If you are reading this then I hope you have had a merry Christmas and enjoyed the time with family as best you could. I can say that I had a great couple of days and the weather was nice for a couple of walks too. I have a little match to fish at Hillview on Wednesday, and when I found out that there was an open on the bank holiday Monday I decided to fish that as a little practice. Though the match on Wednesday is on canals 1, 2 and 3, the match day was put on the 2 lakes and canals 3 and 4.
I got up Monday morning and saw that it had snowed and was snowing further up country and around Gloucester, I rang Neil Mercer and he was on his way, and suggested he would give it a couple of hours and if no bites go home. As I drove up all was clear, and then as I passed Gloucester the snow began to appear and I was soon down to 40 mph on the motorway. When I puled in at the fishery the snow was already thick on the ground and it was still falling quite heavy.
I wanted to draw on the canal to have a practice, and was glad I got my wish when peg 93 was pulled out for me, on canal 4. It was a bit of a yomp pushing the trolley in the snow and mud, and I was very warm when I got to the peg. I was gutted to see that the snow was actually settling on the water and a slush / ice was formed all over my peg yet it seemed most of my canal was free from this. I scooped out what I could from my bank and then the far bank, it was weird stuff, like soft ice. I was wondering how the hell the fish would feed in such cold water. I took a photo and a video of the conditions but after this the phoned pretty much stayed in my pocket.
Suffice to say I have not fished in conditions like this since I don't know when, and as you can imagine it was very cold, about 1C, and I had to put my brolly up to keep the snow off me. I had team mate Shaun Townsend on my right, he was on the end peg 95 or 96. I didn't know the angler to my left, and to be fair what with masks and then snoods / scarves it was hard to tell who anyone was! At the opposite end of my canal was Martin Reyat who has being doing well up here, he was 84. I wasn't going to set up lots of rigs as I could only see maggots and bread being worthwhile hook baits. A 4x12 Des Shipp F1 for 5m, and the same for 10m, both had 0.10 accu power to 18 GPM. My dobbing rig set up with 0.12 accu to 16 GPM.
I'm not sure if the match started a bit early or I was just last getting ready but both myself and Shaun started late. The guy to my left had a fish straight away, and the guy on peg 70 on canal 3 was getting one a bung. The snow slush ice had reformed across and I could not start there dobbing so began at 10m on maggots. I was happy to get off the mark with a 2lb carp from my first bite, and was soon playing another smaller fish which was an F1. I probably had 7 or 8 fish here when it began to slow right up, but this coincided with the slush moving down with a little breeze, and both my 5m and 10m swims were covered. I cleared what I could with a pole cup but the rig wouldn't get through, so I picked up the dobbing rig as the far bank was clear now. Shaun had struggled to start but into the second hour he had a good run of carp dobbing, I managed to find a few small ones and a couple of F1's but it was slow and I think the carp were there but really not feeding as I fouled a few, some I landed. The snow was settling on my pole, and when I shipped in or out the snow went through my hands which really chilled them.
After about 2 1/2 hours the snow had turned to rain and the breeze was stronger, this cleared the slush away as it melted, but it seemed to make the fishing hard and I caught virtually nothing for an hour. My hands were absolutely froze now, and I had to cover them to warm them so I could hook my bait, and I snapped a couple of hook lengths when unhooking fish as I could not feel my fingers. The last 90 minutes I managed to get a few fish back at 10m and also at 5m finally, but I couldn't line up more than 2 or 3 fish, whereas other anglers had managed to plunder a line it seemed at times, though Shaun had struggled after his one good hour, and was catching odd small fish.
When the match was over I grabbed some food and hot coffee that I had with me, then attempted to pack up and not get everything covered in snow and mud. I wasn't going to win anything today but quite honestly I was more than happy to get some bites and fish given the conditions, and I think I learned a little to, we will see lol. I weighed in 45lb which meant I got beat both sides, Shaun having 50lb, and the guy on my left had 68lb which won the canal as it turned out, he said he had 20lb in the first hour at 5m, then he caught more fishing up against an aerator. On the opposite canal the guy on 70 won the match I think with 82lb, again a mix of maggot and bread.
I must admit I was amazed at the weights that came out on the canals today, I can think of lots of venues that would be a struggle to get a bite. I enjoyed fishing in the snow (except for the cold lol) and was glad I made the effort, I'll need to up my game on Wednesday to do any good, some more prep needed I feel, as well as cleaning the gear!
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