A bracing walk up the sluice

I thought I'd seen most things on there in the last few years, but today proved you've never seen everything.

It was very 'bracing' on there today - a lot nicer than my two sessions earlier in the week when it rained, but it would've taken a very determined angler to have been fishing in today's conditions.  the main inhabitants on the bank seem to be moles - there are molehills all over the place, making the carting of fishing tackle a real trial.  The bank is very likely to freeze over the next couple of days, probably making it impassable from pegs 1 - 4 if a trolley is being used.

As I wandered  along the bank, I started to pick out some details of stuff in the water.  I got past the first set of stick-ups, then through the wides (various deadbait bags floating past) then onto the second set of stick-ups where a Willis Worms bag went past with the flow.  I looked down at the margins as I got to the next wides and there was a dark, feathered mass bobbing up & down.  Closer inspection (scrambling down the bank) confirmed my initial thoughts; a dead cormorant.  They don't generally turn turtle on there, so perhaps a budding Davy Crockett has been taking aim???

On I wandered and as I got to the final stick-ups before the bend, I did a double take at what was bobbing up & down in the reed margins on the far side.  I know we're having to deal with the digital switch-over at the moment and the tips are solid with big old goggleboxes,  but chucking a 28" telly into the river is hardly doing it properly.  There it was, partially submerged - safely out of reach for anyone wanting to drag it out.

I got to the bend and stood for a while on the paving slab at peg 32 - a biting wind blowing from the North, so up went the hood for the walk back to the car. Very few molehills up that end of the match length, but dragging a trolley over those tractor tyre ruts would take a determined man...

Prediction for Sunday:  Match winner will be the far end peg and with a weigh no greater than 2lb.  Anyone stupid enough to try fishing further than 8m with a pole will need psychiatric analysis.

Back outside to the snowball fight...