Frustration

We all have this sort of trip from time to time. You know -  where everything seems to go wrong! Well, that's how you tell the story to others, that 'everything went wrong'. Truth is, you got to fishing but you just didn't do as well as you'd liked. Unless you fell in or something, that is!

After a set back with my childcare arrangements we arrived at the lakes a couple of hours later than planned. We'd missed the 'golden hour' that is nearly always productive for us. That set the mood for the day really.

The rain was falling quite steadily. Not the heavy 'chucking-it-down' stuff, but the sort of constant drizzle that gets you just as wet, only on the sly. Not that we were unhappy that it was raining, quite the opposite. The thaw had finally kicked in and with this precipitation also came milder temperatures.

At first glance the lakes looked to be clear of ice. Our soggy mood lifted momentarily as we dragged our kit to the bank side. It wasn't a mobile approach today. It was all guns blazing, from situ. The plan was to fish float ledgered baits on one rod each, and leave them be, whilst having a cast around with our standard float fished deadbaits. We could cover enough water from one peg with this approach, so all the home comforts came with us today.

However, all of that went out the window when we got to the lakeside. The layer of rain on top of the ice had given the illusion of an ice free lake, but it was far from thawed out. Quite a sight actually, you could see the reflection of the sky on the ice - which was submerged under a centimeter or so of rain. Incredible.

So, plan B. I know we said that we would fish some where else today but, once again, the elements were in the driving seat. To be honest, the lock-cut did not look that promising either. You could fish it, because it wasn't covered in ice like the lakes, but it was running deep and coloured. We knew that it would be, with the thaw, and we hadn't banked on fishing it today.

With all this messing about we were soaked by now. We had on the right kit but we'd been out in rain for so long now that my coat had given up repeling water and was now soaking it up like a chamois. We didn't feel confident, but we set up by the bridge anyway. Just to get a brolly up! The weather tested Micks commitment to his new hobby to the full. Being out in the snow was fun, it genuinely was, but being wet and cold is no fun. Mick, i'm glad to say, passed his test with flying colours as he struggled on regardless.

We spread our 4 deadbaits out over the area evenly. If anything was down there it wouldn't be able to miss us. Bit of a blunderbuss approach i'll grant you. We'd normally only have one rod each here and expect action. Even though we had double that amount today, it didn't feel right.

The despondency had begun to creep in as i sat hunched under my umbrella, cursing everything from the weather to the hole in my canopy. Mick did his best to keep my chin up by lassoing the bridge a couple of times with his trebles, but it was fish we needed now to lift the spirits.

The rain eased off after a couple of hours so we moved swim to try the other side of the bridge. It felt a bit more like it now, but still there was no action. We fished as hard as we could. Changed baits, moved swims, altered depths, recited ritualistic chants - but all to no avail.

It was getting on now and the 'witching hour' was upon us. Our rigs were collecting all of the floating debris drifting down the river quite nicely. It wasn't happening. Time to go. Suddenly, something  happened. My float bobbed! Had we imagined it. It did it again. I frantically grabbed my rod and prepared to strike. The run was less than convincing. I never like to wait too long before lifting into a fish, but this one didn't seem to be doing much. Never the less, i tightened down and swept the rod towards my right shoulder. A small pike came straight to the surface and thrashed its tail in disgruntlement. The line was tight for a few seconds, before going slack as the only fish of the day returned to the murky depths of the Nene.

We probed around until it was dark and returned to the car by headtourch. It had been a tough day in tough conditions.

Next time we ARE fishing one of the lakes!