A Flatfish Rig that Really Works at Anchor or On The Drift

They must lead really boring lives, flatfish, if they can get so excited about this typical flatfish rig involving a flashy spoon and a few coloured plastic beads.

But they do, and we'd be silly not to take advantage of it.

Incidentally, all flatfish start out life swimming around in the vertical plane like any normal fish, with an eye on each side.

Pretty soon though they opt for a horizontal lifestyle on the seabed which makes one of their eyes largely redundant, so it migrates around to the upper side where it can be of use.

On the seabed they wriggle around to cover themselves with sand or shingle leaving only their eyes protruding above. Lying perfectly still and completely camouflaged they're ready to ambush any passing prey - or your bait.

A Long, Flowing Flatfish Rig

The rig shown in the graphic below needs a little explanation.

First, the distance between the swivel and the spoon should be around 12 to 20ft (4m to 6m) long - rather more than shown in this indicative sketch.

Secondly, the distance from the spoon to the hook should be around 6" to 10" (150mm to 250mm).

A long-shanked, fine wire Mustad Aberdeen hook completes the set-up.

The trace should be attached to the sinker line as shown here.

The barrel swivel is located between two beads and held in place by sleeves crimped on either side.

This will allow any developing twists to unwind and will go a long way to avoiding tangles.

Use a uni-knot to tie the trace to the swivel.

The overall length of this this type of rig is much longer than most other rigs - and unless care is laken when lowering it to the seabed, the trace can easily tangle around the mainline. To avoid this, suspend the weight clear of the surface until any tide or drift of the boat has streamed out the hook length. Then continue to slowly lower the lead to the bottom.

With a trace of this length you should resist the temptation to put another hook on a dropper above the weight, as this will make a tangle pretty much inevitable.

This rig is intended for use over sand a shingle where you can reasonably expect to find flatties like plaice, dabs, flounders and sole - and if you're really lucky turbot and brill.

If you drift into rough ground with this rig, you're very likely to get hung up.

Artwork by Andrew Simpson