I had promised myself another trip to the river this weekend.           Watching the weather a week before the trip, it did not appear encouraging. Easterly winds all week, and possible snow by the weekend. Thursday came and went, Friday came and went, and the forecast did not change, Sunday was going to be very cold and windy.

I awoke on Sunday morning to a leaden sky and the sound of the wind howling down the chimney. What am I doing, I thought? Only an idiot would go out fishing in this weather. The thing was that I had psyched myself up all week to go fishing on Sunday, no matter what, I was determined to go fishing, even if it was two degrees with a wind-chill factor of minus four!

Car packed, and with extra layers of clothing, extra jumpers and jackets. The moment I turned the key to start my car the snow began. Fortunately, it was very fine snow and did not trouble me.

I was looking forward to my two and a half hours Sunday drive to the river. On my journey, I could see the tops of the hills were pure white. Should I turn around, go back home, light the log burner and put the kettle on? Drinking tea all afternoon in front of the fire would be very appealing, but I had some fishing to do!

After a detour to a tackle shop to purchase some bait, I arrived near the river. Parked up, unloaded the rods, put on another jumper,  a jacket and made my way across the fields to my destination. I know of a stretch of river that is accessible down a small bank. Here I had hoped to be out of the wind. When I arrived I was very pleased to see that my intentions were correct, and indeed the wind was blowing over the top of the bank above my head. Down at river level I was actually quite comfortable.

I had brought along with me a new trotting reel, an ‘Adcock Stanton’ that I was keen to try out. Not a true ‘pin’, as it is assembled with ball bearings, but I was amazed at how well I could Wallis Cast with it, getting a little too close to branches on the opposite side of the river on more than one occasion.

I tried trotting a worm down the swim. I tried trotting a bunch of maggots down the swim. I even tried the deadliest of Roach baits ‘bread’, none were successful. It did enable me to try out this reel though, which I was very pleased about. I also enjoyed being by the river, despite the cold and the high winds.

I had brought along with me my new Aerial reel that I was also very keen to try out. My lake is about a half hour drive from the river, so after about two hours on the river, I packed up and made my way up to the lake where I would try for a winter lake roach, or even a winter Crucian.

Picture of fishing rod in its rod rest with Brady bag and a box of maggots

Picture of a Fred J Taylor fishing rod with Allcocks Aerial fishing reel sitting in a rod rest

Again, when I got too the lake there were plenty of swims where I could get out of the wind. The lake looked very different now that all the lily pads had died back.

The new Aerial looks very good on my Fred J Taylor Roach rod, even though it did not spin once today and my landing net remained bone dry.

On my way from the lake, I stopped by a local Inn and treat myself to a Sunday carvery. This warmed me up nicely. I drove home elated that I had made the effort , and was surprised that I had enjoyed the cold day so much.