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).
Why I haven't posted any pages for a while. A long spell of slow bait fishing.
I am conscious of the deficiency of my web pages recently. The obvious reason is not entirely lack of fishing but simply lack of fish. However, there is a more fundamental explanation. At the beginning of the year I said to my pal Bill that I was "Going to give my 'free-line' bait fishing a more or less full season - whatever the results." This was despite the fact that I knew full well that he had been catching bass (on soft plastics) right through to the end of 2024, and had already started 2025 with some decent bass in both January and February. The truth is that I simply wanted to compare the results of the two very different tactics on the same stretch of shoreline (although not necessarily in exactly the same ledges, beaches, gullys and states of tide). Past experience has shown that both of these approaches can and do 'work' and produce good fish.
Of course, neither of us expects to catch on every session and we only occasionally fish together at the same times and places. Bill, usually 'gives it a go' once a week, often up to and around high water, and with the sun shining, or at least when he can see where he is going. I should say that sea temperatures have been high so far this year (mostly above 9°C), so there should be a fair chance of bass feeding actively. Anyway, the year has started well for my pal and he has caught fish on many sessions.
A nice early season bass for Bill on one of his weedless softbaits.
60cm a nice fish at any time.
In contrast to Bill, I like to get up early and have stuck to my normal approach of starting before first light,on the first of the flood, and fishing short sessions (usually an hour or at most two). Sadly, even though I have been trying places which have produced plenty of fish in the past, my total so far is one poxy little conger and a few indeterminate, furtive plucks. Not only have my trips been fishless but, as I say, I have scarcely had a bite - certainly not a bass run (they are almost unmistakable on free-lined baits).
"Why then-" you may ask, "-isn't the silly old bugger reverting to the method which is clearly the most productive at present?" Good question. I suppose, being stubborn, I am constantly expecting (=hoping) to get a bite from a double figure specimen. My mind says - "Surely, sooner or later a big, stupid bass will be tempted by one of my sardine or mackerel baits." - and past experience has shown that there is a chance of something above average hooking itself when I fish in this way.
My scratty conger.
Nicely hooked on the circle hook - so no problem with the mono trace.
I'll quickly describe the favoured scenario - So, what do I think will happen after I swing my large piece of fish out a few metres from the water's edge? Well, although I have known bass to pick up the bait within seconds of splashdown, this is a rare event. Usually there will be a bit of a wait. My first action, after casting, is to gently turn the reel (wind the handle a couple of times?) and take up any slack line. At this point I open the bale arm holding the line in the crooked index finger of my (right) rod hand; this prevents coils from dropping off the spool. If there is a no breeze and/or water flow, sufficient to bow the line and move the bait, I may - lay the rod down, sit beside it, and pay out a metre or so of braid onto the rocks (avoiding limpets, which may clamp down and trap it). More often, without sitting down or releasing the line from my reel finger, I take a loop from the near side of the butt ring, in my free (left) hand and, hold it between the finger and thumb. This is very sensitive to the slightest twitch on the braid. By tightening or easing this loop I can then avoid too much slack and (more or less) keep in touch with the baited hook.
If it is very windy or blustery it can be difficult to keep the line reasonably taut without compensating by drawing in line, swinging the rod or even stepping back or reeling in a bit more to repeatedly tighten up. Any slow, irregular, dragging pull usually indicates that loose weed has caught on the line. A gentle steady tightening may signal that an unwanted visitor (usually a crab) is wandering off to its cave with the bait in its claws. In either case it will be necessary to reel in, clear the line and have another cast. If I ignore these indications it is likely that I shall find the hook wedged under a rock or wrapped in several kilos of kelp. In the event of this happening more than once I usually pack in and try to find a better spot or I "give them best" and go home.
Anyway, assuming that my ill fortune continues (I'm a bit of a pessimist), I'll probably have to put a few pages about various aspects of sea angling that I haven't written about for decades; so, watch this space.
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