BREAD BAIT BREAKTHROUGH
Sea anglers might have missed the recent introduction of plastic bread from Partridge of Redditch and other sources, or maybe have dismissed it as something only the freshwater boys are going to play with. Certainly in the past, I've had no time for any of these plastic look-a-like hook baits. Without the natural scent you're pretty much wasting your time, but I see this bread as being the exception to the rule.

This artificial bread is rubbery, but very lightweight and will permanently float. It is ultra tough but can be broken up in to the required bait size, and more importantly looks exactly like the real thing.

One of the problems with edible bread is keeping it on the hook. It gets waterlogged and soon falls off meaning you're constantly re baiting. In turn, that means you need to move about to some extent while retrieving the tackle, and if mullet see you move it can often put them down, especially in close quarter estuary creek situations. I've also often seen mullet sucking at the partially submerged waterlogged bread pulling it free of the hook without the hook ever getting near to the mouth, or the float moving much either. This often occurs when they are partially spooked.

Looking like the real thing is the key to this baits potential for being successful. Mullet tend to feed by sight taking food in to their mouth then either swallowing it or jetting it out by expelling water from their mouth if it's not to their fancy. Watching the bait being taken right in to the mouth gives the angler the opportunity to strike and set the hook before the mullet spits the bait out.

You will need to pre bait with edible bread as normal to get the mullet feeding, but once you've got them going, then this look-a-like bread is the ideal hook bait. It won't fall off as we've seen, eliminates the need for constant re baiting giving less chance for the mullet to get scared, plus maximises your fishing time by not having to continually re bait.

The other alternative is to pick harbours where there are ducks and swans resident. People are always feeding these birds bread. The mullet, and bass for that matter, get to know this and will feed on floating bread without the need to wean them on to it by pre baiting. It's a food item they are used to seeing and will take without question. Just make sure you lift the artificial bread out of the water if the birds come in, because it fools them too.

TIPS AND TRICKS
An alternative way to rig a weak link to a lead in case it gets snagged is via a wire hook tied to the base of the main rig.

To make these you need about one and half inches of 18-gauge stainless steel wire. File the ends smooth with a file to eliminate any chance of the ends chafing on the line. Use long nose pliers to form a small eye in one end by slowly bending the end around bit by bit. Make sure the end of the bent around wire forms a fully closed eye.
With the long nosed pliers, bend the last quarter of an inch of the remaining free end of wire upwards at a 45 degree angle to form a shallow hook.

Tie the eye to the end of the rig. Tie a short length of line about half the breaking strain of the reel line to the bend of the shallow hook and in turn on to the eye of the lead. Put the end of the wire hook through the eye of the lead for casting. As the lead hits the seabed the lead will slide off the wire and releases the lead to fish on the weak line.

SPRING FLOUNDER TACTICS
Flounder are edging back in to our estuaries after spawning, and though a bit on the thin side can give good sport until the true summer fish build up in numbers as the sea warms.

These first fish are slow to move up the estuaries preferring to stay around the estuary mouths feeding on shallow mussel beds, along the edges of the main channel, and also around the edges of harbour walls and breakwaters.

They feed almost totally during the flood tide. Usually during the first couple of hours, disappearing in the middle flood period, then coming on the feed again over high water. Good tides are when low water occurs in the late afternoon of a sunny day. The suns rays will have warmed the sand a little, and as the tide floods over this sand it in turn heats up the water a little. The flounder hug the surf line taking in this warmth and will begin to feed. Conversely, during spells when cold rain water from the hills comes down the estuary the fish go off the feed completely going almost comatose and fishing at this time is poor.

Top early season baits are peeler crab, mussel, razorfish and lugworm. A slow moving bait just washed around on a light lead by the tide can help locate fish, though if you're fishing the shallow margins as the tide floods fish will usually chase down a bait by following the scent lane.

Utilise and movement of the tide by fishing a longish hook trace of 15 to 20lb fluorocarbon. Two hooks rigs are best with one trace positioned right behind the lead to put this bait hard on the seabed. The top trace and bait can be lifted slightly to give more movement by fishing a short cast to a tight line with the rod at an angle in the rod rest. Flounder tend to smell the seabed bait, but will see the lifted bait as it bounces in the wave action.