Catch fish with Mike Ladle.

Catch Fish with
Mike Ladle

Information Page

SEA FISHING

28 September 2003

Still there!

I'm back from Tobago. The main object of the trip for my son, Richard, was to link up with scientists of the Buccoo Reef Trust and to complete some research on the freshwater prawns in Tobagan streams. When he was not working Richard joined Steve and myself fishing from the shore.

The fishing was fantastic. All three of us had been before and caught (and lost) a range of fish species but this time we did exceptionally well using both flies and lures. Within the first hour of our trip I hooked and landed a 24lb crevalle jack and this set the tone for the trip. Steve and Rich had both caught jacks before and they had warned me of the enormous power of these relatives of our own little scad but NOTHING could have prepared me for the long lightening fast run of a big one. In fact later in the week I hooked and lost a much bigger fish which effectively spooled me on 30lb braid - unbelievable! Our own sizeable fish such as salmon, pike, conger and carp (all of which I have landed at larger sizes) are just not in the same league.

All in all we landed twenty three species of fish from beaches, rocks and jettys. In addition to the jacks we landed, tarpon, barracuda, snook, snappers, grunts, houndfish and lots of smaller stuff. Rich had a few minutes excitement with a huge stingray on his light spinning gear and all of us lost fish much bigger than we landed.

I thought it might be difficult to come down to earth but this morning I took my fly gear to the coast. The fish were still there and the enjoyment of landing mackerel, bass and pollack on the light tackle was just the same as ever. As soon as we get the pictures from our trip sorted out I'll put some more on the website. Steve and I recorded several hours of video while we were away and our aim is to edit this into tapes/CDs over the coming winter. Watch this space!

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

Smile please!

Steve films Rich with a decent, lure-caught, barracuda.

A nice mahogany snapper.

This fish completely engulfed a Storm shad fished from the rocks next to our apartment.

An English Channel mackerel.

Not quite a tuna or a kingfish but good sport on appropriate gear.

....and a pollack.

Also a good tussle on fly tackle as it plunged for the kelp.

.....and a bass.

This fish gave me a screaming run and fought for minutes before I could land it.