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).

Spinning and trotting.

After we'd been fishing last week my pal Richard gave me a couple of his little Rooster Tail spinners to try. They are clearly very effective for perch and small pike and I thought that they might work well for seatrout too. On my next trip the new spinner was attached to the little wire trace. I walked the river bank generally casting upstream and spinning it back fast enough to keep it working with the flow - always a good technique. Since the lure was made of metal it sinks and so it was easily possible to fish deeper than with my usual Rapala. As a result I was able to search some of the deeper pools where I usually just scratch the surface.

Sure enough the little spinning blade tempted fish and it wasn't long before I had a jack and shortly afterwards another one. Nigel who was fishing with me was using a large soft plastic Slandra. Not surprisingly the fish attracted to his lure were distinctly larger - well into double figures, unfortunately they all avoided the hook. After the jacks I had a couple of seatrout of no great size but as usual they were lively little devils jumping and cartwheeling all over the place.

We enjoyed our fishing so much that we decided to have another go a couple of days later. The river was still very low and gin clear. This time Nigel opted to trot maggots for grayling using his centrepin reel and he did very well with the best part of a dozen fish up to two pounds nine ounces in weight. He also had a couple of decent trout. I stuck to the little spinner again and this time I only landed one small seatrout but I did have a brief contact with a nice salmon and a close follow from a double figure seatrout - both in the deeper runs that I was able to comb with the spinner. All in all very satisfactory and encouraging for next time.

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

My new Mitchell Mag Pro reel and Nanofil line still doing the business.

Rooster tail.

Just a Mepps with a feather on it really.

Seatrout.

The best of the two that I caught on the first session.

Trotting.

Nigel fishing a nice run with his centrepin outfit.

Small grayling.

He was soon into fish on the float fished maggots.

Back it goes.

Carefully unhooked and returned.

Best of the day.

Two pounds nine ounces - not a bad grayling anywhere.