Catch Fish with
Mike Ladle

Information Page

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 so if you are new to fly fishing or spinning these are the ones for you).

13 July 2007.

MIKE'S ON HOLIDAY FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS _ BACK IN AUGUST.

Small chub and perch.

Following all the recent rain the local rivers have been high and dirty. By yesterday they were just beginning to clear so I went out for a spot of plugging - more in hope than in expectation.

Unusually (for me) I decided to use a very small balsa plug. I'd changed the trebles on it but the new ones are just slightly too large and tend to hook themselves together occasionally - a bit of a nuisance. Anyway, it turned out that of all the suitable looking spots on the river only one was productive. It was a wide shallow pool with lots of overhanging trees on the far bank. I certainly had more bites in the pool than in the other nine or ten spots that I tried. In fact I landed five chub and three perch from the hot spot and only one perch from anywhere else. A chap who was bottom fishing with sweetcorn only had a couple of small trout so I was well pleased with my result, even though the biggest fish was barely two pounds.

The fish seemed to be everywhere in the pool and in most cases I had a bite when I cast into a new area. Generally I had to rest each spot for a few minutes after having a bite if I wanted another bite. The perch were all small and the chub were a wide range of sizes although none were large.

The tree-lined far bank.

First chub.

The same fish.

and a perch.

and a small chub.