Fishing for plaice

• I shot a really good looking feature on Saturday with a couple of friends, about shore fishing for one of the most stunning flatfish we have in our waters - the plaice. The day before they had seven of these little stunners, but when we went the fishing was somewhat harder. You should have been here yesterday !! I saw a nice plaice right at the end of the day, but we had a blast. Sometimes I forget just how beautiful the south Devon coastline really is, especially when the sun is out and you are fishing somewhere awesome. As to where, that has to remain a secret of course !! I could tell you, but then I would have to do you in....

• I took some real close-ups of the plaice's eye because it fascinates me to see fish with their eyes on top of their head like that. I rarely go after flatfish, so I love seeing them. Lots of UK shore anglers have a real soft spot for flounder, plaice, dabs and sole.

• I am seeing more and more guys down here turning over to what I believe is the best shore fishing multiplier on the market at the moment, the Daiwa Saltist 30H, see here for my review. Both the guys were using them on Saturday and can't find fault with them - ok, so they are slight overkill for plaice fishing, but their compact size and immense strength make them perfect for so much of our fishing.

• Above is Rob Yorke lobbing a plaice bait out. We had plenty of dropped bites that had to have been plaice simply nibbling at the baits, but as we were close to packing up, James Langdon nailed a nice fish. South Devon is such a great part of the world to live in.

• Sunday was about the strangest load of weather I have seen in one day for a while now - bright blue skies here in Plymouth, often promptly followed by a couple of snow showers. I went for a meeting right up the Tamar over lunch and we had a couple of really heavy snow showers. And this morning I find my car covered in the heaviest frost I have seen this year. Then just last week I was out walking my dog in a t-shirt - what is going on ?

• I have just got hold of some incredible looking braid lines for fishing, and one in particular I believe might just be the one that I am going to change over to for my lure fishing for bass. I will use it for a bit and then reveal what it is, but for now, take it from me - I have never seen braid quite like this stuff. The strength to diameter ratio is off the scale and it feels seriously special stuff. Not cheap, but since braid lasts for ages I reckon it is more than worth it.

• And on the subject of braid, I have been giving this stuff a bit of thought that might help out - we tend to get hold of braid here in the UK on either 150 or 300 yard spools. I always used to get 300 yard spools, fill my reel up and then never know how much I have got left. But now all I do is buy 150 yard spools, wind them onto a spare reel spool, put as much mono backing on as required over the top (remember to underfill), and then wind this all back onto the other spool - presuming that is that your spinning reel came with two spools. This gives me the perfect line level for my fishing, and let's face it - bass are very cool fish, but even our longest cast with a plug and then a monster bass charging off is never going to come close to emptying the reel. Now I know exactly how much braid I have on my reels and I am never left guessing how much line is left on a spool that I shelled out for.

• I am off to Spain tomorrow to have a few days away with my wife, without the kids - Spain is such a cool country and my wife speaks fluent Spanish, so we can easily get around and do our own thing. Taking a brief holiday as a self-employed person always gives me feelings of guilt, but it is going to be a great week away and I can't wait. My wife deserves it.

• If you have bought my new fishing book, thank you from me, and I hope you are enjoying it. See here for full details if you have not got it yet. Get it - you know it makes sense.