There is without doubt no finer venue than Dorset’s Chesil beach to chance your arm during the spring, with the western end in particular the subject of much attention. The sand banks, clay and mussels beds that are found here are a prime feeding zone for the plaice and it is here that I will focus on. The stretch of beach between West Bexington and Cogden in particular is arguably the most productive area to try for a flatfish and although I’m not going to claim to be an absolute expert on Chesil beach, I have landed my share of plaice from here over the years and the following is based on my personal experiences..
Tackle Up
Plaice will never put any tremendous strain on tackle, so a conventional beach rod and small reel will be more than adequate. It will be extremely rare that you will need to use any more than five ounces of lead and at times you will be able to fish with as little as three, so leave the poker at home and opt for a lighter outfit. The use of continental style rods has become incredibly popular in recent years and combined with a fixed spool loaded with ultra light line or even braid, you have an outfit that can potentially cast a long way with relative ease. If you remain a multiplier man or lady, you can easily get away with a twelve pound mainline terminating in a sixty pound shock leader.
Having the ability to cast a long way can be advantageous but it should’t be the only consideration. The largest plaice I landed from here was the result of a thumb slip on a wet spool that saw the bait plop down just sixty yards away. That’s food for thought!
Traces
This is a massive subject and with names such as Portsmouth Loop, Clacton Bomber and drop down pulley to name but-a-few doing the rounds, it would be easy to bamboozle yourself and spend hours at the rig making table.
Everyone you speak to will have a different opinion on the subject, but the one rig that stands out to me is a simple three hook clip down with each hook clipped above the lead. Twenty pound snoods of fifteen inches finished off with a chemically sharpened hook complete this rig and I’ve yet to find a better option than the Varivas Aberdeen. Keep the components in the trace small; a size ten dropper swivel at the top of the rig and cascade swivels below will ensure the whole thing is streamlined and will cast as far as any multi hook rig will. To bling or not to bling (the addition of sparkly/flashy/rattly attractors on the snood above the hook) is again a subject of some debate.
I would say that these additional components certainly don’t have an adverse effect on the catch rate, but the jury is still out on whether or not they put more fish on the beach. It’s worth remembering that the more you add to your trace, the greater the air resistance will be when you cast it, consequently resulting in a loss of distance achieved. It really is a case of weighing up the pro’s and cons, but personally I will opt for a naked trace every time! A word of caution though: Spider crabs can be a nuisance early in the season, there pincers making short work of snoods. Some anglers choose to fish with a braid snood to combat this, but I have found braid to make little difference and also increase the likelihood of the super fine material tangling around the body of the rig.
Which Weight?
without question, my top choice of lead for this style of fishing is the Breakaway Impact lead. It casts a treat and works so well in conjunction with the cascade swivels that there is little else to consider. The five ounce yellow top would be my go-to choice, but if I wanted the baits to roll around on the sea bed and perhaps cover a little ground, I may drop to a four ounce blue top and even on occasion remove the grip wires altogether. On days when the fish are few and far between it can mean the difference between finding a few plaice and failing to catch at all. If you are looking for absolute maximum casting distance you may be surprised just how much further the plain lead will travel than the wired version. OK, so it may not add fifty yards to your cast, but it will go that little bit further which could make all the difference on the day.
Bait
If I was to plan a days plaice fishing on Chesil, I would probably work on the assumption that I would need three quarters of a pound of good, lively ragworm and maybe a score of small yellow tails. These two baits will work all day long and can be particularly effective when used as a cocktail. A single lug worm tipped with a two inch head section of ragworm can be devastatingly effective.
Peeler crab can also have its day, but personally I would’t lose any sleep if I couldn’t organise some the day before a trip. A bait needle is a valuable tool when trying to get to grips with a fresh slippery ragworm and will ensure that the worm is presented as naturally as possible. Frozen black lugworm is another bait that can make a good tipping and should be secured to the hook with a few turns of ultra fine bait elastic.
Bringing It All Together!
Before you set off, your biggest consideration should be the weather. Water clarity is of massive importance and the plaice who is primarily a visual feeder will struggle to find your bait if the sea is the colour of coffee. You can be sure though that the humble dogfish will and it’s more than a little soul destroying when cast after cast your prime worm baits are intercepted by dug and his speckled friends. An offshore wind, anything from north to north east, prior to your trip will see the sea flatten off and the visibility beneath the waves improve ten fold. If the water is not clear, you will struggle to catch. End of. If the weather is wrong, wait for it to be right next time around and make alternative plans.
A twenty minute walk to the east from Cogden carpark, or the same distance west from West Bexington carpark will see you on the most prolific grounds and also find you a quieter patch of shingle away from the mackerel anglers that will descend any time soon.
The tidal state will make little difference to your catch, but the most important thing on Chesil is that you fish when there is at least some run. This is the key time that fish feed and it is also worthy of note that just as the tide eases, or increases after a period of slack that this can be a magical time for fish to come on the feed. Vary your casting distance and experiment with a fixed or rolling lead and if the fish are there and you have followed the above, you will give yourself a fighting chance.