Some Might Call It Insanity

I knew it was going to be a cold one and at -7C I wasn't to be disappointed. I briefly questioned my sanity, but then thought about the other options. Either I stay at home and find jobs to do (or more likely someone else would find jobs for me!), or go fishing. It didn't take long to decide!

With ice removed from the car, I was on my way through the Warwickshire countryside to my usual haunt of the Avon at Alveston. Any thoughts of doing anything other than Pike fishing were banished to the back of my mind. Most pegs had ice in the margins, but were perfectly fishable with a bit of thought and care.

I settled into peg 3 and deployed two deadbait rods - one with a large chunk of Sardine and the other with a Sprat. Both baits came courtesy of Morrisons fish counter. My spare freezer at home houses quite a selection of bargain basement supermarket bought baits, to complement the tackle shop deadbait purchases that Morrisons would struggle to sell! 

I didn't have to wait long for some action - in fact the first cast with the Sardine to the right hand side of the swim, resulted in a take. It looked a bit finnicky so I had to be patient to let it develop. I connected with the fish though and it came in reasonably easily. Deja vu crept into mind again,as it looked very similar to the fish Brian caught a week earlier. I removed the hooks and gave it a chance to recover in the margins while I prepared to weigh and photograph it.

I put it on to the scales just as a dog walker came by. "It's a bit cold for fishing" he said, while failing to notice me holding a lump of a fish in a dirty great net. I pointed out that the fish didn't seem all that bothered! His eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw I'd caught something. I was set up for a self take, but his dog got in the way and the fish flipped round at the wrong moment! One day I'll have to get round to posting some of my outtakes on here! Fortunately the dog walker took the camera for me and made life a little easier.

It weighed in at 10lb 2oz, which was 1oz different to Brian's fish last week. A check of the photos when I got in confirmed that it was the same fish.

I moved pegs straight away and went over to peg 4. It produced nothing, so I moved past the unfishable peg 5 and down to peg 9. It had the advantage of a nice bench, which I was able to customise with my unhooking mat for extra comfort (dry side up of course!).

I slobbed  it out for a couple of hours, but nothing showed up. A few snowflakes started to appear and reports on the radio suggested that more widespread snow was starting to push through the Midlands. As I wasn't exactly bagging up, I took the sensible option of retreating home.