Catch Fish with
Mike Ladle

Information Page

SEA FISHING

For anyone unfamiliar with the site always check the FRESHWATER, SALTWATER and TACK-TICS pages. The Saltwater page now extends back as a record of over several years of (mostly) sea fishing and may be a useful guide as to when to fish. The Freshwater stuff is also up to date now. I keep adding to both. These pages are effectively my diary and the latest will usually be about fishing in the previous day or two. As you see I also add the odd piece from my friends and correspondents if I've not been doing much. The Tactics pages which are chiefly 'how I do it' plus a bit of science are also updated regularly and (I think) worth a read (the earlier ones are mostly tackle and 'how to do it' stuff).

13 April 2006

Italian fiasco (I mean archaeology trip).

Well, we're back from our holiday. Fantastic archaeology - much appreciated by my wife and even I was impressed by the scale of some Roman edifices. We stayed in an hotel about an hour from Naples (a big, rubbish strewn coastal city) and I found no time to fish. Although the little rod went everywhere with me (much to everyone's amusement) I only spent five minutes dangling a Mepps Mino from a pier on Capri but apart from attracting a shoal of ?wrasse - nothing!

However, I did see one or two interesting things. While waiting for the ferry in Naples harbour I saw several men fishing. They were all using the same tactics - short, telescopic rods and nylon line with a simple leger baited with a piece of bread flake about the size of a 50p piece. They fished straight down the wall and laid the rods down while waiting for bites (no one had a bite in the fifteen minutes I was watching). I presume that they were hoping for mullet. The water was deep and dirty as in any big ferry port. One bloke had a 'rod rest' permanently fixed to the butt of his rod - something I've never seen before.

We visited a large eighteenth century 'palace' with a couple of big lakes in the grounds but I think that the carabinieri would have taken a dim view of me fishing for the goldfish, carp or black bass. (I was tempted to have a chuck).

On the whole the water was clear but it was obvious from the various sanitary items drifting in the sea that a substantial amount of untreated sewage found its way into the Bay of Naples. I saw lots of tiny brown and purple jellyfish that I've never seen before and there was a good deal of mussel farming activity (can't say that I fancied eating the mussels). Some locals were fishing from the rocks with long, thin rods but again I saw no bites. One or two people braved the risk of disease and were swimming in the sea.

Anyway, I shouldn't paint too gloomy a picture. The weather was wonderful and we had a fascinating holiday visiting sites that many people never get a chance to see. Hopefully, now we're back, I'll soon catch a few fish to illustrate the website.

If you have any comments or questions about fish, methods, tactics or 'what have you.'get in touch with me by sending an E-MAIL to - docladle@hotmail.com

Those were the days!

Anglers on Naple's quayside.

Unique rod rest.

Goldfish

Carp.

Rock fishing.

Mussel farm.