Catch Fish with
Mike Ladle

Information Page

15 December 2003.

Joe's best pike yet.

Last weekend I went out fishing with Nigel and Joe. The idea was to fish for grayling and dace at first and then to have a go for a pike. The fact is that only Nigel and Joe fished because I have ******** my back and am trying to nurse it back to health. Anyway, I decided not to fish but to take my little camera and follow the lads about as they caught fish. A bit frustrating but there we are!

We started off by trying to catch some grayling, dace or roach. Both Nigel and Joe were float fishing with maggots as bait and within a few minutes of starting Nigel landed a roach of a few ounces so it was looking good. In fact the catch was a bit of a red herring as after that things were distinctly slow. Eventually Nigel had a grayling a bit bigger than the roach and after a couple of moves Joe landed another reasonable grayling.

By now the afternoon was wearing on and it was time to try piking. We slung the gear into the cars and drove a mile or so to another stretch where there were several good pools and where we had seen a very big fish a week or so before. Despite the conditions looking good the pike were a bit on the slow side and for half-an-hour there was no sign of life. Eventually I walked with Joe to the spot where I had seen the large fish previously. He drifted his bait round the big eddy and eventually, as it crossed a bankside bay, the float shot away. Not wanting to risk deep hooking (although it rarely happens with the circle hooks we were using) Joe tightened and the rod bent to a decent pike before springing back as the bait was neatly removed from the hook.

With only one smallish bait left Joe baited up and tried again. We thought that there was a good chance that the pike would have another go if we could locate it. There was no sign of life in the bay where the first take occorred so the bait was allowed to drift round the pool. Eventually after about ten minutes of trying, Joe plopped the bait just up current of where the pike had been lost. Within a few seconds the float submerged sharply. This time there was no mistake and the pike, nicely hooked in the jaw, rushed around the pool. When we landed it it was not the monster but a cracking fish of fourteen pounds - Joe's best yet.

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 15 2003

Float fishing.

A grayling.

A late bite.

Another grayling.

It's on!.

Dad's ready with the net.

Sigh of relief.

Slip it back.