Two Days - Two Rivers - Two Blanks

Thursday morning awoke up to a rather cold morning, as expected. What wasn't expected was the half inch layer of crispy frozen snow. After a vigorous warm up removing it from the car window I was on my way to the river. I'd intended to fish three or four swims, but the river was, unexpectedly, higher than normal and the steep icy banks would have made landing a fish somewhat fraught. Instead I opted to remain in the one swim for the day. With a slack down stream of some dying weeds and a larger one between trailing branches on the far bank it seemed a reasonable proposition. Unfortunately the pike weren't been reasonable. Nothing bothered the baits at all. With the temperature hovering around zero all day there wasn't even any interesting wild life to watch either, apart from the obligatory robin.

Friday's weather was different again. For most of the day I didn't need my big coat, despite the wind. The biggest problem of the day was forgetting my clip-ons, as I was facing the sun which was also reflecting off the water. The banks were back to their greasy muddy best. This time I did fish several different swims as I was on a different length and the match anglers had dug out some easily accessible swims. This tactic was no better than stopping still though. I did have one run around lunch time where the float shot up stream for ten feet or so parallel to the bank before stopping. I wound down to feel nothing, so gave the bait a bit of twitch. I tried this three times hoping it may induce a take before winding in. The bait was intact, not a scale dislodge. Probably a liner, maybe.

I don't suppose we will ever know if stopping in one swim or moving about is the best option on any given day. There again it doesn't matter either way if the fish aren't feeding. Three Blanks in a row is not good though.