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).

02 August 2007

Malta holiday.

This was a family holiday and our hotel was a significant distance from the sea so not too much fishing. However, on my first morning I did make a long early morning walk to a rocky cove (jeez was it hot walking back?) and had a decent wrasse/parrot fish snap at the tail of the Angel Kiss lure - encouraging!

Most of my other fishing was snatched during bathing trips to beaches. It was VERY hot during our stay and there was little in the way of shade or shelter on the shoreline so my sessions were very short. At first I tried with small hooks baited with bits of bread bun and/or cheese from my hotel breakfast buffet. The best technique seemed to be two hooks close together. A size 8 baited with a decent sized bit of crust and a size 12 or 14 with a tiny piece of flake nearby. The fish tend to be attracted to the big bit and take the little one. Many of the 'attackers' are mullet or sandsmelts but I was astonished at the range of species that showed up after the bread, often in very shallow water.

I took pictures of some of the fish I caught. Ben, my grandson, was more interested in the several species of crabs and spent some time trying to catch them. All the crabs were very fast moving and difficult to lift once they got a grip on the rock.

I tried spinning in a couple of places but I didn't have much hope. Although some of the ground was very bassy and at times there was a fair amount of surf, Malta is very densely populated and everyone seems to want to be in or on the sea. Yachts, motor boats, jet skis and bathers were virtually everywhere. On one occasion we visited Ghajn Tuffleha Bay (facing in the direction of the African coast) and I left the family sunbathing to have a few chucks off the rocks. Nothing happened for about twenty minutes then, suddenly, I was into a decent fish. It pulled line off against the clutch and rushed back and forth among the rough boulders. My heart was in my mouth, no one would ever believe me if it got away. Eventually I risked life and limb to land the bass and nipped back for a picture. The locals seemed so delighted and surprised at my catch that I was forced to hand it over as that night's meal. Anyway, that's my first ever bass from the Med. Shortly after I caught it my son Marc saw a bigger one slipping throught the surf among the bathers - how about that?

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

Ben trying hard.

Bread-caught tiny wrasse

Grey mullet.

False scad??

Two banded bream

Painted comber

Bream??

Giant goby

Ghan Tuffleha Bay - ideal bass spot???

However!

Sorry!