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).

Variety.

My pals and I have diversified this week with each of us fishing different spots. My friend Richard had tried a short session from a sandy beach and had some tiny bass on a spinner baited with artificial ragworm. Bill (as usual) was after bass with his good old reliable Slug-Gill. He fished a different stretch of mixed ground and caught a few but they were all schoolies similar to our catches on recent trips. He did, however, find himself a dead sandsmelt on the beach which, much to his credit, he wobbled as a deadbait until it came off. It's a tactic I've been promising myself to try for years and never got round to giving it a go - it MUST be effective for larger bass. I tried spinning from a different spot the same evening and only managed a couple of pulls on a spinner trailing a soft plastic eel. Both bites were from reasonable fish - neither of them stuck. Another pal, Phil, followed Bill's lead the next evening and also had some schoolies and lost a better fish after a few seconds. Nigel and his son, meanwhile, were fishing yet another stretch of the Purbeck coast - nowhere near freshwater inflows - using fly gear and/or a bubble float with maggot flies. Between them they managed five mullet but, surprisingly, they were all thinlips.

My next trip was an early morning from a rocky ledge. As usual I took the spinning rod to try and catch scad, mackerel, pollack or bass - all of which occur there. I also took a freelining rod in case I managed to catch a mackerel. No such luck I'm afraid. The fish seem to come and go like the wind this year. A week or two back I couldn't beat them off but this time, only pollack and not many of them. I started fishing in the gloom with my green Lumi- spinner and I had three pollack and missed a few more. Then, as the light level increased, I switched to a silver toby with a single hook and caught - a few MORE POLLACK! After three-quarters-of-an-hour, just as the sun came up, I packed in and went for my breakfast. I might manage one more session this week then no fishing for a couple of weeks. Anyway, I enjoyed catching my pollack and they are lovely little fish.

This is my advert for the book I wrote with Steve Pitts - just in case. Even if you don’t buy “The Second Wave” yourself – please tell your facebook, twitter, email, friends about its existence. As I’ve said IT'S AVAILABLE ON PAPER OR FOR YOUR KINDLE FROM - "Veals Mail Order" and from Amazon "Amazon"

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

Bill's sandsmelt - they look like the perfect bass bait and they're common at this time of the year.

Pollack on a Lumi-lure in the gloom.

Similar pollack on a silver Toby with a single hook.

Here comes the sun - time for breakfast.