Catch fish with Mike Ladle.

Catch Fish with
Mike Ladle

"HOME."

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).

Easy carp.

You might think that after all my years of fishing I would understand fish but I don't. The day after Richard and I went to Worbarrow (see latest Saltwater page) he left to catch his train up to London and I decided to go carp fishing. My last few trips have all produced carp but it hasn't been easy. The fish were never keen to take my bits of breadcrust either on or off the hook. This time it was different.

I won't go into details of each fish caught but in about an hour-and-a-half I landed four and missed three more. Seven good bites in a shortish session - unbelievable! Two of the fish were well into the teens of pounds and one of the others was also a decent size, only the last fish was fairly small (perhaps six pounds). It didn't seem to matter how I fished although in areas of fairly open water (with just a few reeds to drape the line over) the fish sometimes took ten minutes to grab the bait. Among the lily pads they usually took it in a minute or two at most.

Anyway, the whole session made a refreshing change, particularly after the slow sea fishing recently. Perhaps things are looking up!

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

First one.

A nice common taken from open water and ready to be landed.

In the net.

A bit better view in the net.

Another.

This one's a nice fat mirror.

-and another.

I had a bit of trouble picking this one up to have its picture taken.

The last one.

Taken from a patch of lily lives - small but beautifully marked..