In the snow ...

I've had two short little sessions in the snow so far this winter, both have been blanks but it hasn't put me off trying again while the severe conditions persist.

Today's little trip out to the River Anker was with the intention of trotting for a few roach, but with a sleeper rod out in the deep margin for any pike that might be stirred from the bottom by an hors d'oeuvre of sardine or roach.
Most of the margin was covered in ice to more than a rods length out in places.  Luckily I found a swim where there was good depth and cover to my left where it would be safe to land any decent fish hooked.

The ice froze in my rod rings and without any glycerin I was forced to try the grease from my face and nose to fend off the ice. Surprisingly it worked a little but soon the ice returned and the process had to be repeated again.

On the way home I stopped by at my parents where I managed to get a bottle of glycerin from mom, bless her, she said she'd had it years and couldn't think of when she would ever use it anyway. It was probably past its best for icing but would still be ideal a rod de-icer.

Just needs a 2lb Roach and this picture's complete !



As dusk started to draw in,  I called it a day and headed back into the warm 

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Victims of the ice...

Just a little mention in honour of my two koi that sadly died over the last week. The garden pond has been frozen over for a number of weeks now and this has coincided with my pump packing up just before the cold weather kicked in.  Interestingly it's only the Koi that have been affected, the two commons and an orange ghostie are fine at the moment, as are the tench and all the goldfish.  I have stepped up my efforts to aerate the water though by maintaining several holes at intervals throughout the day.

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A cold and sobering morning on the Dove




Waiting in vein

I fished the Dove on the morning after our bloggers night out.  After arriving about 8am I soon discovered I had forgotten my reel that I'd taken the trouble of reloading with new 3lb line,  ready for trotting a float after grayling.  Thankfully I'd bought  a feeder set up which was cast out with maggots in earnest.

A pike rod was also cast out after a while into the slack opposite me and also down the margins, but neither rods produced any sign in the two hours I spent fishing.