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).

The early worm (plastic eel)!

I like getting up early in the morning. Of course I know that I can catch fish more or less every hour of the day and night but first light has a strong appeal for me and it can, at times, be very productive. This morning I decided to go to the coast for a spot of spinning and when I arrived in the car park at about 03:50hr I was surprised to find another car already there. I suspected that the angler(s) would have gone to the spot that I was hoping to fish but there was no turning back so off I trudged. It was still pretty dark when I arrived at the water's edge and I selected a rock to stand on before beginning to cast. The other angler (there was only one and it turned out to be a friend of mine who fishes there occasionally) was already spinning fifty metres further on.

I was hoping to catch bass but had no idea how big they might be so, with the water clear and free of weed, I clipped on an Evo Redgill - always reliable for fish of a range of sizes. After ten minutes I had a good bite and hooked a decent bass which tore about, took a bit of line and splashed on the surface in typical fashion. Just as I was about to slide it ashore the hook hold gave and away it swam. "Bother!" (or words to that effect) I said to myself. Back to casting and after a couple of missed taps (suggesting that the fish out there were on the small side) I hooked my second bass. This one was only about 1.5lb but I took its picture and popped it back into the sea. At least I could prove that I'd caught something.

In fact bites came regularly over the next forty or fifty minutes and I landed six more bass all schoolies between the size of the one I'd lost and the one that I landed. nevertheless it was good fun. As I was about to pack in my friend had the same idea and he walked along to join me for a natter on the way back to the cars. Apparently he'd started off where I was fishing but had moved on just before I got there. The place that he'd moved on to was apparently devoid of bass so I was well pleased that I'd chanced on the right bit of sea. Seven fish in not much more than an hour - excellent stuff!

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

Not big.

-and another.