There's not many rivers that can offer a bite regardless of the conditions so I was interested to see if my old River Gade still produced in this weather, It's all relative remember so anything would do today, gone are the days when a dozen chub would be the quarry here as it's more of a dace river now but dace would do nicely. I was hoping for a minus temperature reading in the car but it was sitting in the sun by the time I used a new found warm bag of water hack from the internet to clear the screen, instead it was a balmy 0c at 10am.
Cue temperature shot...
Half an hour later I'm at the river and it looked totally gorgeous with it's frosty banks and low sun. I started below some shallows with a little egret working above me, one minute it was there and I was thinking about a zoom shot and the next it was gone, I had no (r)egrets though
A small stick with a single red on a size 20 to 3lb bottom with the most basic of shotting was all that's needed here, the maggots were a bit old and lifeless but I've found they seem to be better in cold conditions than brand new ones. I waded out and fished a 'hole' that had a good two feet of depth (deep by Gade standards) and the first bite was welcome as a medium sized dace twisted and turned in the current, like a large spoon twisting in the sun, a blank avoided instantly.
Two parakeets made their noisy flypast for the second time as did a group of canada geese, then a kingfisher went along the sunlit rushes of the far bank catching the sun with an iridescence the parakeets could only dream of, there can't be many better sights in world wildlife, yet we have this bird, often in our towns and cities and as anglers see them in close quarters on a regular basis.
I then stopped to take some pictures of the gravels in the clear water so as to use them as reference for drawing backgrounds for my next fish drawings. Maybe I'll have a group of gudgeon on these shallows or perhaps some dace, who knows.
In the distance by the canal I could hear the constant whizz of chainsaws and upon hearing a crash saw a whole tree disappear from the skyline as if it was munched by some sort of mythical beast below. Then what looked like snow drifted across but it was fluff from the bull rushes opposite picked up in a gust of wind that was ever so cold, as was the difference when the sun went in behind even the smallest cloud. It was grateful for the sun today, "Won't be long til spring I thought" as I pulled the woolly hat over the cold ears once more.
I then had the only perch of the day, last time out on a carp pond I had a stripey close to 2lb whereas this one was closer to 2oz, It still looked great in the sun with lovely colours courtesy of the clear water.
I could and would have caught more were it not for a panic moment when I realized my wallet was gone, this left a bit of a numb possibility that it fell out by the boot of the car when I was trying to get my thermal clubfeet into the waders. Suffice to say I packed up early and retraced my steps wondering also if the elderly gent was some sort of Artful Dodger, the drive home was one of hope that it was sitting on the side at home, and thankfully it was, so all thing considered a good end to proceedings even if I did have another couple of hours fishing left in me.
The tally showed 7 roach 1 perch 23 dace and 3 chub which wasn't bad at all for 3 hour's fishing, whilst the river is past it's best it can still produce enough for a good day out, the dace were a nice mix of sizes which bodes well for the future. I know whilst it stays clean it will continue to be impossible to blank here if you set your sights low and just go for a few bites, like I say It's all relative on a river that's always dependable.
