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).

The tables turned.

In early September I wrote about an early morning session where my pal Mark and I spent a slow spell spinning into a tide race. Despite the sea being full of baitfish and small predators we couldn't buy a bite until, just as we were thinking of packing in I switched to a big soft plastic and landed the only bass of the trip. Last week the circumstances were almost repeated. Again I found that Mark had beaten me to it and was already fishing in the dark when I arrived. Again we struggled to catch fish. There were less bait fish about than on our previous trip but we each changed lures after a while in the hope of catching a fish and avoiding the snags. I should say that the spot we were fishing has limited possibilities for lures. It's only fishable on the bottom half of a falling tide when the wind is fairly light. As the tide falls and the kelp and ledges begin to break the surface only a surface popper or slider or a very weedless soft plastic will suffice.

Early in the session I had a snatch on the EvoStix lure that I was using but failed to hook the culprit and for a while it looked as though we were going to be fishless. By this time Mark was using a silvery Yo Zuri slider, casting it across the race and jerking it back through the fast flow. Suddenly he was in so I put down my rod and hurried to grab the camera. My first couple of shots were useless because there wasn't enough light so I switched on the flash and tried again. We admired and returned Mark's bass before continuing. By now the tide was beginning to ease right off but before it slackened completely Mark had another, similar, bass on the slider. This time my soft lure didn't tempt anything. It just goes to show that you need to be versatile.

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

He's in!

Mark plays his first bass in the gloom.

Nearly there!

The red face of the lure is just visible as the fish slides towards the ledge.

Landed!

Mark squats down to unhook his bass.

Nicely hooked.

The lure's clearly visible as the fat little bass raises it's spikey dorsal fin for the camera.