Catch fish with Mike Ladle.

Catch Fish with
Mike Ladle

"HOME."

Information Page

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).

08 December 2009.

Chub on the worm.

I've still not done any fishing partly because I'm nursing my crocked knee and partly because of the weather. However, a recent email from my pal Paul Froom was interesting and I thought it might make a page worth looking at. Paul's the man who really introduced me to catching perch on plastic grubs and although we rarely meet, due to distance and to family commitments, we periodically discuss various fishing topics via emails. Like me Paul has been confined to barracks for a while so here's his story:-

Mike

Well I made it fishing at last. I had taken a day off last week with the intention of going fishing. Sadly a blocked drain had other ideas and I spent the day getting that sorted (I know the feeling well ML). However, fate has been kind and my son's football match today was cancelled so I could spend some time out after all.

After the fun I had trotting last time I was out I decided to do the same again. I had no maggots but I did have a loaf of bread in the freezer and with some trepidation I checked the large box of lobworms for the first time for nearly two months. Fate had smiled on me again and the lobworms were fine!

Bait sorted I now needed to put some tackle together. I decided to use a spit cane rod I had bought cheaply and not used since re-fitting the ferrules (hence it was cheap). The day proved to be a bit of slog. Quite bright with a strong downstream wind. River high but in its banks and coloured but not desperately so. To my great surprise I found only one other angler on the bank.

I managed one clear bite all day. A nice chub of 3lb 4oz, picture attached. I was genuinely surprised not to get more fish - I didn't think the conditions were that adverse. Drowning bread and lobworms in the slacker water I would have thought would have been more productive. Interestingly the angler I bumped in to had caught nothing and had only managed one small perch over the last few weeks.

As I was using a split cane rod I shouldn't have walked past that cattle drink swim - Mr Crabtree wouldn't have!

Paul

I asked Paul whether it was OK to use his photo and for a few more details of how he caught the chub. This is what he said:-

By all means use the photo.

I caught the fish by trotting on one of the larger carriers, i.e. not the main river. The swim was a 40 yard stretch sandwiched between two fallen trees - both trees growing out of the opposite bank. The net effect is that the trees hold the worst of the flow back and on the far bank, where there is more tree in the water, the flow is a lot slower.

It was by trotting in this steady water that I caught the fish. The take itself was at the downstream end. Bait was a lobworm and I had fed a few handfulls of liquidised bread. Interestingly I had no success fishing in real slacks and back eddies. I suspect I may have caught more by legering but I wanted to trot so I did!

Regards,

Paul

Nice one Paul! In the past I've had a few chub in similar adverse conditions by freelining lobworms in the ends of feeder streams and carriers where the main flow of the river was a bit less.

Paul's chub.

A really nice fish well deserved.