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Images: Mark Hoffman and Alan Ang Several times recently I’ve ventured out onto the flats at dawn and encountered foggy conditions. On the first occasion it was a thick “pea souper” with low visibility and two of us only hooked one fish in the entire session. Interestingly the fish took as the fog was finally starting to lift but it was an isolated incident as … Continue reading UNDERSTANDING FOG AND HOW IT AFFECTS FISHING
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Text: Mike Ladle Lead image: Paul Smith The tides, the weather, and the manner in which these effect the sea are crucial to understanding the behaviour and feeding patterns of sea fishes. The tides are due to a double bulge of water, on either side of the earth, caused by the attraction of the moon. If the moon was stationary in relation to the rotation of … Continue reading USING TIDES TO PREDICT WHEN TO FISH
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Featured image: Al Barnes. One of the most important skills to learn as an angler is peripheral awareness. That is, training yourself to spot things in your peripheral vision which alert you to the movement of actively feeding fish. This was brought home to me yesterday when I was on the flats with another experienced fisherman. During the course of the session I managed to … Continue reading IMPROVING YOUR ABILITY TO SPOT FISH
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Lead image: Paul Smith One of the most important things to understand before venturing onto the rocks, flats or in a boat to go fishing is tidal movement. Many anglers, especially those with no marine background or those new to the sport, assume that the tide comes in and goes out at a constant rate. This is definitely not the case and it is very … Continue reading TIDES AND SAFETY – THE RULE OF TWELFTHS
Text: Mike Ladle Featured Image: Scott Gray Many years ago fisheries biologist, Mike Ladle, and four of his UK angling friends set out to determine the relative success of various methods of fishing in salt water and whether fishing with lures was as successful as fishing with bait. All of the anglers were skilled bait and lure fishermen. They designed an experiment to ensure that … Continue reading ARE LURES MORE EFFECTIVE THAN BAIT?
When Dr Mike Ladle was in NZ recently we had a discussion on how he targets large bass with cut baits in very shallow water. This is a technique that he has perfected and it came about largely by accident. One day when he was making his way home just after dawn he disturbed a huge bass close to the shore in calf deep water. … Continue reading RUBBER BAND BAIT FEEDER
I recently wrote an article on the importance of adjusting the reel drag during the fight, especially when the fish has taken a lot of line off the spool. If you want to understand the reason why then click on:- WHY YOU SHOULD ADJUST THE REEL DRAG DURING THE FIGHT It is common practice for anglers to set the drag at 25 – 33% of … Continue reading HOW TO SET THE REEL DRAG PROPERLY
There really is nothing quite like strolling out with a long rod for a cast and enjoying the setting sun. A few fish provide the icing….. Continue reading GALLERY – EVENING SURFCAST
Text: Mike Ladle Lead image: Paul Smith In this article Mike Ladle describes some fascinating experiments undertaken to see what senses fish use to locate and identify prey and explains how anglers can use this information to improve their success rates. While much of the information relates to UK fish species the general principles will probably also … Continue reading WHY A FISH TAKES THE BAIT
In this article Dr Mike Ladle looks at what the fish species around the UK feed on. Many of the food sources mentioned are actually present in New Zealand, even the lugworms and sandeels. The interesting thing however, is that they are rarely sighted or used as bait. This is perhaps an exciting opportunity for surfcasters and bait fishermen to exploit. Remember that NZ is six months out of … Continue reading WHAT FISH EAT AND WHEN
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