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).

Tricky fishing.

Last week I'd arranged to take two anglers Sara and Charlie for an early morning after mullet with the fly gear. Both of them are experienced with fly tackle but neither had ever caught a mullet. To be honest we should have gone earlier in the week and in the evening as opposed to dawn but various things conspired to affect the timing, so dawn it was.

I didn't bother with my fly rod because I wanted the others to catch any mullet that were going (I wasn't sure that they would still be about in numbers). When we got down to the shore we walked along until we came across suitable piles of maggoty weed. There was no sign of any fish so I began to heave some weed into the water to try and get things going. It wasn't long before the mullet arrived (sigh of relief from me) and the two fly fishers began to cast to them. I moved along a little way and spun for a while in hopes of a bass.

Charlie had prepared some floating maggot flies and it wasn't long before they worked and he was into a fish. In fact he had a couple of battles, one of them quite prolonged, but the fish ultimately popped off. I should have taken a landing net but as I haven't used one for years and I never think about it. It was tricky fishing and although the fish were fairly close there was a moderate surf, drifting weed in the edge and a bit of a breeze all adding to the interest.

We all fished hard for an hour or two and although we had the odd bite there was nothing to show for it. I had to leave early so, passing on the remainder of my maggots for the others to use, I began the long walk back. I was almost at the car park when I saw a small flock of gulls feeding by a heap of old kelp. I decided to have a cast with the Sandra soft plastic lure and on about the third chuck I found myself playing a decent bass. Later that day my friends emailed to say that they'd had a really good time. Charlie had landed a mullet and Sara had lost one after a bit of a tussle. All in all an excellent session.

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

It's on!

-still fighting.

-still fighting.

-still fighting.

My bass.