Catch Fish with
Mike Ladle
Information Page
SEA FISHING
7 October 2003
Odds and sods
I have tried to gently reintroduce myself to the everyday fishing since my holiday. A spot of fly fishing from the rocks, an hour's spinning for bass and a walk down the river with a rod and a pike spoon. The pike were reasonably cooperative and I missed one, dropped a small jack at the bank and landed an eight pounder - just what the 'convalescent' fisher needed after a dose of tropical sea angling.
Last weekend I was 'back to normal' helping my pals Steve and Geoff to get some fishing on video. Geoff is a superb fly angler and these days he only uses his fly rod. To be honest the tides were pretty poor and we generally struggled to catch anything but it was an object lesson in the value of fly tackle for catching fish. While I was blanking with plugs Geoff landed pollack, garfish and bass on his home tied flies and almost everywhere we tried he managed to get bites from something - fascinating!
On the last (Sunday) morning we had set off at dawn to fish a spot which usually produces a few bass in rough conditions. There was a stiff wind blowing but it proved to be straight offshore so our first disappointment was to find that the sea was flat calm and gin clear. The second shock came when we unloaded the car and Steve realised that he had forgotten the camera - disaster! Anyway Steve and Geoff decided to go back for it while I walked to the chosen mark and started fishing. I tried to avoid the best spots hoping that there would still be some fish about by the time my pals returned. As luck would have it I hooked a small bass after about five minutes. I took a few photographs and returned it before continuing. Ten minutes later I had a good pull and hooked a fish which stripped off several metres of line before shearing away to the right. 'Better bass' I thought but then it gave up and turned into a beautifully marked wrasse.
Despite trying several spots over a mile or more of shoreline we had no more fish apart from a sandeel that took my plug. Anyway it was a lovely morning.
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
My therapeutic pike.
A small bass.
A hard fighting wrasse.
Makes a change.
