Summer is slowly coming our way, meaning long summer days drifting into warm muggy evenings. When conditions get like this there is only one thing for it…. a bit of sole searching.

Where to fish

Living in Suffolk we have some great beaches which are perfect for hunting these fantastic little beasties down. With such beaches as Sizewell, Dunwich, Minsmere and Covehithe all a short drive away you can normally be guaranteed some great sport on a warm, calm summers evening. These beaches all have something in common, they are mainly sandy, clean bottoms which the sole absolutely love to inhabit. Finding a beach that is predominantly sand or mud is always a good bet when on a sole hunt. Arriving at low and plopping a bait out on the incoming tide should see your tips rattling away as the sole takes your bait, they can be ferocious feeders so be prepared as your tip may slam around with no warning. These fish are renowned for following the tide up, sometimes feeding only a few yards out meaning big casts are not needed!

Tackle

Sole are not big fish so in reality heavy set ups are not needed, I prefer to use beach ledgering rods of up to 3oz casting weight max, I even know people who swear by using carp rods for sole just for a bit of sport. Personally I will use my continental style set up of fixed spool reels loaded with 8lb mainline to light tapered shock leaders, this gives a much more balanced fishing style when targeting sole. Rig wise I love to use light 2 hook urfe rigs for sole or weighted boom rigs. Urfe rigs leave a long flowing trace behind the lead making the baited hooks flutter enticingly on the sea bed hopefully getting the soles attention, tapping into their hunter instinct making them chow down on your baits. Alternatively weighted booms will pin your baits to the sea bed, keeping your bait pinned on the bottom, right in the soles hunting ground. I prefer to use small hooks, size 6 or 4 long shank aberdeen’s or chinu hooks are always on my sole rigs, their little mouths mean smaller hooks will increase your catch rate massively. Attaching these to light snoods, I love 6lb fluoro, is the perfect business end of your rig for sole in my eyes. If conditions allow I will try to use as lighter lead as I can, 2oz flat plain leads being my favourite to use, casting is not a necessity as they can be right under your feet so flicking it no more than 30 yards out is the order of the day here.

Bait

Depending on where you fish different baits will work but as a general rule of thumb small worm baits will get their interest and have the sole jumping on your hooks. Personally I love using little bunches of maddie’s, these little wriggly harbour ragworm are loved by sole and I get a vast majority of my fish using these. Ragworm and lugworm (black and blow) are great baits too, with many fish coming to these offerings. Just remember sole do have small mouths so don’t load up on huge baits. Another top tip is to sit on your hands of you see an indication, I will normally wait until the rattles stop and the tip either slackens or hits round harder, sole have a habit of playing with a bait before finally eating it so hitting at the first indication will mean many missed bites.

Tactics

As stated before these fish love clean bottomed marks and will come in very close so casting huge distances is not needed. These fish hug the bottom so keep your rod tip low in the stand, spread your tripod legs out to achieve this meaning the angle of your line into the water is much lower so your bait will not be held up above their feeding area. Another great tip to achieve this is leave your line slightly slack, don’t tighten right up to the lead, you will still see bites so do not worry! I like to add glow beads to my rigs which I charge with a UV light, these little rubber beads add to visual attraction and also double up as a bait stop meaning your bait will not slide up the line. Do the glow beads make a difference, well I think they do, blue and pink are my favourite colours to use for sole. Flatfish are all inquisitive fish and in my eyes it certainly doesn’t put them off at all!

Hopefully these tips have given you food for thought, these fantastic flatfish are one of my favourite fish to target. Try some of these ideas next time you target a sole and see if they help increase your catch rate, alternatively if you’ve never tried for one before what are you waiting for. When the conditions allow it, head out for a long night on a sticky summers evening, flick those baits out and try your own bit of sole searching.