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Thursday 23rd September 2004 - Bill Bailey, a member
of the Oldham, Lancs, "Hawthorne Sea Angling Club" was fishing off
Dartmouth aboard local charter Skipper Ian Noble's "Samuel Irvin" when he
certainly "came home" with a top specimen Plaice which when
later weighed ashore
tipped the scales to 5 lbs 12 ozs.
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Bill Bailey from Oldham, Lancs a member of the "Hawthorne SAC" proudly holds his specimen Plaice 5 lbs 12 ozs 0 dr caught off Dartmouth aboard Ian Noble's local charter boat "Samuel Irvin" Thursday 23rd September 2004 |
About 2.0 pm, I received a telephone call from Ian, who was still out at sea, to tell me of the capture. This magnificent fish was weighed on-board shortly after it was caught and tipped the scales at that time between 6 lbs 2 ozs and 6 lbs 3 ozs.
I met Bill aboard "Samuel Irvin" on his return to Port soon after 5.0 pm to take this photo of a very happy man holding a very special fish.
Bill told me that he used a Shimano 'Technum' 6 - 8 lb class rod with a trusty Daiwa 'Sealine' reel and 12 lb mono line. The terminal rig was adorned with a selection of beads and a 1/0 size hook with a plain ragworm bait.
One of Bill's angling companions told me that he watched in awe as this fish ripped off line before being subdued on light tackle.
This Plaice is easily the best to be caught on rod and line from the "Skerries" banks in the past 4 or 5 years. Several years have passed since another famous local angler Pat Farley caught his own 6 lb Plaice off Dartmouth.
The "Skerries" are famed for producing many good Plaice throughout the year. We see many fish to 3 lbs but those of more than 5 lbs are a rare sight.
Late summer is the time to catch those really big Dartmouth Plaice after they have spent the summer months feeding up on prolific sand eel, crab and shellfish.
Friday 24th September - Bill Bailey, once again fished aboard Ian Noble's "Samuel Irvin" and caught another nice "Skerries" Plaice of 2 lbs 9 ozs, a nice fish by any standards. Rumour has it that Bill now scoffs at any Plaice under 5 lbs.
