Snow Chub Madness.

 Post number 500! where has the time gone.....not a bad post to take 500th spot!

 For us "southerners" a decent drop of snow seldom happens, we get a light dusting and that's our lot. Last week that certainly wasn't the case, we finally got something worth whining about, not that I do of course. I'm happy to drive, fish and even been known to lye naked in it, so the -4c forecast did not deter me at all, infact I relished the fact it was going to be challenging.

A lovely sight for us southerners!

 How challenging? I had no idea. The roads were very bad, no grit down, the snow was compacted on the roads, everyone driving stupidly slow and to make matters worse the numerous crashes made my progress slow. Thankfully a break in the traffic allowed me to get to my chosen venue about 8am.

 Deciding on how to target the Chub was also bit of a tough one, fish static and build a swim which the feeding fish would eventually find, trickle bait in little and often, or lastly, lump in the loose feed and hope plenty of mouths were there to fill! I went with the latter and never looked back, from the very first trot on my new Greys Toreon 15ft tactical float rod I had almost non-stop action, at least for thirty minutes or so. It was the sort of session you'd hope for whilst hitting the snooze button and questioning your sanity. So glad I did as I haven't had a proper days chubbing like this in a few years at least.

 The average stamp were good too with numerous 4's and in the end four over the 5lb barrier, on a great day thats a tall order, not to mention I was dodging sheets of ice coming downstream whilst playing fish in the pacy waters. However, it wasn't just chub which put in a good show but I also managed to wangle out, rather fortuitously it has to be said, a stunning common carp in all its winter glory, splendid looking fish.

Best of the day at the bottom of the trio.

A surprise in such cold conditions. 

 As sessions go, trotting for chub, this was about as good as I could have dreamt up, the four best weighing 5.08 and two at 5.06, the fourth was over five pound but it flipped as I was unhooking it and made its way back into the icy water. These things do happen.

 So here are some fishy shots which would warm the coldest of hands, it did mine.....albeit momentarily. Also a Snipe at the end of the trip gave me my first ever sighting, nice to see.

Some of the best, I love that shot.

A lonely Snipe wading through the mud.