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).

20 October 2008.

Tiny perch and dead leaves.

I went to the river earlier this week mainly to see how my right hip stood up to the walk. All seemed to be well. It was the middle of a calm sunny day and the river was gin clear - not auspicious. Although the water looked good there were lots of dead leaves floating down - I suppose it is Autumn after all.

I began by spinning a small shallow plug bait but it was not effective. There seemed to be no suitable candidates for the lure in the surface layers and there were so many dead leaves that I was hooking one every other turn of the reel.

After giving it a reasonable try (about half an hour) I packed in and switched to a sinking bibless vibrating minnow lure. The idea was to get down a bit deeper and avoid the leaves. I decided to cover the same stretch that I'd just been plugging to see whether I was right about the lure. Sure enough within a couple of minutes I felt a fish wriggling on the end. It turned out to be a small, but beautifully marked, perch. In the next half hour I only had a couple more but all in all it was a pleasant session. Perhaps if I'd had a few small livebaits I might have done better but you can't do everything.

Got one.

Nicely hooked.

Open wide.

-and another.