 East Kent Coast Sea Fishing Compendium |
Sole (Solea solea) |
The common (or Dover) sole is a nocturnal feeder which, during the daylight hours, remains buried in the sand, moving little. The sole creeps about the seabed using its fringe of fin rays almost like the legs of a millipede. As it moves slowly along it gently pats the sand with its head, with the sense organs on its blind side feeling for objects lying on the surface.
The sole only succeeds in finding food that lies on the seabed and will not notice material suspended above it. Even the mouth of the sole is positioned so as to facilitate picking up objects from the bed of the sea.
Further research has been done on the chemical senses of the sole. Young soles weaned from live brine shrimps would only eat an artificial diet when it was flavoured with the juice of the mussel or with the substance Glycine-betaine, a component of mussel juice. Both detection and selection of food items depend on this chemical.
Various amino acids are also involved in recognition of food, both in small sole and in other fish. Glycine-betaine is a true feeding stimulant for sole, because its presence increases food consumption over a long period of time. The worms, small molluscs and crustaceans on which the sole feeds are known to contain large amounts of this feeding stimulant and the fish has a special sense for detecting it. Glycine-betaine is absent from the flesh of fish (other than dogfish and rays) so attractants such as pilchard oil are, presumably, useless for sole.
Bait presentation is the key to catching sole. Use a simple paternoster with a flowing trace and a size 1 circle hook (snelled, not hook tied - research shows that "snelling" improves the catch rate on circle hooks by 30%) baited with a plump lugworm. Inert lugworm is tailor-made to avoid the attention of nuisance fish and tempt the sniffing, "patting" feeding behaviour of soles. By leaving the worms to fish quietly for themselves, the number of "nuisance bites" of other fish species is reduced enormously and sole, the targeted quarry, has time to find and take the bait. Even the movement of a lively ragworm will be sufficient to attract pouting and, for that reason, lug is a better bait for sole.
"The Art of Angling, Rock and Sea Fishing: with the Natural History of River, Pond and Sea Fish" (1740) Richard Brookes at page 120
Of The Sole
The Sole, in Latin Solea, is a flat longish fish, in shape much like the soal of a shoe, from whence it derives its name. It is often seen of the length of a foot, and sometimes a little longer. The upper part is of a dark ash-colour, and the lower white. The scales are very small. The lateral line passes directly from the head to the tail through the middle of both sides. The corners of the mouth are rough with a sort of small bristles or hairs. The body is surrounded with short fins, which on the upper edge begin near the eyes and are continued to the tail; on the lower edge it proceeds from the tail to the vent, which is placed near the head. The eyes are situate in the left side of the head, and are small, round, and cover'd with a loose skin. The pupils are small and of a shining green. The tail is round.
The flesh is more firm and solid than that of a Plaice; and for sweetness of taste, the plenty of nourishment it affords, and the goodness of its juice, far excels it; for which reason, in some countries, they stile it the Sea-Partridge.
"Sea-fishing as a sport" (1865) Lambton J. H. Young at pages 133, 134 & 135
Chapter III
Fish
The sole
The sole (of which there are several species) inhabits the sandy shores all around our coasts from the Orkneys to the Land's End, and round the south coast and back by the North Sea; they keep close to the bottom, and feed on small testaceous animals and the spawn and fry of other fish; those of the south and west coasts are larger and superior to those of the north and east.
They are caught almost wholly by trawling … An enormous quantity is taken and sent to market in baskets packed with the small fish outside so as to protect the larger and more valuable ones. Within one year, eighty-six thousand bushels of soles have been sent to Billingsgate market. They are sometimes of very large size: one is said to have weighed nine pounds, measured twenty-six inches long, eleven and a half inches wide, and was very thick. The sole breeds in the River Arun nearly up to the town of Arundel; they bury themselves in the sand during the winter; and are caught in the Arun with a ten foot beam trawl during the season from May to November. The sole is usually found full of roe at the end of February, when they spawn and are for a few weeks soft and watery, but they soon recover and are as delicate food as ever.
There is a good ground of soft sand for trawling for soles about sixteen miles from Brighton towards the coast of France.
"Angling in Salt Water: A Practical Work on Sea Fishing with Rod and Line from the Shore, Piers, Jetties, Rocks and from Boats" (1887) John Bickerdyke at page 113
Sole. This admirable flat fish is not often taken by the angler. It comes to hand occasionally when night fishing with the sea leger on those muddy, oozy bottoms, in which most flat fish delight. Lugworms are the best bait. Any reader of this book possessing influence, either with sea fishermen or our rulers, will do a national service if he uses that influence to prevent the taking of immature soles - a practice which is rapidly destroying our sole fisheries.
"The Sea and the Rod" (1892) Deputy Surgeon-General Charles Thomas Paske & Frederick George Aflalo at pages 43, 133 & 134
Chapter I
On Sea-Fishing in Particular
Cod and flat-fish will as a rule take a choice morsel at all hours, though the sole and the larger species - brill, turbot, etc. - feed almost exclusively at night.
Chapter XV
IV. The Sole (Solea vulgaris)
This delicate and most appreciated of all sea-fish is not often brought up by the angler among the omnium gatherum of captures, as it feeds in deep water and generally at night. Last year, however, I had the good luck to catch several quite plump ones in a place where flat-fish generally abounded, the bottom hook of my "paternoster" taking them, while the upper ones took what I am pleased to call round-fish - whiting and codlings.
No angler is justified in retaining an undersized fish of any species, but it is more than ever incumbent on the sportsman, as indeed on the professional trawler, to return immature soles to their native element; nothing should be bagged weighing less than half a pound. There should be a heavy penalty - inflicted without fear or favour - on exposure of soles between January and March inclusive; there should, as in the case of crabs and lobsters, be a minimum size for soles captured in the trawl. These sighs may be impracticably Utopian; but, considering that sole ranks next only to whiting in the dietary of the convalescent, its extinction would be heavily felt in more quarters than one.
Set upright, it seems as if it were provided with a snout, a projection over the mouth, which itself inclines towards the white surface, presenting the distortion that characterizes the whole genus. The teeth are small; the lateral line straight; the fins, which resemble those of flat-fish generally, cease a short distance from the tail one, which is distinct. The dark-brown of the upper surface points to a habitat within the influence of daylight; such being the case, soles, often common in estuaries, have been met with a considerable distance up some of our south-coast rivers. They abound in the Mediterranean, but are vastly inferior in flavour to those indigenous to our own seas.
"Hints and Wrinkles on Sea Fishing" (1894) "Ichthyosaurus" (A. Baines & Frederick George Aflalo) at pages 39 & 40
Natural History and Sport
Soles, which are growing alarmingly scarce and dear, may well be an object of the sea fisherman's pursuit; but they must be sought at night time, as they are only taken accidentally in the daytime. Not long since I had an opportunity of watching half-a-dozen which were kept in confinement for experimental purposes, and their activity was all nocturnal. They shift their quarters from the hard sand to the soft ooze according to certain changes in weather and temperature.
Of course they feed only on the bottom. Care must be taken to keep out of the course of long-shore trawlers … There are practically no soles left on our east coast, but they are still fairly abundant west of the Wight.
"Sea Fishing (The Badminton Library)" (1895) John Bickerdyke at pages 403 to 405
Chapter XII
Flat-Sided and Flat-backed Fishes
Of the Sole (Solea vulgaris) I am inclined to say little. In the first place, it bids fair to become extinct; and, on account of its scarcity and night-feeding habits, is not often caught by the angler in salt water. During warm weather soles come into fairly shallow water, retreating into the deep in winter, their migration, if it may be so called, depending in a large measure on the temperature of the air and water. Soles are fairly prolific in the matter of eggs, a fish of one pound having been found to contain 134,000; but so great a destruction of fish-life goes on in the sea, that such vast quantities of eggs even as this are insufficient to counteract the destructive agencies, natural and artificial, human and inhuman. The sole is a fish which is found all round the coast of England in suitable localities, but gets scarcer towards the north of Scotland. It is also common on parts of the Irish coast. A cast of a pair from Ireland which weighed 12 lbs. was made by Frank Buckland. Yarrell records one of 9 lbs. which was for sale in the market at Totness.
If any of my readers are fortunate enough to find a fishing ground where soles are plentiful, they should fish on the bottom with the tackle shown on p. 243, [3] and bait with lugworms if obtainable; failing these, mussels, ragworms, and the tails of hermit crabs may be tried. The fishing should be done at night, and a most favourable time will be when there has been sufficient sea to thicken the water. Then the fish may feed in the daytime.
There are several varieties of sole Solea lascaris, Solea variegata, and Solea lutea. Solea lascaris may be known by a series of spots or blotches over it, while Solea variegata is partially barred, and lutea has a few well-defined black spots placed widely apart.
Lemon Sole is a local name applied to three different species of fish. The long rough dab (Hippoglossoides limandoides) is so called in Scotland; the smear dab (Pleuronectes microcephalus) takes the same name in Ireland; and the term is also applied to Solea lascaris, already referred to. The fish to which I have been in the habit of giving this name is the second of the three mentioned. I have caught a good many when fishing for codling on the edge of rocky reefs. They are fish which are usually found in such localities, and there is no better bait for them than the lugworm. They have a differently shaped mouth from the sole, and are much darker coloured, but the colour of all flat fish varies a good deal with the ground on which they lie, so that nothing dependable can be said on that point.
[3] Editor's note: paternoster (1 up, 1 down) or paternoster-trot.
"Sea Fish" (1898) Frederick George Aflalo at page 38
The amateur is not likely, unless he do a deal of night fishing, to catch many soles; but if minded to attempt their capture, he should bear in mind that they feed in the mud, and that the mouth is exceedingly small, the sole sucking in all manner of soft food. A lug-worm is as good a bait as any. The so-called "lemon sole" is more properly speaking a dab, in shape resembling the plaice group to which it belongs. It is commonly caught, along with plaice and sand-dabs, from our south-coast piers in the autumn months.
"Practical Letters to Young Sea Fishers" (1898) John Bickerdyke at page 267
XXVIII: Flat Fish
The sole which, owing to its increasing rarity, will soon cease to be called Solea vulgaris, is not often caught by the amateur sea fisherman. It should be fished for at night with the same tackle as that recommended for the smaller flat fish, and the best baits are lugs, tails of hermit crabs, mussels, and rag worms. When the water is thickened after a storm there is always the chance of catching a sole in the daytime.
"Practical Sea-Fishing" (1905) P. L. Haslope at pages 100, 101 & 163
No fish is more prized as an article of food than the sole … There are several varieties of this fish, but most of them are inferior to the real sole, which also realises a high price. Occasionally they are taken on a small spiller [1] baited with rag-worms, or by the angler from a pier-head fishing on the bottom. Another kind, known as the lemon or french sole, is consumed in large quantities, but the flesh is somewhat soft and inferior in flavour. The variegated sole, or thick-back, as it is locally called, is a diminutive species from 6in to 8in long, the upper side being of a mottled-brown colour. They are excellent as food and generally much cheaper than the larger soles.
[1] This is really only another name for a long-line, and being constructed on a lighter scale (than a "boulter") they are more easily managed by the amateur.
"Sea-Fishing" (1911) Charles Owen Minchin at pages 183, 184 & 280
Chapter XIII
Some Less Important Sea-Fishes
Another flat fish which is of great interest on account of its excellence for the table and its commercial value, though it does not very often fall a victim to the angler, is the sole (Solea vulgaris) [4], which is called a "Torbay sole" when it is taken in the offing outside the Eddystone, and a "Dover sole" when caught on the Zuk Banks off the Belgian Coast. There are three other British species. The "French" or true "Lemon sole", the Thick-back (best of all for eating), both very rare, and the Solenette, a minute, reddish affair only five inches long, very common in the Thames estuary. I have heard bitter complaints of the destruction of very small soles by the shrimp-trawlers, but found on examining the little fishes that most of them were solenettes [5]. Not only are they redder in colour than the true sole, but about every tenth fin-ray is jet black, so they are very easily distinguished. The sole has a small mouth and it feeds, generally at night time, on minute worms, so though there are really a good many of them near the shore in muddy estuaries and backwaters, as at Walton-on-the-Naze for instance, they are only caught now and then when the angler is trying for plaice or dabs and using very small hooks. The fishermen get a few on their mickets at night during the summer months, and in some of the quiet bays in the West of Ireland, which are closed to the steam-trawlers and too remote to be worked by sailing smacks, there are quite a good many. In one of the sounds on the Donegal Coast, where no trawler was ever seen, we generally found about three soles in every dozen of the flat fish taken at night, but if the truth must be told we got most of them on a boulter and not with the rod. The sole is a very strong little fish when hooked, and it fights with a peculiar up and down motion quite unmistakable on light tackle. It it is known that there are soles near a pier, it is quite worth while to rig up a second rod (so as not to neglect other and more plentiful fish) and to bait four very small hooks with little lugworms, very very fresh, using a long single gut trailer below the lead and casting out to some spot where the ground is soft and muddy. The fishes of the sole family are also right-handed like the plaices.
Chapter XIX
Lines, Nets and Traps
The "trot" or "micket" is a smaller line, very handy for catching flat-fishes (even, possibly, some soles at night), whitings &c. Usually it is floated out with the current from an anchored boat or a pier-head or hulk, and pulled in again when it has fished for an hour or less. A good way to get it out quickly is to tie the end to the neck of an empty uncorked whisky-bottle. The bottle goes merrily off downstream, taking the line with it, but it soon fills and sinks, laying out the line nice and straight, and it offers little resistance when being hauled in.
[4] Editor's note: The common, Dover or black sole - formerly Solea vulgaris (Quensel 1806) - is now classified as Solea solea (Linnaeus, 1758). The name "Dover" comes from the east Kent fishing port of that name at which most of the sole caught in the 19th century was landed. A small sole is commercially called a "slip".
[5] Editor's note: The solenette or yellow sole (Buglossidium luteum) is a species of flatfish in the family Soleidae, and the only member of its genus. It is characterized by its small size, low-slung semi-circular mouth, and regularly placed dark fin rays. A common and widespread species, it is native to sandy bottoms in the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It is of little commercial value and has been reported from a range of 5 to 450 metres (16 to 1,476 ft), but is rare in very shallow waters.
"The Sportsman's Library: Sea Fishing" (1935) Major D. P. Lea Birch ("Fleur-de-Lys") at page 151
Chapter X
Flat-Fish
Sole are only very occasionally caught by anglers. The best chance of hooking one that happens to come around among the other flat-fish is to have very small hooks. An examination of the sole's funny little mouth tucked away under its nose shows very clearly that it can only take in a very diminutive bait.
"Modern Sea Fishing" (1937) Eric Cooper at page 233
Less-Sought-After Fish
The sole is a rare fish to take on rod. It feeds principally at night-time and occasionally may be met with when the angler is fishing on a bottom of sand or shingle for flatfish. It will take lug, ragworm and shrimp. The only place which I know of where the fish are caught at all regularly - if they still are to-day - is from the outside landing-stage, nearest to the shore, of Folkestone harbour. Here sole of between 1 and 2lb were caught twelve or fifteen years ago. The bait with which I had most success was king-rag. At that time these worms were not sent around the country by post in the quantity that they are to-day, but, by arrangement with one of the crew of the cross-Channel boats then running to Holland, a plentiful supply of rag was brought over to me from Flushing every other day. They were magnificent worms, far better than any I have seen in this country - not that our king-rag is to be despised.
"Sea Fishing with the Experts" (1956) Jack Thorndike at pages 92 to 94
Chapter 11
Flatfish (Hugh Stoker)
The sole is often referred to as the common sole, true sole or Dover sole, presumably in order to distinguish it from the lemon sole or smooth dab … The sole is, by nature, a warm water fish, and the British Isles represent the northernmost limits of its distribution … It favours localities where the sea bed is of sand or ooze, and the best specimens are usually to be found in fairly deep water - about twenty to forty fathoms. However, both large and small fish wander into shallow water in search of the marine worms which form their staple diet, and in summer they are sometimes caught in sheltered bays where the depth of water at low tide may amount to only two or three fathoms.
If the angler wishes to catch sole he must try for them at night; for it is only after sundown that these fish begin to feed. Lug and rag are the most tempting baits, but fresh razor clam or mussel can be used when worm baits are not available. In summer, sole may sometimes be taken on light trace tackle from a harbour wall or pier abutting onto a likely feeding ground …
Nevertheless, boat fishing at night is without doubt the most rewarding method. The art of successful sole fishing is almost entirely a matter of knowing the marks, and being able to find them in the dark. We have already mentioned that the sole favours sandy or oozy ground, but it is worth stressing that the fish has a particular liking for places where this sort of sea bed is broken up by patches of rock or stones. Sole also tend to be more plentiful in hollows and estuarine channels, and the newcomer should use a chart and lead line in order to locate these places. Hit or miss methods almost invariably bring poor results, and are responsible for the belief, all too common among sea anglers today, that fishing for sole is no longer worthwhile. It is true that sole are less numerous than they were years ago, but plenty of potential record-breakers are still swimming in the sea.
"The Modern Sea Angler" (1958) Hugh Stoker at page 132
Chapter Nine
Sea Fish Worth Catching - and how to Catch Them
Sole
This highly-prized flat-fish may be taken during the summer months along the Channel coast and around the southern and western shores of Ireland, in sheltered bays and estuaries where the bottom is of soft, worm-inhabited sand or mud. Being by nature nocturnal feeders, sole are almost invariably taken by the night angler. Light leger tackle produces good results when the hooks are baited with lugworm or ragworm.
"Tackle Sea Angling this Way" (1964) John Michaelson at page 87
10. Flatfish and Others
The sole, for which the record is four pounds, is scarce and caught mostly at night in the same areas and with the same techniques as plaice.
"Sea Angling" (1965) Derek Fletcher at pages 106 & 107
Chapter 12
Flat-fish Family
Although few anglers specialize in sole-fishing, I notice that those that do are always highly delighted if they land one, even if it is by accident. It is mostly after dark that the rod-and-line angler can expect bites.
Small ragworm bunched on a hook are a favourite with sole. Mussel, shrimp and limpet can be used if worm is not available. Strange baits I have seen attract sole are tomato and herring-roe. Sole that have fallen to my rod, and these are few, were taken at night in shallow water near a fresh water outlet. Small ragworm was the bait used.
Another interesting bait, which lured four fish to a companion's rod from a harbour boat, was silver paper. This was wrapped around the hook shank and, plus a small ragworm, the tackle, lightly leaded, was moved slowly over the sea-bed.
The sole is not only esteemed for the table, but the skin makes a good lure for pollack … The skin only is used, and all flesh removed. Leave the skin to dry and then cut it into pieces 3in x 1in. Wrap these around a long-shanked hook, tying at the head with nylon. The lure can be shaped to individual design and painted. Red proved suitable in this case, but experiment will find the correct colour for your area. Success is only achieved by keeping the bait moving near the surface.
"The Sea Angler Afloat and Ashore" (1965) Desmond Brennan at pages 46 to 48 & 243 - 244
The Fishes of the Sea
The Sole (Solea solea (Linn))
One of the true soles and the only one commonly taken by anglers. The soles differ from other flatfish in that they have longer, more flexible bodies, with a rounded snout projecting beyond the downward-curved mouth. The body is a narrow oval not unlike a footprint in shape. They possess tufts of filaments or "beards" on the front of the head on the blind side and teeth only in the jaws on the blind side.
The species of the sole family are very similar in appearance, but the Common or Black Sole (Solea solea) can be distinguished from the others by its larger pectoral fins and that the nostril on the underside is small and not dilated … After death the colour on the eyed side is usually dark brown or grey, but in living fish it is variegated with lighter and darker markings depending on the type of bottom on which it is taken. There is a dark tip to the pectoral fin on the eyed side and the dorsal, caudal and anal fins have a narrow white border.
The sole is most plentiful in depths of 5 to 40 fathoms and is common in … the Channel and the North Sea, preferring bottoms of sand, muddy sand, mud and gravel in areas of mixed ground, i.e. interspersed with rocks, reefs and ledges. It feeds mainly on various burrowing marine worms, sand stars, brittle stars, sand shrimps, small razorfish and other bivalves. It has been recorded up to a weight of 9 lb but the average size is 12 to 18 inches. Spawning takes place from February to August and, as the sole is nocturnal in habit, it is usually caught by anglers when fishing after dark. It will take razorfish, ragworm or lugworm, fished on the bottom using leger or paternoster-trot tackle.
Lemon Dab (Microstomus kitt)
More often called the Lemon Sole, this species has a very distinctive oval shape, which is in itself sufficient identification. The head and mouth are small, the tail column short and thick; eyes on the right side; mouth extends farther back on the blind side; scales small and smooth on both sides; lateral line only slightly curved over pectoral fin; no "knobs" or tubercles on head region. The colour of the blind side is similar to the dab and it is rich brownish yellow on the eyed side with darker marbling effects but no spots. Extends from the Bay of Biscay to the Arctic, it is found all around our coasts on bottoms of sand, muddy sand and gravel in depths of 10 fathoms upwards, feeding on crustaceans and shellfish. A small species, seldom exceeding 18 inches, it spawns over a protracted period from January to September (the actual spawning time depending on geographical location) in deep water. Baits and methods are similar to those used for plaice.
The Flatfishes
The Sole
The sole is not likely to be taken very often by anglers fishing during the day as it is essentially nocturnal in habit. It lives on soft bottoms of sand or mud, feeding on worms, small molluscs and crustaceans, but it will occasionally take small fishes. During the day it is believed that it buries itself deeply in the mud or sand and does not become active again until darkness falls.
The sole frequents shallower water during the summer than in winter and is found in bays and estuaries. It has a preference for soft bottoms on mixed ground or in the vicinity of rocks or ledges. While its range extends out to about the 60 fathom line, it is most plentiful in depths ranging from 5 to 15 fathoms.
Spawning time is over the period February to August and the species is more plentiful in the southern than in the northern half of the British Isles and tends to be rather localised in distribution.
Like the plaice and dab, it may be taken in places by anglers fishing from steeply shelving beaches or from piers or harbour walls. The best baits are ragworm, razorfish and lugworm. Tackle for boat and shore fishing as described for plaice and dabs.
"Sea Angling" (1967) Alan Wrangles at pages 90 & 91
The Quarry
Sole
Soles are flat fish which present their right side uppermost. Their colouring will vary according to surroundings, but generally speaking it will be a brownish-grey base decorated with black smudges. The underside is white.
Most of the heavier fish of this species are taken either on very dull days when the water is coloured, or at night, for the sole is a nocturnal creature, and tends to get down into the sand when the light is bright. They are not particularly lively fish when hooked, and are usually taken on leger tackle by someone fishing for plaice or similar species. They favour a soft bottom, where they feed on worms, shrimps, soft crab, etc.
"Popular Sea Fishing" (1968) Peter Wheat (editor) at pages 81 to 84
Fishing for Flounder, Sole, Dab and Pouting (Derek Fletcher)
Sole
The common sole is so often regarded only for its food value, and not so much as sporting fish. Yet given the opportunity this flatfish will give a good account of itself on light tackle. Larger ones are very powerful, arching and stiffening their bodies in an attempt to encircle the line and break it. A sole over 1½ lb is considered a very good one, although they grow much larger, the record being a 4 lb fish caught from Clevedon pier by M. Stinton in 1943. This fine flavoured table fish, oval shaped, is usually greyish or brownish in colour, occasionally variegated, with a black spot near the tip of the pectoral fin. Its underpart is white, and the eyes are on the right side. The snout protrudes further than the jaws. They are widely distributed around our coast, although most of the best specimens recorded in recent years have come from the southern half of the country.
Best of the sport is usually had at night, particularly when shore fishing, although sole are landed during daylight. The most successful anglers search for gullies at low tide, taking bearings in order to locate them again after dark. Sole also show a preference for outlets of fresh water in the sea, and some of my best catches have been made in areas where small streams trickle down the cliffside into salt water.
Various baits will lure them, but the top choice is either lugworm or ragworm. For the latter it is best to use three small harbour worms draped from the hook, rather than a single large one. Alternatives are razorfish, slipper limpet, mussel, shrimps and sand-eel cuttings. Occasionally one hears reports of sole taking the most odd baits. They have been caught on herring roes lightly tied on the hook with wool, garden worms, a small sliver of butcher's tripe, and even a helping of tomato from an angler's sandwich has done the trick. The silver paper dodge often entices fish when used on a single hook trace, especially near harbour entrances. Simply wrap a small piece around the hook shank, leaving room for either a ragworm or lugworm. Lightly leaded, this should be moved very slowly across the bottom. The lead causes a disturbance, and sole not unlike flounders in this respect, are very curious fish and will soon investigate.
In my experience they move around in pairs, or at least it appears so to judge from many catches. I have hooked one, quickly rebaited to recast in the same spot, and soon reeled in another fish. The pattern has been repeated too often to be sheer coincidence.
At night there seems little need to cast very far, and most of my personal catches have been taken in the first 15 yards, sometimes as close as 8 yards. A gentle, ripple surf movement is best, the type that starts a long way out and glides quickly but smoothly inshore. Few fish are caught in really heavy surf. Sandy beaches are likely to be the most productive, and fish can be hooked from inshore boats piers and breakwaters.
There are other varieties of sole which the angler will catch, although these are not taken so frequently. The sand sole, with brownish colouring, grows to about 15 inches and has a series of blotches or small black spots over its body. The pectoral fin also has a dark blotch.
The variegated sole, or thick-back sole as it is sometimes called, rarely exceeds 9 inches in length. It is more a reddish-brown colour with several dark cross-bands ending in black on the fins.
The smallest is the solenette, often wrongly thought to be the young of the common sole. Average length is from 3 to 5 inches, and it will sometimes be caught accidentally while using worm baits.
Sole have occasionally been employed successfully as a bait for tope, but their use is not popular. Sometimes the skin is used, and painted red or orange as a lure for pollack and bass by boat anglers. Remove the flesh, leaving the skin to dry. A piece 3 inches by 1 inch should be wrapped around a long-shanked hook and kept in position by whipping at the head with nylon monofil. The lure is used from a boat by keeping it on the move at midwater.
"Sea Fishing" (1969) Clive Gammon at pages 66 & 67
A fish of Channel beaches that is attracting more and more attention from specialist anglers is the sole. This fish is more likely to be taken in calm conditions than in rough, and at night rather than in the daytime. (If it is caught by day, it may be because the water is dark in colour.) Soles are much more common on British beaches than they are ever thought to be by the average angler. The reason is one that may not be realised by the inexperienced, and it is quite simple. They are not taken because the tackle used will not hook them: even a big sole of two pounds or more, has a tiny mouth, and since hooks of size 8 and below are not commonly used, soles are not often beached.
Another point to remember about soles is that they rarely move far beyond the low-tide mark. This means that fishing is virtually limited to an hour or so on either side of low water, and after that stage another species had better be sought. Night fishing, around low water, in clear conditions, is the best.
These practical points about the sole's physical characteristics and its feeding habits show clearly the importance of learning as much as you can about your quarry. This will not only increase your chances of success - and often avoid tiresome discouragement - but will make your sport very much more interesting.
It cannot be pretended that soles are a sporting species. They are much too small for that, and in any case the tackle which has to be used to cast the bait out precludes it. But of course they are a great prize, like turbot, and the angler who takes home half a dozen big soles needs no excuse for several months at least to go out fishing!
A three-hook paternoster tackle is generally used, though in calm conditions there is no reason why a running ledger should not be employed. Soles are fish that cannot be given too much time to take the bait. They will hook themselves, and the angler has no problem here. The actual food of the sole is varied, and what one would expect to find in its preferred surroundings. It includes mussels, hermit crab, shrimp, various worms, and a variety of other marine creatures. The bait to use is lugworm. Shop-bought lugworms are often too small to be of much use for species like cod, but they are ideal for soles. A very good bait, if you can get hold of it, is the white ragworm, found in clean sand, often in lugworm beds.
"Pelham Manual for Sea Anglers" (1969) Derek Fletcher at pages 36, 60, 74 & 117
Common Sole
Lugworm and ragworm are good sole baits, but they will also take mussel, slipper limpet and cuttings of sandeel. After dark is the most likely time of making a good catch, and usually they are found in pairs. They frequent fresh water outlets and are interested in baits kept on the move.
Inch Casting
Description given to a type of shore casting when the bait is kept moving inch by inch back to the beach. It helps to attract fish in disturbing the seabed by movement. Sometimes called interest casting.
Milk Bottle Lure
A small metal milk bottle top wrapped around the hook shank and moved slowly through the water attracts some midwater fish. It has the same attraction as a spinner flashing in the sea, although some believe the milk traces left on the top which floats off in the water is the attraction.
Tomato Bait
It is not suggested that this can be used regularly with any success but it is surprising the number of fish that have been lured by small pieces on the hook. Usually it has been used as a joke, merely taken from anglers' sandwiches. The species that has fallen more than any other is the sole, usually near a freshwater outlet, with a small piece of tomato kept on the move on a flowing trace. Flounders come second on the list.
"Sea Fishing for Beginners" (1970) Maurice Wiggin at pages 85, 86 & 115
Chapter V
Boat Fishing
Flat fish appeal greatly since they are so universally enjoyed at table … Sole, the queens of the lot, tend to live over soft sea beds - sand, mud, who can say? I'm not at all sure that anyone really and truly can put his hand on his heart and say "I am going out especially to catch sole with rod and line - I know where to find them and what it takes". Sole catching is, I'm rather inclined to think, a happy accident which occurs to you when you are simply fishing, fishing in hope, with a bait right on the bottom. You will probably catch sole as often from the shore as from a boat. They are certainly bottom feeders, and take worms, molluscs, shrimps. But the sole has an exceptionally small mouth, and to hook one you need to be using an exceptionally small hook. You want a chub or even roach size hook - No. 10 isn't ridiculous. So perhaps you can go fishing specially for soles - equipped with these tiny hooks and appropriately tiny bits of bait. But if you do, of course, you stand a fair chance of not hooking fish with larger mouths which take the bait you meant for the sole … It's a cruel dilemma, isn't it?
Chapter VII
Fishing from the Shore
I'd like to return to the question of sole fishing, for a moment. Few anglers fish for them from the beach deliberately, but more might do so if it were commonly realised how many soles come in quite close, and how easy they are to catch on the right tackle. I think you should choose a relatively calm day, when you can use your very small hook (size 6 at most, 8 for preference) baited with a small scrap of fish or worm, and, using a very light paternoster or better still a free-running leger on fine nylon, not more than five or six pounds breaking strain, fish of set purpose for those delicious fish. They don't run large and they don't, of course, really rank as a sport-fish: but who cares when they come to table? I like to try this method with a glass carp or Avon rod, a one-ounce lead, a fixed-spool reel and a bit of real creamy calm surf, hardly recognisable as surf. Fish near the low water mark - they rarely follow the rising tide inshore … Now sole, which we have just been discussing, hook themselves …
"Estuary Fishing" (1974) Frank Holiday at pages 102 & 103
Chapter Seven
The Flatfishes
Sole
Sole are the flatfish of the epicure due to the gamey flavour they develop after being kept a day or two in the larder. They are a warm-water fish and are commonest in Britain in the south and west. Soles haunt the estuaries they favour where they consume quantities of tube-worms, small molluscs and ragworm. These fish are often overlooked by anglers due to their nocturnal feeding habits and because they tend to lurk in depressions in the seabed. A 3lb sole can be considered a specimen.
During the summer sole sometimes enter the bigger creeks at the seaward end of estuaries to feed on the rag swarming on the mud-banks. They tolerate brackish water but seldom penetrate very far up the estuary. In spite of these estuary visits they tend to be a deep-water fish and it is my impression that they stick to the centre channel and bury themselves in the sandy mud when the ebb sets in, emerging for their feeding forays only after dark. However, sole will sometimes feed in discoloured water following a storm when the water has been heavily stirred up so it would seem that the night-feeding habit is a protective instinct and a discoloured sea serves much the same purpose.
Soles like patches of sandy mud flanked by rock or adjacent to rocky ledges. With the onset of darkness they flap out of the holes where they have lain buried and begin searching for food. They appear to locate this food partly by smell and partly by investigating it with certain small organs on the underside of the head. Kennedy reports that they are fond of echinoderms - that is, sand-stars and brittle stars. Quite the best bait for sole, however, is a plump, lively ragworm.
Sole are remarkable among our flatfishes in having a grotesquely distorted mouth. Presumably nature knows her job best and the delicious fish have no trouble in getting food between their crooked jaws. Even so, I try not to make it harder for them by using a too-large hook. Use a needle-sharp freshwater hook, say about size 6, when fishing for sole and discard the hooks after one session. Results can be expected from dusk onwards. A two-hook leger lying flat on the bottom is the best rig for these retiring fish and you will need plenty of patience to wait while they explore your offering with their "feelers" before they start to nibble at it.
"Fisherman's Handbook" The Marshall Cavendish Volume 2, Part 46 (1978) Ron Edwards at pages 1274 to 1281
Species
Sole (Solea solea)
The sole, Solea solea, perhaps so called because of its footprint-like outline, is one of the most highly esteemed food fishes to be found in British waters. Belonging to the Heterosomata (flatfish) group, the sole, like most other flatfish, swims on its left side and has both its eyes on the right or upper side of its body.
Coloration
The colouring of the right side varies according to the type of seabed on which it lives. It may be almost all black or a light, sandy brown with darker patches and speckling (although there is always a very dark spot on the tip of the right pectoral fin). The left or underside is usually pure white. The eyes, which are smaller than in most fishes, are set very close together. The mouth is small and curves downwards and the snout, which is also rounded, projects beyond the mouth, giving the fish a rather disgruntled expression. Except for the underside of the head, the whole body is covered with small overlapping spiny scales. This makes the fish very rough to the touch when rubbed from tail to head.
The sole is often called the 'Dover' sole, a name which stems from the times when the gentry of London paid great prices for it. A regular and fast stagecoach service from Dover carried, among other things, locally caught fish to the capital.
Other names have also been given to the sole. Small soles, under l ft long, are often referred to as 'tongues' as they resemble an animal's tongue. Fish of between 6 oz and 8 oz are called 'slips'. Try holding a live one of this size and the reason for the name quickly becomes apparent. Large specimens of over 3 1b are nicknamed 'doormats'.
Distribution
Favouring warmer water, the sole is to he found throughout the English Channel, the Irish Sea, the West Coast of Ireland and the southern half of the North Sea as far north as the Firth of Forth, becoming scarce farther north. Spawning takes place in most areas from the end of March to early May. Many fish move inshore to spawn, particularly into estuaries. A female fish of 1 lb will lay over 120,000 eggs, but at least 95 per cent of these eggs are eaten by other creatures before they have had time to hatch. The eggs, which are pelagic, have a diameter of 1-1.5mm and take between six and ten days to hatch, depending on water temperature. The larvae develop into the adult fish shape at about ½ in long. They then assume the sole's customary demersal life-style.
During its first summer, the sole spends its life in sheltered estuaries, often ascending major rivers, such as the Thames and Humber, for considerable distances. In fact, soles are quite commonly caught as far up Thames as Gravesend. By October in their first year, the young fish have grown to about 2 in, but their growth rate slows down luring the winter. Rapid growth does not begin again until the following March, but by August the fish are over 4½ in long. Male fish mature when about 8 in long, on the East Coast, and 9 in long on the South Coast, while females mature at 10 in and 11 in.
Soles live offshore in deep water during the winter, but move inshore, particularly favouring river estuaries, during the early spring. There they inhabit sand or mud-and-sand bottoms, often in very shallow water. During daylight hours they partially bury themselves into the sand, feeding mainly at night on the many marine worms to be found on this type of seabed.
As summer turns to autumn, and the sea temperature falls, so the sole migrates back to deeper water, some fish travelling great distances. In recent Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food tagging experiments in the River Blackwater in Essex, fish tagged in May were recaptured from the Dogger North ground, off Flamborough Head in Yorkshire, in the November of the same year. The following May most of the recaptured fish returned to the Blackwater, suggesting that many of the fish return to the same area year after year.
In very cold waters the fish congregate in the deepest parts of the North Sea, and it is then that commercial trawlers make their heaviest catches. The colder the winter, the bigger the catches, for when the water temperature is very low, the sole becomes lethargic and does not bother to bury itself in the seabed. Consequently it is easy prey for the standard otter trawl. Otherwise, commercial fishermen, especially the Continentals, employ beam-type trawls that literally dig the fish out.
Accidental catches
While the sole is much sought after by commercial netsmen, very few anglers fish for it specifically. Indeed, many rod-and-line-caught specimens are taken by accident rather than design. Some anglers claim that the sole is a very difficult fish to catch on a hook, but this is a fallacy. Despite its peculiar-shaped mouth, it can take a baited hook quite readily, provided a very small hook and small bait are used.
As the sole is nocturnal, the angler should begin fishing at sunset, when the fish are just beginning to feed. The areas from which the shore-based angler is most likely to make good catches are shallow sandy bays (particularly near river mouths), shingle beaches which run off into sand or mud towards the low water mark, and river estuaries.
One particularly famous area is the stretch of beach between Dengemarsh and Dungeness in Kent. On beaches such as this, the most productive period is usually one hour either side of low water - when distance-casting is totally unnecessary and is, in fact, very often a disadvantage as most of the fish are lying within 30 yards of the shingle. It is only when the angler is forced back up the beach by the incoming tide that more distance should be given to the cast so that the bait reaches the sand at the base of the shingle. Similarly, when fishing river estuaries, if the edge of the main channel can be reached with, say, a 40-yard cast, it is pointless to cast farther as most of the fish will be found along the shelving bank.
Habitat
The sole, Solea solea, is a nocturnal-feeding species found on soft ground, gravel and sand. The larger specimens are taken close inshore. The sandy bays of the Isle of Man (below) are typical. Here the shore record Lemon sole of 2 lb 2 oz 15 dr was taken in 1971.
Baits
Small pieces of lug or ragworm work hest, depending on the prevalent species.
Sole records
Although the rod-caught record sole was a fish of 4 lb 3½ oz, caught by R Wells at Redcliffe Beach in Dorset in 1974, most fish encountered when rod and line fishing are under 2 lb, with the majority between 8 oz and 1¾ lb, so heavy gear is completely unnecessary. As most sole fishing is done on quiet summer nights, the lightest possible beachcasters can be used with a line of under 15 lb b.s. If the venue demands long casting, then the nylon-type paternoster rig should be used to achieve a good distance, but in other areas a stainless steel paternoster gives the best results. Soles, like all other members of the flatfish family, are attracted by glitter.
Hooks should be long-shanked to make unhooking easier, as the fish usually gorges the hook. The hook should be no larger than a size 6. The best bait depends on the worm commonest in the area. For instance, if there are extensive lugworm beds in or near the fishing area, lugworm is the obvious bait; if the main worm in the area is ragworm, then this should be used.
Best baits
Because of the small size of the hook, small pieces of worm should be used. Too much bait on the hook will cover the point and result in missed fish. A medium-size blow lugworm will bait three hooks, and a large king ragworm is sufficient, for perhaps a dozen. In estuaries where maddies (small ragworm) are the favoured bait, then one, or perhaps two, fills the hook nicely; but always make sure the point is left exposed for quick penetration. The lead should be as light as possible to hold bottom, and if there is a strong cross-tide then a spiked lead should be used, preferably of the breakaway type.
There is no need to hold the rod, as time should be allowed for the fish to gorge the bait before you strike. Usually, the initial bite is quite powerful, tempting many anglers to strike immediately, but this results in many missed fish. It is much better to wait for the second bite, which is not usually so vigorous, but which is far more likely to hook the fish. As sole move around in small groups, it often happens that two are caught together, one fish feeding on the bait tending to attract a second.
Whereas some beach anglers fish specifically for soles, for some unknown reason very few boat anglers do. Even when they set out to catch one, they often make the mistake of going too far offshore. The best places to moor a boat are just below low-water mark, close to lugworm or ragworm beds. And, again, the most productive time is from sunset to sunrise, the only exceptions being after heavy seas when the water is very muddy, or while the sole are migrating to or from the estuaries. For a few days in the spring and again in the autumn migration, the fish are just as active by day as by night.
Bait 'nailed' to seabed
When boat fishing for soles, it is best to have the bait 'nailed' to the seabed, for whereas other flatfish will come well off the bottom to accept a bait, soles prefer the bait tight to the seabed. The best way of doing this is to use a trace leaded at intervals with swan-sized split shot. Because of this, longlines invariably catch a lot more fish than anglers with rod and line, despite the fact that the longline is crude compared with the sophisticated tackle of the angler. As in beach angling, boat fishing hooks should be no larger than a long-shanked size 6, and the strike should be delayed until the sole attacks the bait a second time.
Sole for the table
Like all sea fish, the sole should be gutted immediately, but its flavour is enhanced if the fish is refrigerated for one or two days before being eaten. Like game, it matures. The fish should also be skinned before cooking and this is best done after it has been kept for one or two days. Trying to remove the skin on a fresh sole results in much of the flesh being pulled away from the bone; but after 24 hours it becomes a much easier operation. Fishmongers usually skin a sole from the tail towards the head, but the layman will find it easier to start at the head.
A typical sole habitat - sandy-bottomed and often shallow. The species is best fished for in the evening and night.
"How to Improve Your Sea Fishing" (1978) Melvyn Bagnall at pages 52 & 53
Soles
These are not the most popular species in the flat-fish family, basically because they are rarer than most and because they do not grow as big as turbot, flounder, plaice and brill …
Distribution
Though not as common as other flat-fish, the sole is not a rarity. Few anglers specialise in them and many of those taken are caught by accident. But the angler looking particularly for soles can catch them quite frequently, especially in hotspots like the Kent and Sussex coasts. The best time is from June until the end of August. You will not see them during the winter when they move out into deeper water with most other summer species. The best opportunities for catching soles come at dusk, for, although they are a summer species, you will not catch many when the sun is blazing down. Low water at dusk is ideal and it is quite possible to take as many as a dozen soles during the two hours just before and just after low tide. An hour's fishing either side of high water can also be productive, particularly if the sea is well coloured after a strong wind.
Tackle and methods
One of the greatest attractions of catching soles is that you do not have to hurl your tackle long distances to find the fish. Choose a nice sandy beach and you can catch them 20 yards out and perhaps even closer on occasions. When it comes to terminal tackle, simplicity is the key. A small hook is essential. Soles do not have very large mouths and a size 6/0 [3] will do the job nicely. A straightforward running trace about two and a half feet long is ideal and you don't have to limit yourself to one hook. Three hooks, each baited with tiny pieces of lugworm or ragworm, will increase your chances.
It is by no means unlikely that this rig will account for more than one fish on the same cast. Soles move in shoals. Catch one and you can bet there are more of them around, so don't waste time. Put another bait on quickly and try to drop it into the same spot.
Hooking a sole is slightly more difficult than getting it to take the bait. Don't worry about the bite. The sole is a powerful little fish and will register a sharp jerk after first revealing its presence via a slight knock on the rod top. But it pays to wait a few seconds after the first sign of a bite to make sure the fish has time to suck the bait into its mouth. The fish will leave you in no doubt as to when to pull it in.
You won't go home with aching arms after a good session catching soles, but you will have some enjoyment. Sole fishing is fun and there is no need to fish at night. And they taste delicious!
[3] Editor's note: The author probably meant a size 6 hook as a size 6/0 is too large for sole.
"Dermal sense organs and their significance in the feeding behaviour of the common sole Solea vulgaris" [2] (1983) S. Appelbaum and Ch. Schemmel
Light and electron microscopic studies on dermal sense organs of the sole Solea vulgaris … reveal that the sensory buds - located in large numbers between the papillae, mainly on the abocular side of the fish - are certainly free neuromasts. It is suggested that these papillae serve as protectors for the sensitive neuromasts rather than as sensory organs. They may improve the perception function of the neuromasts for mechanical stimuli. Taste buds, in different distributions, were found only in oral cavity, pharynx, on gill rakers, and on lips. The lateral line system, though partly asymmetrical, is highly developed on both the ocular and abocular sides of the fish. The nasal sac of the abocular side is smaller in size and contains fewer lamellae than that of the ocular side of the fish. Ocular and abocular nasal sacs are connected via an accessory sac. Results indicate the significance of mechanoreceptors for the feeding behaviour of post-metamorphosed sole which are known to feed most actively at night and until now have been thought to detect food primarily by means of chemoreception.
… Of all flatfish investigated the sole was the one to react most positively to the movement of artificial prey as well as to water movement only. The latter definitely affected nothing but the mechanoreceptors.
… All these findings are surprising since it is still generally accepted that the sole, a typical benthic fish, detects food primarily by chemosensory mechanisms. It seems that mechanoreceptors are obviously involved much more in the detection of moving prey than has been noted in the literature up to now. They are probably indeed indispensable to the feeding behaviour of the sole.
To summarize, the present study elucidates the significance of neuromasts, present in sole in large numbers mainly on the abocular side, for the detection of food. The free neuromasts, together with the canal system, obviously form an effective alarm system which alerts the fish to moving organisms and so enables it to detect and locate their position, e.g. the respiration movement of tube-dwelling worms (polychaetes) and of molluscs, both principal sources of food for the sole. This does not exclude the importance of the chemosensory mechanisms involved in the sole's feeding behaviour.
[2] Click Dermal sense organs and their significance in the feeding behaviour of the common sole Solea vulgaris to read online
"The Complete Book of Sea Fishing: Tackle and Techniques" (1992) Alan Yates and Jed Entwistle at page 61
6. Beach and Promenade Fishing for Bass, Cod, Rays and Flatfish
Beach fishing for flatfish
The sole
The sole most likely to be encountered by the shore angler is the sole-shaped Dover sole. The lemon sole is in fact not a sole at all, and more accurately should be called a lemon dab; it also has a small mouth and is rarely caught. Noted for being a nocturnal feeder, the sole feeds avidly during darkness and the first light of dawn. It is also active on some venues when the tide changes direction. Again it is not a big fish, with a 2lb (0.9kg) sole being a superb specimen, but it is rare enough to be prized when it forms a part of the catch, however small.
Sole seem to feed on some beaches and not others, even if these are in close proximity; the sole beaches are therefore usually well known. The best method to fish is to use two rods, one fished at short range and one at long range. Sole have a particularly small mouth, and the hook sizes preferred are size 2 and below, with lugworm and small king ragworm the top baits. Plastic whisker booms such as the Drennan or Avis booms allow light lines to be used and are ideal for sole fishing.
"Salt-Water Fishing: A Step-by-Step Handbook" (2006) Martin Ford & Bruce Vaughan at page 18
Species
Dover Sole (Solea solea)
A member of the flatfish family, the name Dover derives from the days when the sole was transported from the Kent coast to the London restaurants for the gentry to eat. Sometimes called slips or tongues because of their small size and resemblance to an animal's tongue, the Dover sole is of a pale brown colour with darker patches and widespread speckling across its top side. It does not grow to a large size, and a sole of 2lb (0.91kg) is regarded as a fine specimen. Like others in the flatfish family, the eyes are mounted close together on the right or upper side of the body. The underside or belly is pure white, although on some occasions colouring does occur over the belly on freak fish. For quick identification, there is a dark spot located on the tip of the right pectoral fin. It has a small mouth, which explains why not many are caught by anglers who normally use big baits. The entire body, with the exception of the underside of the head, is coated in tiny scales, giving the Dover sole a rough texture to its skin while its cousin, the lemon sole, is smooth to the touch and has bigger blotches on the back. When caught commercially and presented at the table, the skin is removed by peeling it from the body in one continuous strip.
Spawning usually takes place between the months of March and May over inshore marks in warmer water. When the colder weather arrives the sole moves back out to deeper water, and in extremely low temperatures becomes almost comatose. Dover sole like gravel and sandy sea beds, burying themselves under the surface of the sand to make themselves less conspicuous to predators. Anglers in search of the Dover sole should fish with small hooks and very small pieces of ragworm bait.
Season
April through to the end of September.
Natural Diet
Crustaceans, molluscs, sandeels, worms and small fishes.
Top Tip
Let bites develop; sole have small mouths and it takes time for them to reach the hook, even with small bait.
"Fox Guide to Modern Sea Angling" (2011) Alan Yates at page 124
Chapter 4
Species - Smaller Species
Bottom Feeders - Flatfish
Sole (Solea solea)
The largest of the soles found around the UK, the Dover sole reaches around 4 lb, but a 2 lb fish is a specimen. It can be found very close to shore, especially after dark. In some regions it is considered nocturnal. Only found on some venues, mostly shell, grit or mud bottoms, but is common on one venue and rare on another a mile away. Small mouth, so an essential when catching soles is hooks of size 2 or below.
ID: The sole shape is distinct, with a hooked mouth.
"Dave's Sole Fishing Blog" (2006 to 2012) David Slingsby
This is a page I am dedicating to sole fishing. I have been targeting sole from the beach for around 14 years and find it a fun and relaxing type of fishing … and you really NEVER know what you are going to catch!
Sole fishing techniques/methods
Venue
Find a sandy/muddy venue that has plenty of lugworm casts, or is known to hold ragworm. The best thing to do is look at low water or ask a local. A place where people dig bait is a sure bet!
Rods and reels
It does not really matter what reel you use if you ask me - I use fixed spools - though a rod with a reasonably whippy tip should be used.
Tackle
Use size 4 or 6 hooks on a 3 hook patternoster or a two hook one up, one down rig. A wishbone or running ledger rig is ok but in all cases keep snoods short (no longer than 12 inches). I always use grip leads as sole don't like bait movement, so nail the bait to the bottom and let the sole come to you. Another good trick is to put a 4 to 5 mm lead shot just above the hook to really NAIL it down. If you want to use beads use red.
Bait
Any type of lug has to be first choice, black lug, blow lug, yellow tails etc, though rag is often as good. Try lug and rag cocktails, this can be awesome and I have had my biggest sole this way. A lot of people say use small baits - I don't. Use large baits for sole, whole worms or sometimes two. Trust me, it WORKS a lot better. Also tipping worm baits with squid can do the job or tipping with winkles is a new trick of mine and it works well - I have also had a few plaice this way while soleing.
Tide
Fish 2 hours each side of a high water that's between midnight and two in the morning. Try earlier when nights get longer, but it normally has to be dark and late. Low waters are sometimes better in some spots, so try both. Sole are often feeding in very close, so don't cast beyond 30 to 40 yards. Some venues, try closer.
Weather and months
Sole seem to like calm or slightly choppy sea conditions. They should start coming to the southern shores around the start of May, and stay right through to the end of the year getting fatter as they go.
Tactics
Keeping nice and quiet is a must as sole are finicky feeders. Don't use a Tilley lamp and don't shine headlamps on the water - pretend you are not there and use stealth. Keep a small amount of slack line after you cast as tension may put them off. The most important rule is when you get a bite leave it and don't strike as it's probably just sucking on the bait. When it's on you will know as it will normally go berserk and try to run and this is the time to reel in … good luck.
This is my personal choice rig that has never let me down
But more recently I have been using the rig (see below) for more deeper, closer casting marks. It's very similar to the wishbone but does not tangle as much. Both hooks are on the bottom so you never risk having any hooks that are above the weight off the bottom. It's a good rig for marks where you may want your rod tips higher than normal (i.e. due to strong tides, strong wind, weed on the waterline).
The following is a useful piece of info from Mike Ladle:
"The senses of feeling, taste, smell and sight are those which feature most strongly in the flatty armoury. All flatfish have two eyes on the upper surface and two "noses", a small one on the blind side and a bigger one on top. Consider a couple of examples. The Dover sole is a master of nocturnal hunting. Creeping about the seabed in the hours of darkness, or when storms have turned the water the colour of oxtail soup, these bloodhounds of the undersea world have no trouble finding the tiniest morsel of worm on the blackest night. How do they do that? Experiments in Holland have shown that the sole sniffs out prey which is lying quite still on the seabed by using the nostrils on its eyed-side. If these are plugged to prevent the flow of water to the "nose" the fish have great difficulty locating prey.
However, the sole has another trick up its sleeve. The furry touch sensors on the blind side of the head allow the fish to feel for its prey on the seabed. Recent studies have shown that the nocturnal sole has ten times as many "smell sensors" in its nose as the day time feeding plaice and three times the area of "smelling" tissue. No wonder sole will ignore food dangling above their heads as they search the surface of the sand for shrimps.
Both plaice and sole feed on worms, shrimps and small clams but the plaice depends much more on its eyes to locate the prey. Smelling and tasting food is a great deal less important to the plaice than the sole. In fact the section of the brain used for smelling food is much smaller in the plaice than in the sole and the reverse is true of the section concerned with vision - hence the benefit of beads and spoons as attractors for plaice, flounder and similar species.
Scientists have used special chemicals which temporarily knock out particular senses to find out exactly how flatfish locate their food in daylight and in darkness. Video cameras allowed the behaviour of the drugged fish to be watched. Both plaice and sole were able to feed - day and night. However, when the sense of touch had been numbed, sole had difficulty catching live prey but were still able to find dead food. Knocking out its touch sensors made no difference to the hunting ability of plaice but the old spotties were not very good at feeding in the dark anyway and they would often mouth food items before spitting them out.
On a slightly different tack, most anglers are aware that flatfish come in right-eyed (like the sole and plaice) and left-eyed (like the turbot and brill) varieties. The side which has the eyes develops camouflage colours allowing the fish to hide on the seabed while they are hunting. In the past it has been suggested that the fish were able to improve their camouflage by imitating the background pattern. For example, some experiments in 1911 seemed to show that a flatfish could change colour, over a period of days, to imitate a chess board pattern. More recent studies have suggested that this work was wrong and that the results were due partly to photographic problems.
Recently scientists in California set out to answer the question once and for all. The showed that not only could flatties blend into the background with ease but they could mimic chequer-board patterns in a flash (2-8 seconds), a speed which would put the famed chameleon to shame. Tropical flatfish were much better at this colour change than our own cold water species. They were even able to "copy" big polka dot patterns by producing two large dark spots on the skin. The precision and fantastic speed of these changes suggests that the fish sees the pattern and its brain instantly signals the message to the pigment cells in the skin - a trick which, as far as we know, no other animal (except possibly some squid) is able to do. Anyway, next time you are down at the coast and your mate reels in a flounder, dab or plaice don't say "it's only another small flatty" and rip it off the hook. Handle it carefully, like the marvel that it is, and return it to the sea to grow bigger and fight another day."
"Bless my Sole" (2012) M. Davies
My favourite fish to target is the Dover Sole and over the past 10 years I have enjoyed a certain amount of success around the Kent Coast, even winning the 1999 Sole Open match at Dungeness.
I much prefer to fish for sole on purely pleasure sessions when I am able to experiment and also when I am alone, as this species requires both still and quiet conditions. Several scores of 6oz leads crashing into the sea do not help at all when targeting this species. So very often competitions fished over venues noted for large numbers of sole do not produce and I believe that noise is obviously a factor.
I find that still, balmy nights or early morning sessions between July and October seem to produce best results but best of all are those times and tides that coincide with the still before a thunderstorm - the high pressure is perhaps a factor. However if you stay and fish through the storm be very careful as carbon-based fishing rods and lightning don't mix. I saw on man get struck twice in the same night on Deal Pier so the saying "lightning never strikes in the same place twice" is definitely wrong.
Let's look at where to fish for this now quite common species. Living at Deal, and within walking distance from the Pier, makes a session easy and, as long as I have bait, I am able to pick a time and tide to suit at a moment's notice. Deal Pier was opened in 1957 and is the only pier that I know that was built with the angler in mind. It has a long 'stem' from which angling is allowed on both sides and a lower deck at the far end from which anglers can cast out into deeper water. However, one of the best marks on the Pier does not need a long walk. The stem has a section where the railings are painted yellow which denotes the area where boats are allowed to pass under the pier, and it is at the end of the yellow rails that you should set up to fish. The seats here are numbered and numbers 80 to 90 can produce good results. Fish two hours either side of the high tide on the south side of the pier (facing Kingsdown.) You do not need to cast far, in fact dropping under the pier can often be the place to be but I have found that you may need to try to find the sole as I believe the sand banks around here move and the fish move with them. Swing your tackle into the water or drop it and try not to make too big a splash. Let the tackle drop to the bottom and let out some slack line. Fishing into the tide allows the flow to push the tackle down so that all the hooks are on the bottom to get best results.
The tackle I use here very often gets laughed at and seems to be 'old fashioned' but it gets results. I use very light rods, usually a pair of Daiwa bass rods, but I have recently been trying Conoflex's Reflexor that was made for my daughter Emma for the World Championships last year in Portugal. It is ideal for fishing light for this species. I use a 3 or 4 oz breakaway lead and three metal French booms set about 1 foot apart. My hook length is made from 15 lb Tritanium line to a size 6 kamasan B940 hook and is usually only 6 inches long. This set up looks strange but, I can assure you, it gets results from the Pier.
As the tide eases I sometimes connect a small round lead between 1 and 3 oz at the top of the trace. This helps to keep all three hooks in contact with the seabed. My bait here will vary and, like the sandbanks, you may need to experiment to see what the fish are feeding on. I would always take ragworm but blow lug and wrapped yellow tails or combinations also work well. Keep the bait small and neat, half a worm will be enough to take fish up to 2 lb here.
The other noted place on Deal Pier is the far, front, left or north corner facing Ramsgate. There is a sandbank 30 to 40 yards out and in line with Ramsgate Harbour. Similar tackle or a standard 3 hook flowing trace, again with light hook lengths and size 6 hooks, cast out here can produce results. The best tide is often over low water. This mark will also produce large numbers of Dabs in the spring.
My other favourite venues for sole are at Hythe behind the swimming pool and at Dungeness. At Hythe the low tide is often best and darkness will always be the best time. Fish very light again and don't be frightened to cast your tackle into the water at just a rod's-length out. Again, try to be quiet and don't make too big a splash. I recently fished a species competition here and caught six sole. I was using the Conoflex Reflexor and I went down to size 10 hooks with small pieces of ragworm and bunches of maddies (harbour rag). The fish were taken at about 15 feet in on a very calm night. I discovered here that, if I cast further out I found rough ground for about 20 to 30 yards on the low tide but I did catch fish when I found the softer ground. On the high tide you therefore need to cast either in front of this rough ground or over it.
At Dungeness park your car near the gate to the road that goes around the back of the power station but be careful not to leave valuables in the car as there has been trouble with thieves. Walk to the end of the fence and turn around the back of the power station about 50 yards. Here there is a hut on the beach (I think bird watchers use it). Fish anywhere here for excellent results. Use a 3-hook trace with one of the hooks dropping below the weight. The hook length again I prefer to be light and clear and about 21 inches long. I use a size 6 or 4 Kamasan B940. The size 4 hook is probably needed as here the fish can be up to 3 lb and when they coil their body into the tide like a sail they can easily pull themselves off the hook. Here I have had best results with black lug and lug tipped with ragworm. Don't be afraid to fish close in here but be prepared to experiment and try again to find the distance at which the fish are feeding - normally a cast of 40 to 50 yards will be sufficient but if you are fishing with two rods vary the distances. Best times to fish here are over the low tide up and night-time, and early mornings can produce large numbers of good fish.
Sole, when feeding, tend to settle over the bait and suck it into their very small mouths. Your rod tip may quiver and twitch but be patient as the fish needs time to get the bait into its mouth. When the bait is taken and the fish moves the rod tip may lurch forward as if taken by a cod and may drop back slack. You can reel in now and may be rewarded with two or three fish for your patience. Don't forget to be quiet. Cast your tackle into the sea with care. Don't make too much splash when casting your weight into the sea and be patient when you see the rod tip quiver and rattle. I hope these tips will help you when it comes to catching sole. They are now common around the English coast and with a little thought can be easily caught. Use small hooks, light tackle and small ragworm or lug baits and your results should improve.