Three Nil

With river having dropped well into it's banks I had a choice of venues. Breaking the ice at the gravel pit or sliding down precipitous icy river banks. I chose the later., mainly because I suspect it'll be on the rise again by next week as things start to thaw out. As I arrived at the empty parking area the was some obvious heat in  the sun despite the fact it was still zero degrees. Three deer were grazing in the distance. It was only when they moved that I realised what they were. Too far away for a phone pic The big coat was strapped to the ruckbag as it wasn't needed on the walk to the river. In fact it wasn't needed all morning.  My plan was to start at the upstream end of the stretch and work my way downstream until lunch, then work back upstream revisiting the swims. I intended to give each swim forty minutes to an hour.

Tactics were a float fished roach near any over hanging trees and a half mackerel over the near side shelf. The ground was rock solid, banksticks were out of the question unless I happened on a half brick or similar. The swims were OK as well, the steps were still flat and been frozen easy enough to get up and down. After forty minutes in the first swim I saw my first pike as it grabbed the roach just as I was about to lift it out of the water. After a few seconds it came adrift. A new bait was cast out and I gave it another thirty minutes, but nothing showed. I suspect it had felt the hooks. Things were rather uneventful as I worked my way through the swims.

After lunch I found the roach bait snagged. Now nine times out of ten the forty five pound braid either bends the hooks or pulls a big branch out. This time it snapped at the knot with remarkable ease. I tied on another rig and stuck the hook on a fence and gave it a good pull. All seemed solid enough, I'd certainly applied more pressure than it took to snap the braid earlier. I did the same with the other rod and all appeared OK. The temperature was now four degrees, but with in half an hour the sun had disappeared, a very chilly breeze had got up and there were a few snow flakes getting blown about.

Eventually I was back at the first swim. As I sat having a cuppa the float started to jiggle about. It took me a little while to realise it was a bite. A strike met with solid resistance then back came the bait. A remarkably intact trout. I'd run out of roach as I'd only put two in the bag for some reason. I decide to stick it out until home time. Twenty minutes later the same thing. This time I didn't get my bait back. I moved the mackerel to the tree I'd got the bites near, but nowt else showed any sign of interest. It was now minus 1 degrees.

At least I'd got some runs even if they didn't stick. I have had good look at the hooks and they seem sharp enough. I've certainly landed pike on far worse. Pike are quite good at falling off hooks, even after you've played them for some time. One thing though, I've got the action cam to work in the cold by plugging it into a power pack which is kept in an inside pocket so doesn't get cold.