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).

Mixed fishing.

It's ages since I used proper blade spinners and I'd almost forgotten how good they can be. My pal Richard often fishes with little Rooster Tail lures when he's after perch and they are very successful. He gave me a couple to try and they were certainly effective. They cast well, the spinning blade has a lot of water resistance so not only can you feel if it's working but you can fish quite slowly. Lastly, because they sink, they are easy to fish near the bottom, this is particularly useful in deeper water where my little balsa plugs (magic in the shallow and fast flowing water) fail to get down.

Anyway I decided that a normal Mepps should be just as effective and I wanted something a bit bigger so I bought a couple of size threes. In order to damp down the tendency for line twist I added a little tuft of fibre to the treble of the Mepps so effectively it became a slightly bigger version of the Rooster Tail. I popped my modified lures into the box and forgot about them.

On my next perch livebaiting session I couldn't catch any middle sized baits. My maggots were taken either by decent sized roach or by minnows. I used the minnows to start with and caught one or two smallish perch then I remembered the Mepps and thought I'd try spinning for a change. First cast I was into a perch. It wasn't a monster but it was bigger than the ones I'd been catching on minnows. I landed several more and then the lure was taken by a jack pike. Typically the pike engulfed the lure and even with the flattened barbs on the treble it was a bit of a fiddle to release it.

I moved on upstream to try a few different spots and fished shallower streamy water to try and avoid pike. I was casting up and across and retrieving quickly with the flow. The outcome was a couple of reasonable seatrout and a tiny browny all nicely hooked. The seatrout put up lively shows leaping repeatedly before I could land and release them. Three species on the spinner's first outing. All in all a successful trial for my Mepps. Perhaps I ought to try a size 4 or 5?

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

Livebait?

Perch.

Better.

Better still.

Jack.

Small seatrout.

Browny.

Better seatrout.

Closer.