This spring plaice will have recently spawned.
One species that is caught more than most while drifting is plaice. A trace of around 1.5m with several beads and maybe a flasher above the bait is the tackle to use. Baits vary from area to area but generally they are a mixture of worm fish and shellfish.
One excellent bait is a lugworm pushed up the shank of the hook, then hook a rag worm through the head and leave it hanging so it can wriggle naturally. Finally a long thin strip of squid is hooked once in the end. This looks great in the tide and catches a lot of good plaice each year.
Lugworm or rag worm can be used on their own or with a razor fish if available. If you feel a bite while drifting for plaice allow a couple of metres of line off the spool so the fish has time to get the bait down. Often this isn’t necessary because the fish grabs the bait in one go and stays on the bottom. The boat drifts on and the line tightens into the fish and it’s hooked.
As plaice spawn early in the year they are not at their best in the spring when they move back inshore. Summer fish are much fatter as they begin to roe up again. As autumn arrives they move off once again while in prime condition. Plaice love to feed over mussel beds that are covered in the tiny yellow and black pea mussels. This is why black and yellow beads seem to work better than others on plaice traces.
This spring plaice will have recently spawned.
Plaice are widely distributed, found anywhere between Norway and the Mediterranean, and they take five to six years to reach maturity at around 40cm. All of these three rigs are proven plaice catchers, yet they are all slightly different. The top one uses black and yellow beads with a flasher or spoon to attract attention. The middle one has just beads including a luminous one. The bottom rig is a combination of pearl beads, a flasher and a luminous bead in the middle. Whether these beads and flashers make a difference is often debated, but as most anglers who have regular success with plaice use rigs similar to this it probably speaks for itself. Hook size can be from size 1 to 2/0 depending on the bait being used and the size of the fish expected.
Three rigs that catch plaice, all with some beads or an attractor.