Icy Success

A break in the damp, dank weather was forecast, with a bit of sun too, despite very low temperatures. 

Me and The Chubmeister General headed to a little river on the edge of a town in pursuit of roach ( him ) and dace ( me ).

Actually, TCG wanted to get some underwater camera shots of the roach and with the river being pretty clear it seemed a good opportunity.

Leaning over what remained of the bankside vegetation, we peered into the shallow water and sure enough saw the roach. All sizes with a few well over a pound.

I left TGC to his camera work, donned the chest waders and made my way upstream with the little eight footer.

The water here is probably eighteen inches deep maximum, the main flow pushes through very quickly and there is an inviting crease where slacker water gathers.

With it being so cold I thought the crease might produce but no, first run down in the fast water and the float shot under, and a dace, darting and twisting, was bought to hand.

The next hour or two resulted in a bite most casts, with the best couple pushing double figures. Real clonkers for round here.

The water was up to my thighs and I was getting colder by the minute, but I kept saying "one last cast" and by the time I climbed out I was frozen.

TCG failed to get his roach shots, the fish drifted off as the camera gear was lowered into their territory. 

On hearing about my success he eased himself into the river and walked upstream in search of dace. Unfortunately, he immediately discovered a large hole in his waders and aborted the mission with one leg full of freezing water.

I went back to the car for another coat, which helped a bit, but not much. A few roach and dace followed from a another swim, but it was time to get on the road with the heater turned up to max.

Another enjoyable day.