Catch Fish with
Mike Ladle

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).

14 October 2005.

Carp again.

I enjoyed the carping last week so when the weather was warm and sunny with a light breeze I decided to have another go. This time I was a bit better organised and took a sizable bag of spongy Chum Mixers. When I arrived there were already quite a few people fishing but there is lots of water so finding seclusion was not a problem. Most people were legering boilies with the traditional kit - a handcart full of gear, two rods and a buzzer bar (does anyone else find that bleeping irritating?). No one seemed to be catching anything much although one chap deadbaiting for pike said he had landed a five pounder earlier. I'm still trying to find out what is in the lake complex so I chatted to one or two people as I walked round.

Eventually I reached a stretch with only one person anywhere near (the piker) and I decided to drop a few dog biscuits into various bits of margin and see what happened. It seemed dead. I walked round my baited spots (a five minute walk) three or four times and could still see the dog biscuits bobbing about among the sedges in the margin. I was just considering going home when as I reached the last swim for the fourth time I could see no baits - it seemed that they had all gone. I dropped another half-dozen into the sedges, sat down behind the screen of vegetation and waited. Sure enough, after about five minutes, there was a sucking noise and a boil right under the bank. I poked the rod tip through the sedges, lowered the baited hook onto the water, laid the rod down and held my breath (I can't help it). The anticipation was intense. After a few minutes there was another bout of swirls and sucks the rod tip jerked down and then straightened again. I retrieved to find that the bait had gone. Three more mixers on the hook. Poke the rod out again, drop the bait and look for the ripples (I've often fished for ages before I realised that the bait was dangling ten centimetres above the water). Five more breathless minutes of waiting. A boil well to the left of my bait took my attention but simultaneously the rod crashed over and I grabbed the handle to stop it being pulled in.

As I played the fish the pike angler came round to see what I had caught. When he saw me pick up my little folding net (I was too lazy to carry the big one), he kindly offered to bring his long handled net and I asked him if he would mind landing the fish for me. It slid over the rim and he dragged it onto the bank. A quick picure and back it went. I thanked the other chap and went home. A good session.

Scale perfect.