Catch fish with Mike Ladle.

Catch Fish with
Mike Ladle

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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).

Summer's here.

Since I returned from Wales I've done a bit of fishing at my usual haunts. My pals tell me that while I was away I didn't miss much and that they'd done little fishing because of the adverse conditions. Anyway, the spring tides at the end of June promised to be quite good. Recent storms had piled up wrack and kelp along the high water mark and the seaweed flies had been busy loading the weed middens with maggots. Should be good!

A couple of early morning sessions on the last of the neaps produced only a few school bass and some small pollack and four mackerel for my pal Dave and myself. The first of of the mackerel spent an hour towing my circle hook round the sea without getting a response. Then came the spring tides. It was (for once) as predicted, mullet and bass everywhere and feeding avidly on maggots. The first session produced only a few school bass to the lures (I neglected to take the fly rod). The next evening the beach was pretty crowded by our standards and most of the anglers were fly fishing for bass. Once again only smallish fish were taken on streamer flies of various sorts.

The third (and my last) evening of the series was mullet city. Thousands of fish guzzling maggots as though there was no tomorrow, all within a couple of metres of the sea's edge. You would think it should spell BONANZA! However, everyone struggled to get bites on maggot flies. We all hooked and lost a few fish, which is normal, but even casting to seething groups of mullet failed to produce many bites. My pal Nigel had a mullet and a few bass on maggot flies, Steve lost a bass and a mullet, Ben had a bass and lost a big mullet and I had a bass and a modest mullet and lost a few others. Spinning with Redgills produced a fair few pulls but the bass were clearly too small to be hooked. A change to a J11 Rapala and I had no more bites. Bizarre!.

All in all, despite the difficult fishing, most of us were well satisfied with our sport. My recent epals Jim and Bill each caught satisfying bass over the series of tides, despite being fairly new to the business. Nigel was going to have another go this evening. I await his report with interest. (He rang to say that it was heaving with mullet everywhere but they were no keener to bite than previously - he landed two mullet and three bass on the fly).

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

Bass.

One of my schoolies - the bigger fish seemed scarce.

Redgill.

Although these lures are effective I think that smaller bass pluck the tails without being hooked.

Mullet.

This was one of my fish taken on a maggot fly.'.

It's on!

Nigel's into a good mullet..

Closer.

Almost ready to be beached unless it makes another run.

Soft mouths?

I think not.'