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).

Shore fishing - Brazil 2019

We're just back from our holiday in Brazil. My son Richard and his young family live on the coast near the city of Maceio. Like me Richard is a very keen angler so for the past nine years he has been trying to suss out the best fishing in the area. Followers of my BLOG will know that in winters past Richard and I have caught some really good fish from his local shoreline. It will also be apparent that the fishing, although the fish can be big, is far from consistent.

Within a day of my arrival, at the crack of dawn, Richard and I were down on the rocks at Mermaid Beach spinning for snook which we'd caught to almost thirty pounds from the same spot. This year they seemed to be elsewhere. Despite several sessions, a range of lures, and attempt with livebaits, a few soakings and a fair amount of cursing and blaspheming, the snook were apparently absent. Richard did catch a consolation lookdown fish on a Dexter wedge and then a bonus remora on the same lure. The remora was a decent specimen but a little disappointing in view of the fact that we were hoping for bigger and better fish.

Mermaid Beach rocks are only accessible by crossing a small river at low water so it is just possible to fish them for a few days on each series of tides. When the spot became unfishable we decided to give the sandy storm beach at nearby Pratagy a go. Both of us were now using heavy wedges or Tobys on our usual spinning rods (Surespins or Surepoppers) with twenty pound BS braid so that we could reach beyond the breaking surf. In other years, knowing that jacks are sometimes caught from similar shorelines, we've tried a number of these beaches with no success. This time, on our first attempt - success! We started at the south end of the two mile strand and began to work our way northward fishing as we walked. After about ten minutes Rich gave a shout and I looked up to see his rod well bent into a fish. The long runs of the fish combined with its head shaking and Richard's excited swearing all confirmed that it was a decent jack. Ten minutes later he was picking up a beautiful crevalle from the undertow - fantastic! For a couple more days we tried again but had nothing and various commitments prevented us from giving it the full works but we were not discouraged so we determined to try again as soon as possible.

The thing about exploring the fishing potential of a place is that one fish can be just a chance event. Two or more is significant and suggests real potential so before my return to England we determined to try again if we could. You'll have gathered by now that my son is not only thirty years younger than me but substantially, stronger, fitter and bolder than his old man. Where I tend to hang back a bit Richard will plough into the breakers and he has a good casting arm which often places his lure ten metres further out than mine.

Towards the end of the holiday we were winging out our metal lures from Pratagy again. Even though Rich was some distance away and the surf was too heavy to hear him call I saw at once from his movements that he was into another fish. I reeled in, grabbed the camera and headed along to watch. Sure enough it was another decent fish and as it slid ashore we thought it was the biggest leatherjacket ever (they grow to about 30cm). A look at 'FISHBASE' on the internet suggests that it is in fact a larger species but still near the maximum size for the type. Cracking specimen! Shortly afterwards my son had another bite in the breaking surf, which he missed. Three bites and two fish in half-as-dozen short sessions - for sure he'll be back in the near future and because this place can be fished on any tide and almost any weather conditions - it's a good new venue for him.

Although I was totally outfished from the shore by my son in the early weeks of our stay, things changed later on. In the next page I'll say a bit about what we caught and how we did it in the other phases of the trip.

Richard spinning from the rocks at Mermaid Beach.

A beautiful lookdown fish taken on a wedge

This remora took a wedge too

Rich into a jack from Pratagy beach.

Nice one son!

My eyes are not that good but I could see that the jammy so and so had another fish on

Got it! Looks like the mother of all leatherjackets

A new species for us

The final morning at Pratagy beach.

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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