Catch fish with Mike Ladle.

Catch Fish with
Mike Ladle

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Coarse Fishing 7 December 2002

Joe's first pike.

The floods I mentioned last week are now subsiding. While the water was still very high I tried another short session spinning with my big spoon. It was almost impossible to find a suitable spot in the main river so I decided to have a go in a slack millhead. There were no real features and the water was quite deep (about 2.5 metres), but because it was clear I was confident that any pike present would be able to see the lure. On about the tenth cast I hit a fish which rushed about a bit before it was landed. As I unhooked it the edge of the gill cover slit my finger open - the pike's revenge!

A few days later I went fishing again with my pal Nigel and his son Joe. Joe is a very keen angler but had never caught a pike so we were quite keen for him to get one. The first two or three spots seemed to be devoid of fish so we decided to walk upstream until we found a good place. Sure enough, after plodging through mud and water for five minutes we saw a beautiful slack on our bank - deep and weedy with hardly any flow at all. Ideal! Joe dropped his bait, suspended under a bottle cork, into the edge and within a minute a good pike slashed at it right on the surface. Surprised by the speed of the attack Joe jerked the bait away from the fish and it missed it.

Within seconds of returning the bait to the water the pike had it again and the reel screeched as the fish took off downstream. The pike fought hard and at one point dived into a solid bed of last year's milfoil but Joe was not about to lose his first ever pike. He shifted down the bank and eased the fish out of its hidey hole before playing it to the net held by his dad. After the fish was unhooked it weighed in at twelve pounds and Joe had his picture taken before putting his fish back in the River. Fantastic!

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

INFORMATION SPOT

COARSE FISHING

December 07 2002

The mill head.

The hatches were closed so there was no flow even though the river was well over its banks.

Well hooked on the spoon.

Only a small pike but satisfying under the conditions

Joe's into a pike.

The fish tore off line like a mad thing and kept the rod well bent.

Nigel nets the fish.

It was several minutes before the fish came to the net.

On the bank.

It's no good being squeamish about mud when your fishing for river pike in times of flood.

A twelve pounder.

The fish was in excellent condition and swam off strongly when it was returned to the water.