ALL IN A FLAP
Getting both movement and scent in to a fish bait is essential if you aim to maximise your baits bite potential.

Cutting the fillets free from the backbone but leaving them attached to the head of a mackerel, whiting or other small dead fish is called a flapper bait for obvious reasons and is effective for major predators like conger, rays, tope and big bass from both shore and boat. But few anglers fish a flapper sandeel bait with the hook just nicked in through the mouth and out through below the gills. This is deadly for beach dogfish, smaller rays, turbot and bass, with smaller sized sandeels picking out the better whiting in a shoal.

Another good way to rig a mackerel flapper for boat and rock fishing is to remove the head and the tail fin, then cut the fillets free from the backbone to within a couple of inches of the tail root. Pass the hook through the tail root and out through the skin a couple of times leaving the fillets to wash around and flood that scent out. This bait, for some reason, is a cracking blonde ray bait, but takes a host of other species including huss, thornback ray, tope, ling and conger.

Flapper baits

For long range shore fishing for rays, huss and tope try this one. Remove a fillet from the side of a small mackerel. Make a slit with a knife a third to halfway in from the wide end to leave two separate flaps of flesh joined to the main fillet. Now pass the hook point in through the skin side at the top thin end of the fillet, pull the hook fully through, now thread it back through the flesh side and out through the skin to leave the hook point clear. Fold just the top pf the fillet around the shank of the hook and secure it with bait elastic. This bait casts pretty well but leeches juice from the flesh but has the movement in the cut strips.

Using whole flapper, headless flapper or fillet flapper presentation styles also works with any baitfish such as pout, poor cod, herring, pollack or rockling.

TIPS AND TRICKS
Big hooks like O'Shaughnessy patterns used for sharks, big congers, rays and tope can be used for several trips before they are worn out. However, they actually start to show signs of rusting in the actual sharpening area where the protective coating has been rubbed away within a few hours of you fishing.

To prevent this, big game fishing crews in the USA, Mexico and Australia paint the brightly sharpened area with black permanent marker pens after sharpening. This thin film of permanent ink puts a protective film over the hook point and prevents the rusting process while fishing.

SPECIMEN WRASSE TACTICS

Specimen wrasse hunting

Wrasse are always associated with the summer months, but the very biggest wrasse of the year can show in the month of November from the rocky cliff backed coastlines of Devon, Cornwall, West Wales and the west of Scotland. Most anglers never think of wrasse so late as they are too busy chasing cod. I've even caught wrasse in January's after a mild autumn when fishing for other species.

The bigger wrasse remain close inshore a while longer than the smaller wrasse who start to migrate offshore quickly as the sea temperatures drop after the first frosts in October. They can be caught tight in to the deeper rock ledges during periods of calmer weather, but are generally found a short cast out living amongst the boulders and rocks on the seabed in deeper water. They especially favour heavy kelp beds. Pick a bright sunny day and fish while the sun is high in the sky with ideally a lively sea swell.

Depth is ultimately important for the late big wrasse. You need water deeper than 30ft close in. Deeper water is less affected by air temperature and remains more constant keeping the wrasse acclimatised for longer. They feed best when the water is clear during settled periods, and I've found this late in the year that the smaller tides fish best either side of slack water when water movement is minimal.

Their feeding habits do not change. They take crab and nothing else. Hardback crabs are excellent bait, but also carry a few fresh or frozen peeler crabs for added insurance. Chop a hardback crab in half and thread the hook point through the open body and out through a leg socket. This is the best big wrasse bait of all.

Tackle up with a 2-4oz beachcaster and a tough multiplier reel loaded with 20lb line. Use a simple mono paternoster rig from heavy 50lb line. Hook traces need to be from 40lb line and armed with a tough hook like a Mustad Viking 79515 size 2/0. Don't go bigger than this.