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).

A bit slow but (a little) success at last.

I've always said that - "No one wants to read about my blank sessions." I'm sure that this is true but inevitably, like every angler, there are times when I dont catch fish. Sometimes it can seem like a curse when blank follows blank, and this is much more likely to happen when you are trying out new tactics or going to places that you have not fished for some time (or not at all!). After my recent enforced long lay-off it sometimes seemed that I'd 'lost the knack', but experience told me that I must be patient.

To cut a long story short a few days ago I decided to have another go at free-lining fish baits on circle hooks. In the past the tactic has often served me well. Anyway, I checked the tide tables and found that low water was going to be round about 03:00 hr; that's the trouble with this time of the year because it means leaving a warm bed in the hours of darkness and trekking down to the coast. Of course, I know quite a few spots that have produced fish for me using this method, so the only decision was where to start. I made my choice, dug a couple of baits out of the freezer, laid out my gear, and set the alarm clock.

The following morning when I arrived at the coast it was about 04:50, and I felt that perhaps I'd left it a bit late. I baited the hook with a big fillet of mackerel and walked, without using my headlamp, 200m to the water's edge. Sure enough the tide was further in than I'd hoped and already rising quickly. "Bugger!" It's never ideal to start when you think conditions may be less than ideal. Never mind, lob the bait out a few metres, leave the bale arm open, hold the line in my left hand, and wait. There was a stiff onshore breeze and a bit of a swell - enough to make it tricky to keep the line taut. A few minutes passed and I felt the line tighten and begin to drag. Weed for sure! I reeled in and cleared the line and freed bait from the dangling, brown fronds. Cast again. Minutes passed with no sign of anything. Two more weed removals later and there was a faint glow appearing in the eastern sky. Cast again - a bit nearer the rocks to my left. I waited for a few minutes and suddenly there was the unmistakeable tug on the line between my fingers. I loosened my grip and the line slid slowly out for perhaps a metre or so. "Surely not a bass," I thought. It had stopped now and I hung on for a couple of minutes to see whether it would go again. It didn't stir, so I closed the bale and slowly turned the handle. The line tightened and I was hooked solidly - into a rock. No give at all. The furtive plucker had dragged my bait under a boulder. I tried a few jiggles and twitches with the rod but it was NEVER going to come free. A long steady pull and eventually the sharp ping as my line parted. I wound in the slack - ah well, only a hook lost - could have been worse.

I decided to try again the following morning. This time it was better, I arrived on the shore twenty minutes earlier and the tide was a bit later. Just right! I was trying a different spot some way west of the first day. I stood on a rocky ledge and cast into a narrow gully. There was little wind and in the moonlight I could see that the water was flat calm - easy fishing. An hour-and-a-half passed with only a couple of casts, the tide flooding nicely and not a sign of anything. I packed in and went home.

When I arrived home my wife had just come downstairs. "How did you get on?" Was her question. "Nothing today." I said "But I may try again tomorrow." At this point I was told that I am crackers, but I know that. The following morning I was down there again and walked perhaps half-a-mile further west than on the previous day. When I arrived at my chosen mark it was dead low water. I made my way slowly to a vantage point on the rocks and flicked the 6/0 circle hook baited with a fair sized fillet, no more than two metres beyond the rocks where I stood. The bait was in water that was less than knee-deep. As usual I waited, bale open, braid between fingers. After about ten minutes (just after 05:00hr) there was a sharp, strong tug on the line but it did not develop into a run. After a few minutes I reeled in to check the bait. It was OK so I dropped it out again, it landed perhaps a metre to the right of where it had been before.

Within five minutes I had another bite. This was a proper bass bite, but a slightly odd one. The steady run took a few metres of braid from between my finger and thumb (always exciting) and then stopped (always worrying). I could still feel a slight tension on the line so, after a short wait, I gently closed the bale arm. The fish moved, the line pulled tight, there was a sploosh on the surface and I was in. As I played the fish towards me I saw the headlamp of another angler approaching along the shore. I was sliding the bass onto the rocks when a voice said "Is that Mike?" It was Karl with his little black dog; now I know that we often fish the same stretch of coast but, amazingly, we'd never met before. He offered to take a picture so I handed him the camera.

Sadly, when I was about to release the fish, it turned out that it was very deeply hooked. This is extremely unusual on my big circle hooks, but possibly due my slow reaction to the odd bite. I had to remove the hook, through the gill opening of the bass, by using my pliers, it will be the only one I'll keep this year.

After Karl went on I rebaited and gave it another half-hour, but it was already getting too weedy as tide began to move, so I packed in and came away. I met my pal Bill arriving as I walked back to the car and after a bit of a chat I went home.

Only 3.5lb but a nice fish, just after it had slid ashore.

Picture, kindly taken for me by Karl who just happened along at the right moment.

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THE SECOND WAVE

Written with Steve Pitts this is a SEQUEL TO THE BESTSELLER "Operation Sea Angler" IT'S AVAILABLE ON PAPER FROM - "Veals Mail Order" AND ON PAPER OR FOR YOUR KINDLE FROM"Amazon"

HOOKED ON BASS

Written with Alan Vaughan. NEW PRINT OF THE ORIGINAL: IN PAPERBACK. Copies available from all good book shops RRP £14:99 - "Waterstones"

ANGLING ON THE EDGE

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FISHING FOR GHOSTS

Written with David Rigden. Copies from "The Medlar Press"