Today, Wednesday, was definitely colder then the other day, Monday. This was confirmed when I got to the gravel pit. It was completely iced over. I believe the technical term is lidded. It wasn't the thin cat ice of Monday either. A three ounce lead was not going to smash a hole in it. I ummed and ahed over the next stop. The clay pit has a couple of feeder streams where a clear area normally remains. The estate lake can also have clear areas. I decide to head to the estate lake as it was nearer. Sure enough there was a large ice free area. I was also informed by somebody that had just come form the clay pit that, although there were clear areas. it was heavily coloured from the rubbish washed in by the streams.
I set up at the far end of the lake. Another pike angler was fishing further round. One bait was dropped next to the ice and the other straight out in front. Apart from the edge of the ice there are no obvious features to cast to, so I just moved them about occasionally. Nat that the pike were bothered. Unlike the other angler I didn't even manage a drop run. The sun came out though and raised the temperature to -1C , along with the complete lack of wind it wasn't a bad day out really. I was entertained by a mink marking it's territory on one of the trees next to me and a rather noisy biplane doing acrobatics.
Next time I go fishing it'll be next year. Lets hope the pike are a bit more cooperative then. The rivers may even be at a fishable level.
Never seen a mink
ReplyDeleteIf they all catch COVID you may never see one. They used to be very common round here years ago. They've slowly disappeared, though they've been resident on a couple of ponds near me for some time.
ReplyDelete