Warwickshire Avon - Cat Ice and Catapedamania

This post matches the post count of last year, 189, so with much of December still to go. Can I muster up 200 sessions ? Anyway I really do love this time of year when the skies are clear and there is a hard frost overnight. Not only does it sort the men from the boys where the fair-weather anglers are still tucked up in bed, but with the wind almost non existent, and the sun starting to rise those that brave the conditions are in for a treat.

The morning only gets better especially when a kingfisher opposite the first swim I was fishing was feeding on fish and kept popping back to its perch to make the most of the suns rays. 

Sadly I didn't have my super zoom camera as sadly the iPhone camera doesn't cut the mustard. The water temperature was nearly one degree less than 24 hours before so I knew it was going to tough to get a bite, but so what, it feels great to be bankside where as expected I had the stretch to myself.

Anyway a pike rod with a mackerel as bait fished overdepth with a float and then a link ledgered piece of bread to try and tempt a chub. I fished 4 swims in the two and half hours I was there and the pike bait was completely ignored, but with ice in the margins not unexpected. 

Eventually the 3rd swim produced a chub where I managed a perfect cast tight to some far bank cover where after ten minutes or so when on the phone to my mum, the tip jumped in to life and fish was on.

There were reeds right out in front of me so the landing of it was a rather calamity affair but eventually I teased the ice block in to my net and a blank was saved. That was my lot though and even in the big slack where I thought that was my best chance for a bite, the key was finding some cover.  

I still fancy a pike though so I might head over to an area that the probability of a bite is more than any I fish. The bait fish usually congregate there and the predators are not far behind.

Certainly these conditions can be tough going but the fish you would hope would start to get accustomed to their icy home where hopefully their grumbling bellies with get them searching out food. 

On to the next one !!!