Catch fish with Mike Ladle.

Catch Fish with
Mike Ladle

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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).

Trouting.

From the 15th of May you're allowed to spin for seatrout and trout in my local rivers. I enjoy a spot of lure fishing for spotty fish so I managed a couple of short sessions this week. Just before that I'd been trying for carp off the top in a small lake but all I managed to catch was a tench with a damaged tail which sucked in the crust like a vaccuum cleaner.

Anyway, to the trout fishing. My very first cast with a Rapala produced a bite and a small pike which I was able to shake off without lifting it from the water. Shortly afterwards I caught my a little trout so I was quite encouraged. Apart from a couple more bites (one was quite a good fish which leapt and shook free almost at once) that was that.

The following day, after lunch, I went to a different river. I used exactly the same tactics, with a little spinning rod, twenty pound Nanofil and a J9 black and silver Rapala. On my previous session all the fish (even the baby pike) had been in fast, shallow water so I concentrated on similar spots. I started by casting upstream and winding back at speed to keep the lure working. On about the third cast I had a bite which appeared to be a small perch but it wriggled off before I could get a good look. Next chuck a trout took the lure as it arrived under the rod tip. It splashed and wriggled about in typical trouty fashion until I took its picture and set it free. Excellent. I varied my retrieves from 'straight downstream' to 'straight upstream' with the odd cast across to the far bank. All three tactics produced trout although I probably lost as many as I landed because they do squirm about a lot.

The only variation was when a crashing bite under the far bank proved to be a big chub which I was able to release without taking it from the water. All in all it was a successful trip with lots of trout caught. The best fish was roughly one-and-a-half pounds but the escaped leaper on my first session was probably twice that weight. There were no seatrout in my total but I caught trout fairly regularly and they were all in mint condition so, combined with the beautiful weather it was a satisfactory start to my season. Of course the fish were a lot smaller than those taken by my pal Alan in New Zealand but that's only to be expected. All I need now to regain my 'bragging rights' down under is a monster from the saltwater.

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

Tiny tench.

This one had no trouble engulfing a crust.

First trout.

Not very big but attractive all the same.

Different river different fish.

Yet another lovely trout.

Nice nick!

This one was a real fatty.

Spotted.

Interesting variation in pattern.  I had a couple more that looked like this.