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).

15 July 2007

MIKE'S ON HOLIDAY FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS _ BACK IN AUGUST.

Maggot mania.

Seaweed fly maggots are only small but there can be a hell of a lot on a short stretch of beach. Last week, following the recent stormy weather, there were piles of seaweed at a few 'hotspots', the flies had laid their eggs, the maggots had hatched and grown and it was a series of spring tides. High water was about seven o' clock and Nigel rang to say that he was going to try a session of mullet/bass fishing after work. We met in the car park and the first problem became apparent - neither of us had brought any maggots for bait. we each thought that the other would have some for certain. Wrong! Anyway, we both had spinning rods and fly rods with us so we set off along the beach.

There were five 'fly anglers' fishing the same stretch that evening and we all had excellent sport with probably fifty or sixty bass (and one accidental mullet hooked on a streamer) caught altogether (all were returned alive and well). However, the interesting thing, to me, was not that we caught fish on streamers, poppers and plugs but that with all that casting and retrieving of lures through literally thousands of fish of all sizes (the fish were often tightly packed) - on most casts you didn't even get a sniff. The fish were almost totally preoccupied with maggots. They were also pretty patchy with small ones in one area and bigger ones fifty metres along and so on. The best ones landed were about five pounds - good sport on fly gear or spinning tackle. On the previous evening my friend Rupert had landed two big mullet on his 'Medusa' fly (a bunch of poly maggots on a hook) from another stretch of maggoty weed.

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

Grub up!

He's in!

What a fight.

Nearly there.

Got it!