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).
Brazilian fishing - II - Instant success.
As I mentioned last time, due to my minor injuries (badly split left hand and smashed toe) our fishing plan was slightly disrupted in the first week. As a result this account will be a bit out of sequence but it covers, more or less, the entire month of January. Anyway, our objective was to find a beach where we could catch a few fish on lures. There are plenty of long sandy strands in that part of Brazil so it was largely a matter of choosing likely places and hoping for the best. The usual pattern was for us to be up at 04:00 hr, grab a cup of coffee and drive to our chosen spot. We spun with a small range of lures selected not only (we hoped) to attract fish but also to deal with stiff onshore winds (reasonably heavy and easy to cast), heavy surf and (sometimes) a fair amount of loose weed (not too many hooks and sticky-out bits). There were generally few, if any, snags to contend with as most of the bottoms were sandy, so our lures ranged from hard plugs and leaded soft plastics to spoons and wedges. Generally we each used a different lure and anything which induced bites or caught fish was tried again. Allowing for the ten or fifteen minute drives and then hiking (usually casting as we went) along the shore to where we fished, we normally returned home by about 06:00hr, having flogged a km or more of shoreline. I suppose in total we usually fished for an hour or so; say two 'rod-hours' per session.
One of the first beaches we fished was Tabuba and, like many of the others, at the crack of dawn we had it to ourselves. Later in the day it was a different story and there were often too many people swimming and enjoying the beach for any serious fishing. The main problem is that a lively fish, with loose hooks attached, careering about on braided line, is not compatible with bathers in the sea.
To our surprise we had not been casting for long when I hooked a barracuda. It was a guachanche, and although this species is much smaller than the great barracuda it puts up a similar, spirited, fast swimming fight on spinning gear.
A guachanche barracuda on my plug.
Richard into a fish from Tabuba. Note the waves breaking over the reef not far out, a typical feature of these beaches.
Another small but toothy barracuda comes to hand.
This one took his Black Minnow - almost inevitably the soft bodied lure will be badly damaged.
The following morning we were on the adjacent beach at Sonho Verde (Green Dreams), a bit shorter drive and this time on the near side of the small river. Before sunrise, as the sky began to lighten, again we found fish. This time it seemed to be mainly jacks.
Still pretty gloomy but Rich has landed a small crevalle jack.
We landed several small jacks, and a couple of larger ones came unstuck on the way in. This seemed to be exactly the sort of place that we'd been looking for so over the following days, applying the sound principle of "Never Leave Fish" we kept going back to try again.
A fierce take on Richard's large 'Angel Kiss' plug (it casts well and fishes fast and shallow) and he's in again.
A typical jack, still battling all the way to the beach.
At last we can see it, broadside on in the breaking waves.
Got it - and it's a beauty.
Richard (obviously pleased) gave this fish to the local bloke, who was collecting yesterday's drink tins, dumped by holidaymakers from the nearby beach club.
And another decent, early morning, jack for my son. Like most of our fish it was returned (unusual in Brazil).
... but this one came home for dinner.
As it turned out our first choice of beach had been a good one. So, by chance, we'd found a stretch of shoreline which was pretty consistent at least for jacks. It also turned out to produce, the odd catfish and, eureka! a fair few snook, and to our amazement we even saw good sized tarpon, which seem pretty rare on this coast. So it was exactly what we had been looking for. More next time.
PLEASE TELL YOUR TWITTER, FACEBOOK, EMAIL FRIENDS ABOUT THESE BOOKS.
THE SECOND WAVE
Written with Steve Pitts this is a SEQUEL TO THE BESTSELLER "Operation Sea Angler" IT'S AVAILABLE ON PAPER FROM -
HOOKED ON BASS
Written with Alan Vaughan. NEW PRINT OF THE ORIGINAL: IN PAPERBACK. Copies available from all good book shops RRP 14:99 -
ANGLING ON THE EDGE
Copies can now be ordered (printed on demand) from Steve Pitts at 34.00, inc. Royal Mail Insured UK Mainland Postage.
To order a book send an E-MAIL to - stevejpitts@gmail.com
FISHING FOR GHOSTS
Written with David Rigden. Copies from
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