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).

Bass angling statistics.

My pal Bill (and his faithful dog Poppy) has only been into bass fishing for a couple of years but in that short time he’s become very good at winkling out fish under all sorts of conditions. Of course he has the added enthusiasm borne of being relatively new to this exciting sport and it tends to keep him going when others 'give it best'.

At the end of last year he emailed me with a summary of his catches and I thought it might be of interest to see how it went. He started his email by saying:-

“Well that’s it for 2012, no more fishing for me until 2013.”

A summary of his year’s efforts shows106 trips, 67 blanks, 130 bass, 1 wrasse & 1 sandeel caught. 440 hours 15 minutes fished and 3 hours 20 minutes per bass over the year. The really interesting thing is that in October, November and December, like many others, Bill had a grim time. In 77.75 hours of spinning he didn’t land a single fish. Now often these months (at least October and November) can be some of the best bass fishing but last year conditions at the end of 2012 were clearly against good spinning. In the months that he was catching he was taking only 2hrs 48minutes per bass and, if we ignore the doldrums of January to March when it can be slow (to say the least), he was taking only 2.4 hours to catch each bass. Most anglers would be well pleased with an average like that for spinning from the shore.

As Bill says – “Maybe if I wanted to improve my statistics I'd only fish May - September? But sod it I like fishing even when I don't catch fish!”

Anyway, the latest email from my friend shows that he has now broken his duck for 2013 so with any luck he could go on to better his 2012 results. He had a 2lb bass on a small Delta eel with a little cone weight in front and said he was hopeful to see more as the tide ebbed....but I didn't.'

Nice one Bill! Things are looking up!

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

Good start.

Bill.