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).
Like buses?
I'm not a very patient person and recently my persistence has been tested to the limits. We all have blank spells and experience suggests that, given time, we'll catch fish again, but this year my frequent, failed attempts to lure a bass on bait seemed (to me) interminable. However, although catching fish is always the main objective, there's usually something interesting to tide me over when I go fishing. Dawn and/or dusk fishing trips often mean encounters with wildlife such as deer, hares, badgers, foxes and the like. In fact it pays to drive slowly to avoid really close encounters with these animals. Also, at the coast, there's always a variety of things to see, and here in Dorset I often get a sighting of raptors such as kestrels, buzzards, peregrines, owls and kites as well as seeing and hearing smaller species such as wheatears, pipits, bramblings and even the (very) occasional nightingale.
Along the shore, whether it is rocks or beaches, things always change quickly according to the recent weather conditions. Spells of warm weather and high sea temperatures are often associated with the presence of semi-tropical flotsam such as Portuguese-Man-o'-War (Physalia) or (as this week) By-The-Wind-Sailors (Velella) on the tideline. The two species have similar, surface-drifting life styles but they are not very closely related. Rough seas can themselves favour lots of animals and it is common to see vast numbers of beach hoppers (Talitrus) climbing over the sand and up the cliffs to escape the waves. For sure big seas also deposit lots of weed in piles on the beach. These weed-middens quickly decompose and feed countless millions of seaweed fly (Coelopa) maggots which, a few days later, on high spring tides, will attract large numbers of surface feeding bass and mullet. Weed 'salad' which is still in the water, as opposed to high and dry (well dampish) on the shore attracts huge numbers of woodlouse-like Idotea, forming another major attraction for fish, particularly bass.
By-the-wind-sailors (Velella), note the little sails on top.
Beach 'fleas' struggling up a rocky cleft to avoid the waves.
Seaweed flies are important consumers of rotting weed and their larvae are food for fish.
Marine woodlice tackle the weed sub surface.
To return to the topic of (im)patience; my long-standing fish drought seems to have broken at last. I have finally caught one or two bass, which prompted Bill to send an email saying that bass seem to be like buses and all come along at once. Well, I'd waited a heck of a long time for a 'bass' to show up and so after, at long last, catching a half-decent one, I couldn't resist going again the following morning. I looked at the forecast and it said that the wind (often a problem when I'm free-lining) would ease a bit overnight. This clinched it for me and, although the tides were already getting a bit late for my liking, I simply HAD to go.
When I reached the rocky shore at 05:50 (a little later than the day before - tide related) the wind had dropped to about force 3 and the sea was only slightly choppy. There was still a fair bit of weed in the water so I chose the most weedless area I could find, sat on a boulder and watched. Almost straight away I saw a tailing fish only half-a-metre or so from the water's edge. I lobbed the mackerel fillet out a couple of metres beyond where I'd seen the tail (too much weed closer in). After about five minutes the line twitched and a classic run developed. Line poured off the spool and I waited until the fish had gone quite some distance before gently closing the bale arm. The remaining slack line tightened, the rod began to curve round, the clutch buzzed and I was in. Typically the bass showed where it was by splashing on the surface a long way out and I began the enjoyable experience of playing it back in. After a couple of minutes give and take I slid the fish smoothly ashore over the mass of wet weed. It was a nice one. I stooped to remove the hook and realised that (unusually) it was inside the mouth. A quick look revealed that it was caught round a gill raker, so I poked my long nosed pliers through the gill opening to easily unhook the fish. The fork length of the bass was 60cm. I took couple of pictures, including a selfie with the camera propped up on a flat boulder, then back went the bass. Excellent!
A decent bus (sorry 'bass'), just what I was after.
Nice fish in mint condition ready to go back. Lots of weed (and millions of Idotea) in the water behind me.
The bait, now very tatty, was still on the trace so, I slid it back down onto the hook and tried again. No more signs of fish in the next twenty minutes so I went home for some breakfast well pleased.
PLEASE TELL YOUR TWITTER (X), FACEBOOK, EMAIL FRIENDS ABOUT THESE BOOKS.
THE SECOND WAVE
Written with Steve Pitts this is a SEQUEL TO THE BESTSELLER "Operation Sea Angler" IT'S AVAILABLE ON PAPER FROM -
HOOKED ON BASS
Written with Alan Vaughan. NEW PRINT OF THE ORIGINAL: IN PAPERBACK. Copies available from all good book shops RRP 14:99 -
ANGLING ON THE EDGE
Copies can now be ordered (printed on demand) from Steve Pitts at 34.00, inc. Royal Mail Insured UK Mainland Postage.
To order a book send an E-MAIL to - stevejpitts@gmail.com
FISHING FOR GHOSTS
Written with David Rigden. Copies from
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