Shortly before the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions were implemented I managed to squeeze in a beach fishing session for the plaice that arrive on our local beaches in February and March after spawning. I chose to fish on the sand at the northern end of Maryport Promenade known as Bankend Farm. The sandy area is a healthy feeding ground alive with immature flatfish, shrimp, crab, sandeel, dragonets along with various marine worms. Fishing one hour down to low water and three hours of the flood on a small tide with very little run. This mark is normally productive in the spring and early summer with good numbers of this beautiful fish occupying the shallow inshore waters within a few metres of the shoreline. The plaice are not that large but you can catch double figures in number and the area does turn up fish to around 2lbs (1kg) in weight.

When I arrived on the beach I was pleased to see a very calm sea with a small surf and very clear water. Plaice are generally know to hunt their food down by sight and clear water conditions usually improves catch numbers.

The rod I chose to use was a 14 foot (4.25 metre) Yuki Taylor Q5 a nice light continental rod that is my ’go to rod’ when fishing for flatfish. It has excellent bite indication and can comfortably cast a 5oz (150 gram) lead if required. The reel I paired it with was a Shimano Ultegra 14000 XSD fixed spool loaded with 12lbs (0.32mm) monofilament and a 30lbs (0.50mm) clear shock leader.

The rigs I opted for were 3 hook 2 up and 1 down flappers with one rig with 10lbs (0.30mm) red amnesia snoods and another with Yuki Invisible 10lbs (0.20mm) clear fluorocarbon both with 3 foot long hook snoods. Rig body was the low diameter Yuki Invisible 63.5lbs (0.50mm) clear fluorocarbon. The hooks were the one of my favourite patterns for flatfish the fine wire Yuki AX63 size 2s. These are needle sharp (as I was to find out later!), they have a nice gape and are great for using small worm or crab baits. I did not opt for any attractor beads or anything flashy only a single silver sequin held in place with a bait stop above the hook. I thought I would compare the number of fish I caught on the red amnesia compared to the Yuki fluorocarbon. As there was very little tide run I used a 3oz (100gram) ball lead.

The baits for the session were a few small white rag worm and frozen black lugworm. I baited the bottom hook below the weight on each rig with the white ragworm and the two hooks above with the frozen black lugworm. I was also interested to see if the white ragworm caught anymore fish! I kept my bait sizes small, the lug being a inch (25mm) long and whipped on a baiting needle to keep the diameter nice and small, easy for the plaice to feed on. The white rag baits were 2-3 inches (50-75mm) long.

This was my first session for plaice this year, so my anticipation was running high as I cast about 30 metres for the first time with the red amnesia rig on the ebbing tide. After about 10 minutes the tip of the Q5 gave a series of small rattling taps that did not indicate a plaice, but some other small species. I gave it a few minutes and wound in and knew there was something small on the hook, hopefully not a crab! It turned out to be a small whiting about 15cm long that had taken the middle hook baited with black lugworm. Safely unhooked it was returned to the water. The casts over the next hour resulted in no bites and baits returning untouched. The only bit of excitement was when I managed to pull a hook into my finger when stripping some weed off my hook snood. I always carry a Leatherman multi tool in my tackle box for these occasions, I regularly do this 3 or 4 times a year. Pushing the barbed hook point out of the skin I snipped the eye of the hook off and pulled the hook out. With a slightly painful and bloody finger I carried on determined to catch those plaice. It was unfruitful until the tide turned and started to slowly flood in. The first cast of 20 metres on the flood with the Yuki fluorocarbon snoods resulted in the tell tale slower nods of the rod tip in a classic plaice bite. I left the fish a few minutes to take the bait then reeled in and could feel a fish on the light Q5. Coming through the clear water I could make out the shape of a small flatfish and as it slid onto the sand I could see the vibrant orange spots of a plaice! It’s sad a grown man can get so excited about a 11 inch (27cm) plaice, but it was my first one this season and I was off the mark. The plaice had taken the black lugworm bait on the middle hook.

Confidence boosted I couldn’t get my other red amnesia snood rig cast quickly enough into the flooding tide. After 15 minutes and not a movement on my rod tip, slightly deflated I thought I would freshen up the baits and started to wind in and immediately felt a heavy weight on the line. Initially thinking I had caught a piece of weed I swiftly realised the strong tugs being transmitted through the light rod tip indicated a better sized fish. My initial thoughts that it was a dogfish, but as I wound it closer in the shallow clear water I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a very nice cod of about 2 1/2 lbs (1.2kgs) in weight. The cod was neatly hooked in the bottom lip and went back to tell his tale of alien abduction to his coddy pals!

It was probably the last decent sized species I expected to catch in those conditions, clear calm water and bright sun shine! It had taken the middle hook again baited with the small piece of lugworm. The next cast on the fluorocarbon snoods produced what looked like a plaice bite on the rod tip and when I started to wind in the weight indicated a decent fish or more than one! I was eagerly scanning the water for the first glimpse of the hooked fish as the rod tip was pulled down to my left as the fish moved off. The clip at the top of my rig broke the surface and I could see a small plaice on the top hook, nothing on the middle hook and a bigger fish on the bottom snood. I safely slid the two fish onto the sand and was thrilled to have landed a double shot of these lovely fish. Unhooked, quickly photographed and measured they were released into the knee deep water and they both with a sideways shake off their bodies buried themselves into the soft sand. The largest was 13 inches (33cm) long and the smallest again 11 inches (27cm).

I caught another three small plaice between 26 and 30cm before I was pushed onto the rocks at the top of the beach by the incoming tide. The score with the snoods was 5 fish including the cod and whiting on the red amnesia and 3 plaice on the flourocarbon. The black lugworm was the winner between the baits winning 5 to 3, but the white ragworm proving the more tempting for the largest plaice. A thoroughly enjoyable session achieving my goal of the plaice and a bonus cod. I hung around a little while and took a few photos of the stunning sun set over the Solway Firth. I am lucky to live in this beautiful place.