I have lost count of the number of times I have been asked over the last six decades which fish gave me the greatest pleasure and satisfaction in landing. The one that stands head and shoulders above the rest is the 3lb 14oz plaice I was lucky enough to catch whilst fishing one late summer on a rock mark at the head of the Gower Peninsula. This event was memorable because not only was it so unexpected, but it was also my first plaice and although it wasn’t particularly big, it was a nice size.
At the time, I was in fact fishing for smoothhound using a cocktail of peeler crab and king ragworm mounted on a 2/0 hook. Judging by the distinct bend of my rod, the pronounced bouncing of the rod-tip and the vigorous zigzagging of the fish during the retrieve, I firmly believed that I had latched onto a smoothhound or a sizeable bass. However, when the fish finally surfaced, I initially thought it was a small ray but was delighted to discover that it was, in fact, a strikingly marked, impressively coloured, plaice.
PLOUNDER?
On several occasions prior to this I thought I had realised my long-held dream of catching a sizeable
