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).

Fishing down under III New Zealand

After Richard and Ana had returned to Brazil we joined the Bulmer family who were on holiday for a couple of days. They'd rented a house on Great Barrier Island and, because Lilian doesn't like bobbing up and down on the sea, we flew to the Island in a small plane. It was a good move because, flying at low altitude, we had lots of photo opportunities on the way over. I got quite excited when I saw schools of dolphins and flocks of feeding gannets as we approached the landing area.

During our short stay Alan and I fished from the shore whenever we had the chance - mostly early in the morning. To be honest most of our catch consisted of small kahawai which, at times, were amazingly abundant. For example, on our last morning in under an hour's fishing we had literally dozens of fish on small lures. The beach just outside the house we were staying in, was ideal for surfing and swimming so morning and evening sessions were best for fishing. About a kilometre along at the far end of the beach there was a second small bay. It looked very promising so we gave it a couple of sessions. I tried a variety of hard lures to no effect while Alan and his son both used softbaits with lead heads.

On the second morning we had flogged away for some time with our usual lures when suddenly I heard a call from my pal and looked up to see his rod well bent into a fish. Five minutes later he'd made little progress and by now it was clear that whatever was on the other end of his line it was much bigger than the usual kahawai. It was probably another five minutes of give and take before Hamish was able to grab his dad's catch by the tail and haul it ashore - a fine kingfish. It wasn't a monster by kingfish standards but it lived up to the reputation of these fish as battlers and since it was the first one I had ever seen and much bigger than anything else that we caught - result!!!!

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

Gannet colony.

Great Barrier Island.

'Our' beach.

He's in!!!

Got it.

Another view.