Catch fish with Mike Ladle.

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 four 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. 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).

30 June 2005

Not quite what I wanted!.

I knew it was a good evening for fishing. A recce the previous week had shown me that there were tonnes of maggoty weed along the beach. The weather had calmed down and warmed up and it was a big spring tide with high water at about 9pm. My opinion was confirmed as I walked along the beach. My pal Stewart and his wife were both plugging away, a bit further along there were three other blokes spinning and fly fishing, my friend Nigel was already flogging away and Adrian was out in his new kayak with his landing net and plugging rod. A little later another friend, Brian, arrived. Clearly we were all of one mind. It's a long beach so it did not seem crowded but, disturbingly, there was no sign of fish, even though the tide was already well in.

I began to fish near Nigel and for a while we cast and retrieved our plugs. There was a bit of weed in the water which periodically clogged up the lures but the sea was calm and, on the whole, conditions were good. Back by the fly fishermen a few mullet were priming and surface feeding but they were not thick on the ground and were a good distance from the water's edge. To cut a long story short, we were all wrong and no one was getting bites.

About half-an-hour after I started I, at last, had a bite and found myself attached to a fish. Ominously my quarry did not come to the surface and I was soon convinced that it was a ballan wrasse. Sure enough it quickly gave up the ghost and I landed and returned a decent wrasse. At least it was a fish. Encouraged we flogged on, still with no sign of bass. About twenty minutes after the first bite I had another (both on the Maria plug that I'm still testing) and this time the rod arched over and line began to pour off the reel. I shouted to Nigel that "This is a good fish!" and he put down his rod and joined me to watch the fun. The fish was battling away and I was fairly convinced that at last I was into a decent bass as it made a couple more runs against a fairly tight clutch. I should have guessed! Again the fish refused to surface and our suspicions were roused. Sure enough it turned out to be a wrasse - but a big one. Four or five pounds in weight and a beautiful greenish colour. The fish certainly fought as well as many bass so it was hard to be disappointed as I returned it to the water. In fact my two wrasse turned out to be the only fish that anyone had that evening. Astonishing!

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

My first wrasse.

These fish really do take plugs well.

....and the big one!.

This is the third and largest wrasse since I started using my Maria plug - obviously it's a reasonable lure for these fish.

Another shot.

Notice the chunk out of its tail.  ? Nipped by another wrasse?