Plaice showing from the boats

• Plaice are not a fish I have spent much time chasing over the years, but I fully understand their appeal and I would love to catch more of them. There's something about these flatfish that really get lots of anglers going. Although they had north east winds up on the famous Skerries banks off Dartmouth over the weekend, Malcolm Jones of the charter boat Sea Angler II tells me that the fishing was still pretty good. A fair few nice plaice were taken during the huge annual plaice festival they have up there every year. Check here for getting hold of one of the south west's best charter skippers. I can not recommend Malcolm highly enough.

• I spoke to Malcolm this morning as he was steaming back to Plymouth and he said it was about as beautiful as possible out at sea. How good was the weather yesterday ? I am not sure what the actual temperature was, but to me if felt like the warmest day of the year so far down here - so sunny and warm in fact that I even got my shorts on for the first time in the UK in 2009. Now that is an event !!

• Nobody can mistake the distinctive orange spots on a plaice - I have heard so many stories of when shore fishing for them over on the tiny Channel Island of Alderney was frankly awesome. We are talking about serious numbers of big, 5lb plus plaice coming to shore anglers, but as is usual on planet earth, the stocks were commercially hammered and what was once a world class shore fishery for them is now a shadow of its former glories. There is still some very good fishing over there at various times of the year, but imagine what it once was....................kind of like too many places on earth (sadly). Speak to these guys here for local info, guiding, tackle, bait and charter boats.

• I also spoke to a friend of mine over in south east Ireland this morning - Cian told me that north east winds and an incredibly small tide did them no favours at all on the bass fishing front this weekend, but persistence paid off and he managed to land a solid 5lb fish on a Duo Tide Minnow lure. See here for getting some of these awesome lures. Cian said he had at least five decent follows from bass, but that they then turned away at the last moment. Why ?

• The Wolves are howling - if you are into any kind of extreme metal music, do yourself the biggest favour possible this week and get hold of the new album by the US black metal band Wolves in the Throne Room. These guys get in your head in a big way, and their new CD called "Black Cascade" is a proper masterpiece. Listen here for some short samples of what this band is about. They play long, textured songs that won't leave you alone, and I reckon that's just about perfect. Kind of like a faster Drudkh if you get my drift. Monumental metal for the true connoisseur. Get the CD here.

Catalogue cover

• I got hold of a copy of the new Veals 2008 Bass catalogue today, with a photo of mine on the cover, and plenty more inside. I really like the choice of photo as it works well for the landscape format of the catalogue. And there is a huge amount of bass fishing tackle inside - check out their mail order website here. These are the guys I get my much loved Maria Chase lures from.

• A couple of friends of mine had an incredible catch of 19 small-eyed rays the other night off a rock mark in North Cornwall. The rays may have been of no great size, but that is incredible shore fishing in anybody's book. I have always had a soft spot for small-eyed ray fishing, and one of my favourite marks of all time has to be the well known Skate Rock close to Treyarnon Bay in Cornwall. I used to spend a lot of time up there and we had some awesome fishing over the years. I have sensed a bit of a revival in the numbers of rays around over the last few years, and I hope it continues.

• Check out a plaice fishing feature of mine in the new issue of Sea Angler, on pages 120, 121, 122 and 124. Whilst they are not exactly the most "explosive" of fish to catch, there is something very special about seeing these flatfish.

• With the current explosion in light tackle bass fishing interest, I am really glad to see that Mel Russ (Sea Angler editor) has gone and "discovered" the delights of fishing with surface lures. I note that he was fishing with one of Ireland's top bass anglers, John Hall. Check out some stuff I did with John a few years ago, click here. Little can beat fishing with topwater lures anywhere in the world.

• There are a bunch of my photos in the current issue of Trout Fisherman, check out pages 42, 43, 44, 45 and 46. Words are by Nick Hart.

• Anyway, enough about fishing. How about a bit more metal ? Anybody who has been into metal long enough to witness the "birth" of thrash metal will have several Testament CDs in their collection. And they are back with a stunning new album called The Formation of Damnation, check here for a few samples.

• If you do not have Slayer's historical album Reign in Blood in your thrash metal collection, then please leave the building and close the door. I will never forget listening to that album for the first time, and back then I believe I bought it on vinyl. I would argue that nobody has ever bettered it as a pure thrash metal release. Yes, of course, it's in my top five of all time.

• All we need now is for the (once) mighty Metallica to release an album that can come close to their first three masterpieces. What on earth happened to these guys and their recent output ? Go back and listen to the awesome Master of Puppets to see just how good they once were. I don't own any of their CDs after the Black album, and even that I rate as somewhat suspect.

Back from holiday

• It's always good getting home after a bit of time away, especially when the time you have had away has been fantastic. My wife and I love Spain, it is an incredible country and there is so much to see and do. We went north of Barcelona and just stayed in really pretty looking places that had great walking along the stunning coastline. A lot of the Costa Brava is totally ruined through catering to mass tourism, but if you speak Spanish (my wife does) and are prepared to get off the beaten track then you will find that parts of the coastline are simply breathtaking. It always strikes me as daft that so few people are prepared to explore and get away from the crowds.

• Talking of walking, I reckon over the years that I have walked most of the south Devon coastline for my fishing. Many non-anglers believe that fishing is a "sport" where you do nothing but sit there for hours on end, but mobile rock fishing is nothing of the sort, indeed it can be great exercise. Above are the guys I went plaice fishing with just before I left for Spain. Fishing far from the beaten track is what it is all about in my view. My sheepdog Jess loves these kinds of fishing trips.

• Although we were on holiday and I had not taken any fishing gear, a few of the places my wife and I stayed looked very interesting for bass fishing. I found some lovely shallow, rocky and weedy ground that I reckon would fish well on the lures, so when we go back I am going to sneak a travel-style plugging rod in my bag and get up really early for a bit of fishing. My wife need never know !! A rod like the 20-50g Greys Missionary 6 Spin would work a treat - six piece rods like this are the way forward for travelling.

• I note from the Aardvark McLeod blog that Pete McLeod is working hard out in Los Roques off the coast of Venezuela !! Awesome bonefish by the way, and well done for managing to do a bit of fishing amongst all that hard work I am sure that you have to do out there. I was out in Los Roques last year to photograph the awesome bonefishing and it is a perfectly magical place. Check here for a load of photos I shot. Talk to Aardvark McLeod about a trip out there - those famous pancake flats are incredible.

• And seriously well done to James Warbrick-Smith - he called me yesterday to tell me all about his trip out to the Bahamas that he has just got back from. James nailed his first ever permit on the fly, and that is a seriously hard thing to do, so huge congratulations to the man. I know how much it means to James. He is an awesome fly fisherman and we have done some very cool trips together in the past - here is to a load more. Check here for a load of photos I shot on the same remote island a few years ago with Nick Hart and James. Most people simply do not realise how wild it is possible to get in the Bahamas, but the huge island of Inagua is far from the beaten track - I would imagine that you are getting the point here. I love fishing and photographing where there is a distinct lack of people. What can beat wild open spaces ?

• Check out the new In Flames album, called "A Sense of Purpose" - listen to some tracks here. Their output has been a bit up and down over the last few years, but this release is growing on me. I like it when melodic death metal is done well, and In Flames tend to be pretty good at it.

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.