Catch Fish with
Mike Ladle
Information Page
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).
More bass - back to semi-normal.
Having caught a couple of bass on my first trip out, last Wednesday, I had to have another go. This time I was determined not to miss first light so with the alarm set for 03:30 hr and the gear out of the cupboard - everything was ready. When I arrived at the coast it was another chilly morning and I could hear the surf breaking on the beach - a bit different to last time. Sure enough there were more waves and the tide was probably 50cm lower than on my previous session. This time I resisted any practice casts and simply walked, for fifteen minutes, straight to the ledges. Scrambling onto the best vantage point in the gloom I could see that there was a lot more water movement and the waves were breaking over my boots as I made the first cast. It was just as easy to fish as before although, in the shallower water, this time I could feel the lure constantly knocking against weed and rock and there was virtually no tidal flow.
I must have made forty or fifty casts with no sign of a fish, and had it not been for my earlier catch I might well have packed in and moved elsewhere. However, I persisted and eventually was rewarded by a sharp tug an the line and a fat, well hooked fish of perhaps two pounds. I played it in and took a couple of pictures before returning it to the sea. After many more fruitless casts it was almost full daylight so I decided to walk back.
Ready to be slid ashore - the reward for persistence.
Not a bad fish and well hooked on the weedless lure.
On the way back to the car I passed a little shingle beach. Last year this place produced a few bass and I'd lost one good sized fish which came unstuck. I decided that it was worth a few chucks to see if there was anything about; no need to change the lure. I worked my way round the shingle having a cast every five metres or so and I was almost at the far end when I had my second bite of the session. Again the fish was well hooked on the Texposer hook (now four bites - four bass - good hook!) so I played it to the shore and took a couple more pictures before unhooking it and putting it back. It was a bit bigger than my first fish so it rounded off a pleasant morning! It's good to be fishing again.
My second bass on the EvoStix, this time caught from the shingle beach.
After that session the tides became progressively worse, but following a cool weekend the weather had warmed up a bit and the sea was flat calm and gin clear so, on the Monday morning I decided to try again. I was expecting to see my pal Martyn on the shore that morning (at a suitable distance of course) but since I was there early I decided to start by spinning from the shingle beach in the dark. Beyond the shingle the sea bed is flat sand so I anticipated that it would be an overnight resting place for sandeels and a potential breakfast for bass. As it turned out I only had one bite but it was a beautiful little bass in mint condition, caught as the first glimmer of light was in the eastern sky. Magic! I found out that Martyn had changed his mind (due to road works) and gone elsewhere.
A fine fat bass caught in the dark on my weedless sandeel imitation.
Unusually it was hooked in the lower jaw.
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
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NEW BOOK
"Fishing for Ghosts - Successful Mullet Angling"
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