better average size.