Ice Fishing

Arrived at the lake to find ducks and coots wandering about on it, when they should have been swimming. A couple of circuits confirmed that there was thick ice in all bar one swim. In the past I've done quite well, here, in these sort of conditions. There was enough room for three baits to go out under floats. One in front, right up to the edge of the ice. One in the margins and one under a tree to my left.

After the baits were thawed out oils were added and as there wasn't much room the baits remained were they landed. They front float was the first to fall over. It trundled straight into the edge of the ice and jammed, by the time I'd wound down there was nothing there except a slightly mangled bait. A bit more oil and it went back out in the same spot. The left hand rod was the next to go and this time I latched on to what felt like a good fish. Twice I managed to turn it away from the roots and debris under the tree. Unfortunately the third time it managed to snag a branch. After a bit of heaving I managed to retrieve the branch but not the pike. Annoyingly I'd made up some single hook traces for fishing these sort of spots, but didn't put one on.

I'm never quite sure which is more annoying, a blank or losing a decent fish. I suppose if a fish is hooked and lost you do at least know you were using the right tactics.