Catch fish with Mike Ladle.

Catch Fish with
Mike Ladle

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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 September 2009.

No chub or perch.

It was a lovely sunny afternoon and I just fancied catching a few chub or perch. I armed the spinning rod with a short trace of 15lb wire and a small, slow sinking, shallow diving, plug and set off for a stretch of river that I hadn't fished for over a year. The first access point was just downstream of a bridge and, as is often the case, there was a deep pool with strong inflows just below the stonework. Not a sign - the omens were not good. I plodded on downstream fishing wherever I could manage a cast (there were lots of reeds and weeds). For ten or fifteen minutes I saw nothing at all then I came to a wide shallow riffle. I flicked the plug down and across and as I began the retrieve a large bulge appeared behind it and followed for a goodfive metres before subsiding. Despite the polaroids I couldn't make out what had followed (chub or trout I thought) and on the next cast there was no repeat. My next cast was straight down the middle and again there was a bulge of water(smaller than before), this one connected withthe plug and I landed a modest brown trout in mint condition - better than nothing!

I had no more bites so I moved on downstream. On the next lot of shallows I missed my third 'bulge' and again it refused to have another go - bugger! Now I came to a long deep slow stretch. I let the plug sink a bit before winding it back but the water was so clear and calm that I could see every inch of its progress. A green shape appeared some distance behind the lure and closed the gap so quickly that I had no time to think. The rod whanged over and I was into a pike. The fish ploughed about picking up masses of plants in the process and I had to slide down the bank with the pliers to unhook it. The plug was well inside the pike's mouth so it took me a couple of minutes to unship the small trebles from its gill arches. I hate catching pike on small multi-hooked lures and I would have cheerfully jerked the plug away from it if I'd been quick enough. Anyway, it emphasised the need for a wire trace. I had no more bites - no chub or perch but an interesting session.

Trout.

Trout are ready takers of small plugs in shallow gravel runs.

Blooming pike!

These fish really are a nuisance when you use small lures.  This one picked up a pile of weeds on its way in.