Flounder just epitomise LRF (Light Rock Fishing) to me… Quirky looking, surprisingly aggressive and fight so well on light tackle. Knowing that they start to come back from spawning in May, could I catch an early one? A trip to Cornwall was on the cards…
One of the most entertaining LRF target species.
Flounder return from their spawning grounds in deeper water, hungry and aggressive. They have successfully served their purpose for another year and spend the rest of spring and summer building back up their fat reserves. Although they aren’t traditionally targeted by most anglers in these months, for me, this is the best time to find them. These fish are lean and fit, ready to take on any prey they can get their jaws around!
”These jigheads scream flounder, bass and gurnard to me, so I was excited to try them out”
Recently, I had badgered Jon Owens (Jonny Lerfer on Facebook and Instagram) to order the Magbite Blading Jigheads in, and of course he came up with the goods. These jigheads scream flounder, bass and gurnard to me, so I was excited to try them out. They have a thick, strong hook, with a small blade underneath coming from an extended lead head. Flatfish love bling and these seemed perfect. I couldn’t wait to give them a dipping.
The Magbite Bladed Jighead
Keitech make exceptional soft plastic lures. I have tried and caught on most but there was one I had eyes on that day. The Mini Wag is a perfect worm imitation, especially in natural pink. Scented with squid like most Keitech lures, it has a mad wriggling tail. Unlike your average curl tail it wiggles from the middle of the tail, not the end, so it’s really unusual. Combined with the Bladed Jighead, I had a combo with great potential, but could I find the fish?
The Keitech MIni Wag
The tide was pushing in around the harbour and with it, hopefully some predators. I often find flounder will hug the structure, skirting the base of the harbour walls hunting for any fleeing prawns, fish and worms in the onrushing tide.
In classic Cornish fashion, myself and Jon were sharing the quay with tourists from across the UK. There were a variety of accents, ordering drinks and enjoying chips and pasties. Cornwall has a love hate relationship with the tourists that make their way to the county every year – they cause chaos but the money is vital for the locals. As angling tourists though, me and Jon were more interested in the life below the waterline rather than expanding our waistlines.
”a vortex of swirling food, an ideal ambush spot for a bass or flounder”
I flicked the lure out, letting it drop so I could work it along the base of the wall, jigging up and then stopping regularly. The tide was pushing over the slipway, created a vortex of swirling food, an ideal ambush spot for a bass or flounder I thought.
The technique is super simple.. Let the lure hit the bottom and leave it for a few seconds. Once the slack is tightened, I then flick the rod tip gently to lift the lure and spark it into action. A couple of turns of the reel bring lure closer, covering the ground, after that I let it sink back down and stop again. For any bottom dwelling species, this is the ultimate lure technique – stop go, stop go, stop go. It keeps the lure in the strike zone.
”There were no bass like headshakes, only the resistance of an angry flatfish!”
After lots of casts working my way around the harbour, about half way in the rod bent round into substantial weight. The fish had taken the lure on the drop and as I tightened the slack I set the hook. This felt good! There were no bass like headshakes, only the resistance of an angry flatfish!
Spring flounder are far more aggressive and active than in winter, they hit lures with ferocity and fight hard. This fish was no different. It went on a number of drag ripping runs, giving it hell to avoid being netted. The hookhold was strong though in the flatfish’s bony jaws. With a now captivated audience of tourists it was in the net. My first decent lure caught flounder of the year.
The prize!
We moved out of the way of the now gathering holiday makers, onto some steps to get photos. Other than scorpion fish and gurnard, flounder are my favourite muse. If you get the angle right – photographed from their bottom jaw up – you can really capture their moody nature. Photograph them from the other side and they look a little dorky – these are quirky fish after all!
Moody looking creatures don’t you agree?
After admiring the fish’s mottled markings, burgundy spots and bony head, I held the flounder in the water. The fish caught it’s breath and kicked away powerfully. The tactic had worked first time and this was the earliest in Spring I had caught a flounder. Everything bodes well for a great season to come.
See what I mean about looking dorky from this angle?
The set up ROD – Majorcraft N-One NSL-S662H/AJI 0.8-12g REEL – Shimano Stradic 1000 MAINLINE – Majorcraft Dangan Braid 8lb LEADER – Majorcraft Fluoro leader 4lb Find more articles like this on my blog – www.benbassettfishing.home.blog
Hello Essex Anglers and thank you for inviting me to write for your site. My name is Ben Bassett and I’m based in Plymouth, Devon, fishing ultralight with lures for a myriad of sea species. I’m hoping my fishing may help inspire yours, whether that’s based locally in Essex or across the UK.
Recently I enjoyed a really varied week using LRF tactics to catch everything from well known species like bass and mackerel, to obscure unknowns like the topknot. I will delve into that week and introduce you to my passion – LRF or Light Rock Fishing.
A scad that took a liking to a Monkey Lures Shaky Lui.
I recommend you checking out this blog I wrote for Street Fishing London as an introduction to LRF – https://www.streetfishinglondon.co.uk/post/an-introduction-to-lrf To sum it up, LRF is ultralight fishing in saltwater using a variety of lures to target anything that swims – from tiny gobies to big bass and wrasse. I have lived and breathed this type of fishing since I discovered it in 2016, catching some really special species along the way. Now I have that basic summary out of the way, lets talk about the week I had recently.
A rare LRF catch, a 40 cm plus thick lipped mullet.
It started with a mullet, one of the most frustrating fish in UK waters. These large powerful fish are a common sight around our harbours and estuaries, yet they can be disturbingly difficult to catch! Often turning their nose up at any lure or even bait you use, a lot of anglers consider fishing for them pointless or too difficult. Occasionally though, particularly in the summer months, you can find them in a different, more obliging mood.
In my hometown of Plymouth, mullet are a regular sight cruising lazily around the harbour. Most of the time I’m ignoring these silver torpedoes, as they just love to ignore me! Yet, the morning I found myself fishing was different… Me and my brother, Olly ended up fishing next to a chap who was using a monstrously huge beach caster and home made float with two hooks below it, baited with bread. He was certainly getting plenty of interest, despite his crude set up. There was quite a severe language barrier between us but it was clear he was fishing for dinner. I certainly would never recommend eating a mullet from a busy harbour, and that’s without saying how old an eating sized mullet would be. Each to their own though I guess.
Mullet feed by filtering particles of food through their thick lips, making them dastardly to hook at times.
I did notice that every time this chap struck and missed, the mullet would go crazy munching the freebies left behind. This gave me an idea… I clipped on my lightest jighead, an Ecogear Shirasu 0.6g size 10. Onto the jighead went about an inch of XL Marukyu Isome in Pearl White – which if you squinted looked just like a pinch of white bread. Using my ultralight 7g rated Apia Grandage Lite 74 rod and 6lb rated Majorcraft Dangan braid, I flicked the tiny ‘lure’ over to the feeding mullet.
It kind of looks like a bit of Hovis… Right?
I kept in touch with the jighead, feeding the line down until it was just out of my sight. The rod tip instantly pulled over and I struck. I couldn’t believe it when I felt serious resistance! In fact this mullet wasn’t playing games as it shot out below me, trying to find cover under the moored boats. From a high vantage point I used my leverage against it, yet still the fish ran and ran. I turned it’s head and watched it shake viciously side to side like a bass. I was loving life, hooking up to a mullet being so rare.
I worked the fish along the harbour wall to the steps, the deep water working to my advantage – the fish kept running but couldn’t make it into any snags. After a few more headshakes, my brother netted the fish for me. In the net rested a fine thick lipped grey mullet, caught on an artificial. What a moment.
My first chunky mullet of that week.
I followed that fish up with a bigger one two days afterwards, in the exact same circumstances. Being a bigger fish of over 45cm, this mullet ran me ragged, burning up my drag with it’s lightening fast runs. I couldn’t believe my luck. Considering the fact that I also spooked the shoal for the chap taking the fish to eat, I also saved a few lives that day. Not great for him but something all too pleasing to me, mullet deserve respect – not a bash on the head!
Lean mean bread munching machine, this fish ran me ragged!
The next big session I had (see the September edition of Hookpoint magazine for the full story) proved to be another action filled jaunt. I drove two of my LRF partners in crime, Richard Salter (search Devon Lerfer on Youtube and Facebook) and Joe Mole (search Dawlish LRF on Instagram), down to Cornwall for a day’s fishing. Conditions proved difficult during the day, with strong south west winds writing off a couple of marks. We mostly stuck to the quaint tourist town of Fowey, which served us well in the end,
Rich looking grumpy and me and Joe looking less so!
The first catches were giant gobies, a protected species and a rare catch for most of the UK. In the warm waters of Cornwall and Devon though these fish can be quite common, although very localised. You can find them in rockpools and they often turn up as surprise catches when we are targeting other intertidal species. They are a huge fish by goby standards, maxing out at 30cm. A true brute of the rockpool, these fish take most small lures, anything up to 8cm will be attacked with venom.
The rather special giant goby.
The next catches of real interest were common dragonets. These fish are are bottom dwellers, preferring clean sandy ground. To catch them you need to fish hard on the bottom with small worm imitations. The fish I had that day were small even for dragonets, although I did finally tempt a better fish out of around 15cm.
The common dragonet.
A top tip when handling these innocent looking fish, is to watch out for their gill spines! This species have razorblades for gills, easily slicing through human skin if the angler isn’t cautious. They are a beautiful and not very common catch, so catching three in a row that day was a real bonus.
We had to wait until the evening for the fishing to really switch on. The tide had started to push right in and that led to big shoals of mackerel hunting around the harbour. Every time they appeared in front of us it was easy pickings, any lure from soft plastic paddletails and pin tails, to metal jigs were taken with glee. Joe and Richard tempted out a small flounder each by bumping a whole Marukyu Isome worm along the sand.
Mackerel and flounder, Cornwall has it all.
The highlight was yet to come. Under the lights of the street lamps, I fancied the chance of a bass. I rigged on an LMAB Kofi Perch 7cm onto a 3g jighead, casting out into the darkness beyond the glow of the lights. Bringing it through the illuminated water it wasn’t long before I had the satisfying smack of a bass. The fight was bullish and head shaking, classic sea bass fight. Richard ran the net underneath it, after almost bumping it off!
My best bass of the year so far.
Around the 2lb mark I lifted it up for a couple of pics, then quickly returned it. It certainly impressed the holiday makers boozily making their way around the harbour. Richard followed that up with a fine fish of his own.
Richard’s beautiful looking bass.
To finish the evening we found a spot under a bright light. We all knew this would be a chance for scad – or horse mackerel as they are called. On LRF tackle these fish fight so hard, it didn’t take us long to find them. Bumping small soft plastics along the bottom made it easy, the scad picking up the lures with real aggression. Richard had a real beauty, as you can see below. With all of us tiring, we called it a night.
A chunky scad for Rich.
My next chance to fish came a few days later, giving the rather famous Plymouth mark called Mount Batten Pier a go. This breakwater is a real treat for ‘Lerfers’ like myself, with massive exposed boulders at low tide, in amongst them hide a vast array of species. It can be snaggy going, but with light tackle and a bit of feel for the gaps in the rock, you can avoid the worst of it.
I rigged up with the ultralight jighead again, all 0.6g of it, with a Berkley Gulp Baby Sardine, hoping to tempt out the weirdest flatfish around. Looking down in the dark crevice below me, it looked a likely place for a shadow loving mini-monster. I lowered the tiny lure down into the shadows and watched as the white ripple of a topknot’s underside came into view. My heart started racing and I knew what was coming… Tap tap on the rod tip, a quick strike and very little fight came the topknot.
The incredibly odd but brilliant topknot.
Topknot’s are very unusual for flatfish because they don’t live on sandy or muddy bottoms, these fish use their suction cup shape to hang onto the underside of rocks and boulders. They ambush their prey with a large extendable mouth. With big bulbous eyes that can see almost 360 degrees, a wonky looking mouth and mottled skin, they are truly unique. No matter how many I catch I never tire of finding one.
A face only a mother could love?
The rest of the day was steady as I worked through my collection of scented and unscented worm imitations. I even had a couple of casts out with a little blade bait and caught what seemed to be the only mackerel of the day. In amongst the rocks I found goldsinny and corkwing wrasse, both beautiful little fish. The trick to catch them is to fish very slow, let the bite build before you strike. I even had the pleasure of a real thumping bite, from what turned out to be a tompot blenny – the biggest blenny in our waters. You can tell a tompot by the two thick tubercles on it’s head, plus the orange colouration.
It’s the ‘eyebrows’ that make a tompot blenny so distinctive and full of character.
Last up was one of my favourite species, although a tiny one… I received the most minuscule tap on the rod tip, striking to find a baby long spined sea scorpion on my hook. These spiny predators look mean but are harmless, unless you are another small fish or shrimp! Very aggressive, they will take lures as big as themselves. Just like the topknot, they are always welcome.
The long spined sea scorpion.
So that was a week Light Rock Fishing, proving the variety that can be found and caught on lures. In 7 days I caught 15 species, ranging from tiny gobies to hard fighting bass and mullet, all on the same rod and with a range of different tactics.
If you want to read more there are loads of fishing tales and tips on my blog – www.benbassettfishing.home.blog You can also find me on Facebook and Instagram by searching ‘benbassettfishing’.
