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).

Unfishable!

Although there never seems to be much point writing about blank sessions, the past week was so characteristic of this year that I thought it was worth a mention. The weather has been so changeable this summer that mullet/bass fishing has been pretty unpredictable. Last week was no exception. Following storms a few days earlier the weed was piled high on the beaches. The flies had done their stuff and the weed was full of larvae. The tide tables said that Wednesday would be the prime time for the fish to feed. Everyone was keyed up to go - maggots, flies and lures at the ready. Then, typically, on Tuesday evening it blew up.

One or two of us were brave (stupid) enough to venture down to the coast on the Wednesday but the sea was chocolate brown and the waves were pounding against the cliffs. The water was full of weed - not just kelp and wrack but that horrible, slimy, green Enteromorpha which clings to every lure (however weedless), clip and knot. Not often I utter the words ******* UNFISHABLE but this time it was a fact.

My pal Richard told me later that a bay further west, which was more sheltered, had been fishable and held numbers of surface feeding mullet. I should have tried along there but it's easy to be wise after the event. In fact, just before the blow Rob and I had tried a morning session and we had a few bites. Rob even landed a couple of schoolies but the predicted bonanza did not materialise. I settled for fishing my local ponds. Perhaps in two weeks time everything will come together!!!!

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

****.

This is what greeted us on the Wednesday evening. Not ideal for spinning or fly fishing.

Goose barnacles.

Even when the fishing's grim there's always something of interest. This piece of wood was washed up by the storm and had clearly been drifting across the Atlantic.

Close up

These creatures really are attractively marked. Always worth a picture.

Rob's bass.

I had to show a fish of some sort. Rob had this one when we went a couple of days earlier.

Keen.

My pal Ben giving it a go with a lure despite the rough water and weed.