A new flattie rig i have been playing with

[solehunter]

After fishing a few steep drop beaches, i have started making a new rig for sole. I have no idea what its called but i know its not new. Its very similar to a wishbone but does not tangle in choppy weather half as much (i guess ALL rigs tangle now and then) The rig insures (like the wishbone) that all hooks stay on the bottom nicely. As all hooks are below the weight on a running ledger principle , you can cast 10ft with the satisfaction that all baits are pinned down even though the trajectory of your main line is high, perfect for keeping your rods high in the rest if there is weed on the waterline ect......
The last 6 or 7 sole i hvae had have been on this rig....

[monkeynuts]

its a good un m8
i use a very similar rig when sole fishing from the boat , but mine is bit longer(24") with 3 hooks and a small 1/8oz lead 6" from the end

[solehunter]

Nice mate, i thought it looked more like a boat rig, more of a high mainline rig for closer / deeper water casting. I have copied it but cant remember where from. I think hooks above the weight will be a no no for me now as i have demolished my annual amount of sole PB already since using this rig. I guess i would go longer if i was on a boat, but i do swear by shorter snoods from sore....basically because i have never caught with anything else.

[monkeynuts]

i recon your right , short snood are a must from the shore.as i would think the extra lead would make casting impossable and the bait must be nailed to the bottom or it ant worth bothering
this year has been a very good year for the sole already, hope it continues

[solehunter]

monkeynuts said:

i recon your right , short snood are a must from the shore.as i would think the extra lead would make casting impossable and the bait must be nailed to the bottom or it ant worth bothering
this year has been a very good year for the sole already, hope it continues

So do i. Though i have not had many larger ones this season. The last 6 or 7 have been slips. The little ones are good to see obviously, but i`m under pressure to get my 2lb plus that i have had every year since targeting them. Last year was easy as i had it on my first sole ;D....this year may prove more difficult the way things are going ;D Hours plus patience is the only way!

[monkeynuts]

im sure a 2lb fish will be in your tummy by x-mas...lol

iv notice that this year only 1 in every 3 is big enough for the table, but last year was much better for size but not numbers.
it a good sign for the future if the netting boats dont f*** it all up

im planning to get out on wed night and try for a couple, so fingers crossed for the weather to be nice

[solehunter]

I hope so! Cheers mate. Yep, always good to see the small ones and the bigger ones of the year are due! I`ll be out next friday after a few no doubt with some good late tides (cant find my tide table at the moment...bloody things , where do they go?) THIS time i`m up for business ...no going home before its light and all that! Longer nights, later mornings.....this is the time i like!

[bazza]

nice one Dave, i will have to make one and give it a try against the rig i normally use when i'm out Friday night.

[eccles]

Absolutely fascinating. That rig is almost identical to the one Fingers used when he had his first decent sole last Saturday over here on Hayling. Think I am going to have to copy it but with a slight mod - how about a drilled bullet on the first part of the snood to anchor it a bit more?, and one of those short nylon booms to hold the branch snood/hook away from the main snood? Incidently, Fingers was using Size 2 Aberdeens cos he ran out of Size 4's but Sole still got hooked. I now have a supply of long shank both Size 2's and 4's cos it's easier to thread worm on but not sure which to use.

[solehunter]

Not a boom guy myself, plus the guy i fish with mostly has given up on them due to weed problems (the sea variety) and not getting the amounts of fish the rest of us do. I do put on a small shot on the bottom hook to pin it down, but i have gone down to a lot smaller weights due to a paranoia of the fish not liking any resistance (maybe thats why i`m getting the small ones all the time now?)
Size 2 catch fine, but i have gone from 8 to 12 sole a year on size 2 hooks to 15 and counting on size 4. A significant factor is i have not been fishing half the time i did the years previous due to new work commitments and choosing my tides and moonless nights more carefully! Stay with the size 4 hooks.
A guy on the island swears by using size 10 and sole is all he fishes for....must tell us something!

[monkeynuts]

i use size 4 aberdeens, seem to do the job just fine for me, id think you will pick up even smaller slips on a size 10 and not leave any chance/time for the bigger ones to find it
hears a wab site to tide you over till you find your book www.ybw.com/weather/
cheers john

[lewis]

looks like a wicked rig mate will have to give it a go. haven't been able to catch one this year yet.

[blank king]

Might have to try this, but not sure where . Thought maybe Town Quay, but willing to try anywhere around the Southampton area,(suggestions welcome).

[fishfingers]

Funny, I was just talking about that rig, but then saw this thread. I've just come into this part of the forum. That rig in particular has been called a simple two hook running ledger. There's two ways of using this rig. To fish the bait just above the sea bed, you attatch the weight to a swivel on the main line by a line about a foot long, or to have the bait on the sea bed, you fit the weight directly onto the main line. I've always found it a very effective way of fishing.

[RichardB]

I've used something like that for flounders before. Re: the booms question - I sometimes use a couple of inches of thin silicon tubing (sold by most tackle shops I think). Thread on to the snood before tying on, then force the tubing back over the swivel. This creates a reasonable 'stand off' effect, but minimizes the weed trap a bit.