Gary's day

After last week's match I was not looking forward to today, however, with everywhere else frozen, it was the River or nowhere. It was a very cold start to the day with the car registering -4C as I set off and it stayed pretty much below zero in the shade all day. Thankfully though it was dry and the Backwater was sheltered from the bitterly cold wind.

On arriving I was surprised to see the Backwater had started freezing up and we just managed to find 5 pegs that were pretty much ice free for those crazy enough to be at the match today. Phil drew the short straw of peg 8 which was not as ice free as we had thought - sorry Phil.

I was up on peg 16 today - some flow but not as much depth with about 4 1/2 feet down the middle. It was a standard Backwater start for me: some breadcrumb/liquidised bread for fishing punch; a bit of worm near the boats for perch; and a few maggots/pinkies drip fed in. After 30 mins on bread punch and quick try by the boat I was biteless. This was not a good sign as bread punch is normally pretty instant. Darren down on peg 14 had managed a couple of small roach so at least there were fish present. What we had both been seeing though were plenty of pike strikes.

About 45 mins in I popped on a single white maggot and let the float run down the peg to try and find anything. Towards the bottom the float shot under and I struck into something that was not a small roach. After seeing all the pike strikes I was certain it was a pike. After a couple of minutes I had not been bitten off so thought I may as well try and get it in the net so I could move it out of my peg. I was very surprised to see a silvery flash that was not a pike as went to net it - chub! After the inevitable dive for snags near my feet it was in the landing net and looked a pretty solid 2 1/2 - 3lbs. That was going to be worth a lot of micro roach.

After the commotion I refed my peg and had a quick wander to thaw my feet. Phil had had a 4lb pike and a tiny roach but Mark on Peg 10 was getting a few perch. He was looking the man to beat today. Tony on peg 18 was struggling for a bite and Darren was busy watching pike swirl around his float.

The rest of the day was a lot less exciting and it turned into a real grueller with tiny bits of bread punch being the only thing I could get a bite on. And when I did get a fish they were tiny - they must have been 60 to the pound. I never did get a bite on maggot or even a single pinkie. I ended with a dozen small roach to add to the chub.

It was a tough day with bites at a premium and the fish that were caught being on the small side (mostly). Mark managed 9 perch in the end for 2lbs 4oz but my rogue chub was bigger than I thought and went 3lbs 11oz - I suspect it might have eaten a few of the small roach as I am sure I had a few more than were in the net. After that it was down to ounces with Darren's 20 fish coming in at 10oz for third. Hopefully next weekend we will be ice free and get a few more fish.