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).

Home again!

It's always a bit of an effort to venture out into the cold after a tropical holiday. However, yesterday the weather forecast was for a relatively warm day to precede a cold snap so I thought I'd better venture out while I had the chance. I had no bait handy so the best bet seemed to be spinning for pike. I hung a big spoon on the spinning rod and set off down the river. Almost from the first cast it was clear that the spoon was too heavy for the shallow slacks that I intended to fish (I should know better) so I removed it and replaced it with a big Slandra. These lures, which I made up for bass fishing, have a fantastic action even on the slowest retrieve, they cast well and they sink very slowly.

On my first cast I had a bite which produced a tug and a big swirl in the shallow water. The fish wasn't hooked and inspection showed that there was a scale over the point of the hook. The fish refused to come again so, encouraged, I moved on. For the next hour I had no more bites but I was confident that it was the right lure to use. I reached a deep, slow glide and after casting allowed the lure to swing back slowly towards my bank. Wallop!!! The rod arched over as a good fish took the weedless lure and hooked itself. Line zuzzed off against the clutch and the fish fought like a tiger. It was probably five minutes before I managed to persuade the fish to slide into my net. Lift it out, take a couple of pictures, unhook it, weigh it and slip it back into the water. Not a bad reintroduction to fishing in the cold.

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

Nice one!

Slandra.