Am I too late ?... search for a pike in the snow

I love fishing in the snow, I've not done it too many times, but enough to know I enjoy the ethereal atmosphere that it creates. The quiet stillness seems to heighten the senses as the white world around you allows wildlife to be seen where it is usually hidden. Some of the bird life I saw flying around me seemed to have much whiter underwings than usual, but this was most likely due to the reflected light from the snow more that an overnight growth of winter camouflage plumage. A pair of buzzards circling around all morning were the most strikingly effected by this phenomenon.

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I headed out early- ish this morning but decided to stay local due to the treacherous road conditions created by last nights snowfall. The river Anker is less than 10mins drive away, especially at 7:00am on a quiet Sunday morning. So that was where I headed in search of my new obsession this winter, the pike.
This stretch of the river is stuffed with pike ( if you believe the match anglers that fish it) stuffed or not there are definitely enough in there to make it a worthwhile effort trying for them.  I've had a few here already this winter, nothing massive but I'm happy to keep giving it a go now and again on the off chance of something decent turning up.

The water looked that lovely bottle green colour that in winter means it should produce?   I always get that extra little boost in confidence when it's that colour although it doesn't always mean I will catch.
I headed to the top of the stretch with the plan of working my way back down trying all likely looking spots along the way. After trying a few spots that were unproductive I started to wonder if the continuous drip drip of snow slowly melting and dropping from the banks and overhanging branches could be having an effect on the fishing already?

Any minute now....!

Sadly this seemed to be the case as even the banker swims failed to produce even a sniff of a take. Something must have been putting them off feeding today, whether it was the snow melt starting to take effect in the river or a general change in temperature I was destined to blank again. Looks like I might have been a day too late getting my "pike in the snow" shot for the blog.