Beach Fishing For Flatfish - Sole, Rigs, Tips & Tactics

This entry was posted on 9th September, 2014

Beach Fishing For Flatfish - Sole, Rigs, Tips & Tactics

Sole are a small Flatfish which can be caught throughout the summer months, generally feeding under the cover of darkness they venture close inshore to feed on worms, shrimps and other crustaceans.

A sublime eating fish and much sought after by commercial fishermen and beach anglers alike, they can offer some great summer sport on the right beaches and tides throughout the months of June-Septmber.



With all these things in mind we took the camera's down to Sizewell Beach in Suffolk, famous for it's power station and more importantly it's summer Sole Fishing! Armed with a pound of fresh Ragworm, one of the top Sole baits, we arrived on the beach around 7.00pm and with high tide around midnight, we aimed to fish most, if not all of the flood to see if we could tempt a fish or two.

We set up two rods with two standard two hook flapper rigs, 4oz leads and size 4 hooks. When Sole fishing you are generally able to use slightly lighter tackle as they can be caught very close to shore, often just a 20-30yard out, this means you are out of the main tide run and in most case Carp Rods would be more than ample.

One of the defining features of the Sole is there tiny, side slung mouth. With such a small mouth its essential you use hooks to match, so a small fine wire pattern in size 4-8 is perfect. With this in mind it’s also important to use a bait of a suitable size, rather than using a huge king rag, offer them a small section or half of a worm.



With the rods fishing we sat back and waited for the evening to unfold, to see exactly how we fared and to see if we landed one of the target species, or if you simply want some more information on how to catch and target them, check out the video below.

Apologies if this isn't the most fish filled video we've produced, but we hope some of the information may be useful.

The Tackle Box Greys GRX-S 13ft 4-6oz Beach Rods Penn 525 Mag II Multipliers Ian Golds Match Tripod Shakespeare Beta Seat Box Shakespeare Beta Seat Box Side Trays Breakaway Seatbox Backrest Conversion Daiwa Sensor Surf Mono 15lb Drennan Greased Weasel 60lb Shockleader Greys Two Hook Flapper Rigs Kamasan B940 Hooks Size 4 Breakaway 4oz Impact Leads Advanta XPE Headlamp Starlite Clip Lights Leeda Neoprene Chest Waders