Catch Fish with
Mike Ladle

Information Page

Freshwater Fishing

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 several 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. As you see I also add the odd piece from my friends and correspondents if I've not been doing much. 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).

Thinlips on the feed.

There are not too many fish that feed best in, hot, sunny, clear water conditions. Two or three wrasses I suppose and the various species of mullet seem to be the exceptions. This makes these fish especially valuable to the angler because it means that you can realistically hope for decent fish when you're resticted to trips in the heat of a summer's day.

Anyway, followers of the blog will know that I've been trying to catch thinlipped mullet from the freshwater of my local rivers lately. I started off by making the mistake of thinking that I'd needed to anchor the baited spinner (a wooden Devon seemed like a good idea for this) out near the fish. I was wrong. As it turned out straightforward spinning with a traditional baited spoon was much more effective. The fish would chase my lures downstream, upstream or across the flow, in the thinnest, fastest flowing stretches, with equal gusto and often the best bites/catches came as the lure had just hit the water and begun to spin.

On my latest trips I was catching fish anywhere that I could find them. This was not always as easy as it sounds because the number of mullet in the river seemed to ebb and flow almost by the hour. Nevertheless I caught a lot and they ranged up to three or four pounds with an average weight of perhaps two and a half. One thing I noticed was that the mullet seemed to fight harder when the water was warmer - possibly because it upped their metabolic rate. Of course, in the fast flowing water with weeds pumping out oxygen there was always plenty of this gas to keep the mullet's gills and muscles well supplied however high the temperature.

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

Gerrup!!!

Still going.

Tired.

Got it.

Quick picture.

-and another.

Beautiful.