An early start saw @Saintly Fish and I steaming out of Portsmouth Harbour to head east in search of plaice. An early snag was that we discovered one of my trim tabs was no longer working. Either the switch or a new ram is needed... who said boat-owning was easy?
We headed 15 or so miles east to the Middle Grounds, where Neil managed to scratch up a pout and a whiting. I however was blanking.
At slack water we headed over to take a look into the Mixon Hole. We drifted it a couple of times to test out the new SPJ gear but with nothing showing on the fish finder we didn't have much hope of a fish and we weren't disappointed.
As the flood picked up steam we moved over to drift the Medmery Bank for a few more drifts where, like the suckers for punishment that we are, we blanked. Again.
Fearing the die would be cast for the day we had to come up with a plan B. B for Bullocks Patch, where we dropped the hook and took a gamble on there being some mixed species available, including plaice. Having had plaice at anchor from Bullocks previously, anything was possible. An assortment of baits gets sent down, including black lug, squid, prawn and peeler.
Neil opens his account with a triple hook up, which is pretty impressive seeing as he only had 2 hooks on his rig.
However, it doesn't take long for the star of the show to put in an appearance...
At about this time, one of Neil's rods gives a mighty rattle and a fierce tussle ensues... I'll leave him to tell the story and post the pic π
As the wind picked up we decided to call it a day, but not before one of my rods rattles nicely. I'd baited it with leftover prawn that didn't catch any plaice... but instead it brings a nice wrasse to the boat. Looks like @GPSguru was right about prawn as bait after all!