Catch Fish with
Mike Ladle
Information Page
SEA FISHING
13 April 2003
Universal lure.
Yesterday morning I decided to go down to the coast and have a look at the conditions. I also wanted to try out my new replacement rod (a cheap, 12ft, 2lb TC carp rod). Although I was up at 4.45 as it turned out I was a bit late and as I made my first cast the sky was already beginning to lighten in the east. I'd clipped on an 11cm countdown plug as a starter. The idea was to give me a chance of anything that might be about and the potential for a bit of distance so that I could cover the water.
The sea was calm and clear but there was still a cool wind from my left (the east) that chilled my hands. However, I had only retrieved a few metres of line when a fish hung itself on the end. Shortly afterwards I beached my first bass of the year and christened the rod. A pause for a couple of pictures of the little fish then next cast a missed bite. Third cast I hooked another bass which fought better than the first but was scarcely bigger.
I wondered how the rod would perform with a popper so I changed my lure for a skitterpop (purchased cheaply when I was in Australia). There were no further bites in the next half-hour so I went home for breakfast.
Interestingly, the same model of plug had caught me fish while I was on holiday in Perth. When Dan and Dee took us to look at the kangaroos on Heirisson Island in the Swan River I'd seen a bloke spinning with a small jig. In his bucket were two small brim (bream) and a flathead. Next day I was dropped off on the Island, with my gear, for a couple of hour's fishing. I decided to try a countdown on a light wire trace (ever hopeful of something big and toothy). No bites in the river so I moved to a small 'lake', fed from the river through a pipe, where I had seen a fish move the previous day. After a few fruitless casts I shifted to the inflow and immediately had a couple of knocks. I then hooked a small bream which dropped off at the edge. No worries - a couple of casts later I hooked another bream and landed it. A wonderful little fish very similar in appearence to the black bream I catch in Swanage Bay. A couple of bites and another bream later I shifted to the outflow pipe and as the plug began to submerge it was seized by a much larger fish (c. 70cm long) which thrashed on the surface and came unstuck - I was gutted. Of course it was now time to be picked up so no chance to try again. I was later subjected to all the 'big one that got away' mockery but never mind eh!
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
Dawn on the Dorset coast.
First of the season.
Dan and kangaroo.
Acanthopagrus georgianus.
What a beauty.
