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 so if you are new to fly fishing or spinning these are the ones for you).

24 July 2006.

Not a carp.

Before I went on holiday I decided to have an hour's carp fishing. I soaked a few handsfull of Chum mixer the day before, popped them in a poly bag, grabbed the spinning rod (it doubles as my carp rod these days) tied a size eight hook on the braid and set off for the pond. When I arrived (just after mid-day) it was blazing hot and the sun was beating down - I was not too optimistic!

I walked round the edge of the lake looking for signs of activity - nothing! A few fish were basking in the open water but experience has shown that these sunbathers are often a bit too tricky for my carp fishing skills. I decided that my best bet would be to try under the shade of overhanging vegetation. I walked round again and dropped a few mixers into three or four likely spots (in fact the only places I could find with a bit of shade). I only had an hour to spare so I chose one of my baited areas and decided to give it a go. To my surprise it was not long before there were a few slurping and sucking noises under the overhanging willow branches. I flicked the baited hook (three mixers) in under the bank and waited. As usual the fish fed on everything but my hookbait and it was a good ten minutes before the rod whanged over to a good pull.

It would be nice to say that I landed a decent carp but it turned out to be a surface feeding tench. I had no more bites but watching the action round my freebies showed that most of the other feeding fish were also tench - fascinating!

I like fishing in snaggy places and in weather like this (blazing sunshine) shaded spots often seem to provide the best chance of a fish during the heat of the day. However, clubs and water managers are always keen to provide as many 'swims' as possible which often involves chopping back overhanging trees and cutting gaps in reed beds. The fact that I struggled to find feeding fish on this trip was largely due to the assiduous 'bank trimming' during the close season. Of course it's not possible to please everyone and I realise that I'm in a small minority when it comes to searching out inaccessible fishing spots.

My pitch.

Tench.