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).
About time!
No one is interested in hearing about me catching zero fish. Like every angler I sometimes have 'one of those spells' when nothing goes right. Add this to my usual pig-headed determination to try something, which is clearly not working, and you have summed up the past couple of months of angling. I gave a strong hint in my last web page when I said that my good pal Bill was consistantly catching fish while I blanked - well, things just went from bad to worse.
One of Bills many recent bass on soft-plastics.
Here's a catalogue of my activities which began to feel a bit like a curse. When the sea fishing is a bit thin on results, I sometimes get relief by going carp fishing in my local ponds/lakes. I'd caught a few fish early in the season including a good mid-twenty on a Tesco dog biscuit. Anyway I went again and once more I hooked a decent fish 'off-the-top'. This time, however, the fates were against me and, after a while, the carp buried itself in a thick mass of weed and a minute or two later,the hook pulled out. "Never mind!" I muttered to myself.
The carp before (and bigger than) the one I lost.
The second event was even worse. It's two or three years since I have been able to fish my local river and so I was delighted when I had an invitation to try and catch a salmon. This kind offer partly stemmed from the fact that, as in most UK rivers, salmon have been thin on the ground for years, so few (=none) had been caught recently. Anyway, local bylaws permit spinning after mid-May so my pal Richard and I decided to give it ago one evening. I was using my all-purpose spinning tackle, which has dealt with everything from trout to tarpon. I tied on a short, anti-pike, trace of 'American Fishing Wire', clipped on a small, jointed, 7cm, black and silver Rapala and drove to the River.
A recent chub caught on exactly the same gear and lure that I was using to try and tempt a salmon..
We decided to start near the upstream end of the section and alternate successive pools and riffles as we made our way downstream. The weather was a pleasant and the river looked good following an exceptional day of rain. After about ten or fifteen minutes had passed I was perhaps fifty metres downstream of my pal and at the head of a deeper, slow flowing stretch. I flicked the little lure across to the far bank and as I began to retrieve I saw a bow-wave following it's progress. Suddenly I was in and it was clearly a good fish, so I shouted to Richard who had the net. he came trotting down the field towards me and by now the salmon was splashing and crashing about. We could soon see that the fish was well in the upper teens of pounds, bright silver and fresh in from the sea. Fantastic!
It was too good to last. Sensibly, I thought, there was no point trying to net it, until it had slowed down a bit, due to the risk of tangling a hook in the net. Of course after a good five minutes play - the hooks came adrift from its jaw. I was not a happy person.
Here's one I caught (years) earlier. It would have looked just like this, but I should have been crying.
Worse was yet to come. My next session, at the start of June, was down to the sea again, in search of bass. Still, I persisted with my (unproductive) freelined, large, fish baits on 6/0 or 8/0 circle hooks. I was fishing by about 03:30 hr to catch first light. The place where I had cast my offering was one which has, over the years, produced many good bass. I waited in my normal, touch-legering, pose for almost an hour with no sign of life when, suddenly, the line twitched. Could it be a conger, as was the case with last couple of fish to this method? Then the line began to pour off the spool, it was hard to believe that, at last, I had a bass run. Don't panic Mike! Should I tighten the line yet or let it run further? Surely that is long enough, I thought, as I closed the bale. The line pulled tight, there was a big sploosh as the fish surge near the surface, the rod bent, a metre of line was dragged off against the tight clutch, AND THE LINE FELL SLACK. "Oh sugar!" I'd missed my chance.
I went again two mornings later, and tried a different place a mile or so further along the shore. It was low water of a spring tide and, as I arrived, I could see mullet weaving slowly about in the shallow water. Out went the mackerel fillet, perhaps two or three metres from where I stood. Swirls close to where the bait had plopped in showed that the mullet were interested. Gentle plucks were telegraphed up the braid to my fingers and when I looked I could see the mullet playing head tennis with the big fillet. No chance of them ingesting the bait or being snagged on the huge hook intended for bass. I reeled in and cast a little to the right to try and avoid the mullet, but they were everywhere. Perhaps, I thought, the mullet action would attract a bass. Sure enough it did. Five minutes after I'd recast there was a sharp tweak and the line began to run swiftly out through my fingers. Should I tighten? Should I wait? The problem was solved when the bass dropped the bait - and didn't return.
The following day I went again to the same spot (the tide was almost an hour later of course). After a biteless hour, I walked back towards the car. My bait was still dangling from the rod top so, just before trudging back up the cliff, I thought I'd have a last go. Out went the fillet into the water (very murky at this point). I waited five minutes and tug, tug, away went another bass run. I waited again, I'd give this one plenty of time, the fish dropped the bait and didn't come back. Had it been a small one? Of course I had no idea how big it was and there was no point making excuses my third missed fish in as many weeks.
That was it until last weekend. Bill left me a message to say that he was going for a walk (with his spinning gear) the following morning. I rang him to ask if he would like Jonah Ladle to keep him company. He said "Yes!"
Next day I was up early and had walked the mile or so along the rocks to where Bill had suggested. I baited up my 8/0 circle with a big fillet of mackerel and flicked it out into the sea. The tide had just begun to flood. I looked back to see my pal working his way towards me, casting into each likely spot as he approached. The sea was calm and clear but the surface was rippled by a stiff breeze, it was just enough to put a bow in my braid, even with the tip ring only inches above the surface.
A few minutes later Bill arrived and stopped for a quick chat. The place we were fishing is more or less bare flat rock, and we wondered what the bass might be looking for. The only sensible answer would seem to be crabs. Bill set off to continue along his way but after going perhaps ten metres he bent down, picked something up and came back to show me. In his hand was a small shore crab - a handy snack for any bass. He made a comment that, in the years we'd fished, he had never actually seen me catch a bass on bait.
Bill set off again, this time with a bit more purpose, but he hadn't gone far when I felt a twitch on the line. The braid was plucked from my fingers and began to race out. I called that "I had a run," and my pal turned again and came back to stand beside me - camera at the ready. I was, understandably, nervous in view of recent events. I closed the bale then as the line drew tight I realised that it was only half over. What was I doing, silly old ******? However, for once the fates smiled on me, the line tightened, the rod bent and the fish was on. A miracle!
After hat it was simple, the fish was played in and slid easily ashore. We unhooked and returned it after a couple of pictures and it swam off strongly. neither of us had any more bites that morning but I didn't care. Perhaps the curse is lifted?
At last a bass on bait comes ashore.
Eureka! No monster but very satisfying.
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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