Ice Free Stretch of The Bridgewater Canal

Had 20 minutes on the Bridgewater in Lymm village. There is a 200 yard ice free stretch just before you go under the road bridge into Lymm village. I didn't expect to catch, and I didn't! Saw Chris and Anne just as I arrived at the canal bank, they had walked to Lymm from Dunham, had a pint in Lymm and were heading back.

Bridgewater Still Frozen Over

Went down to the Bridgewater today, and it's still frozen over,checked at Oughtrington and at Lymm village. There was a small section free of ice near the cruising club but not much else. I'll give it a try next weekend. I was going to try the Mersey behind Grey Mist but It would have been very high with the melt water.

New Rod and Kettle Arrived Today

New Rod and kettle arrived today from Poingdestres of Southampton. I ordered to rod and kettle on Sunday and they arrived today,Friday. Considering the terrible weather this week, thats not bad.(see attached photos) The rod is a John Wilson Masterline Rovex 5 section Travel Avon Quiver Rod and the kettle is a an Armo,and holds .9 of a litre of water

New Rod Pod Arrived Monday

My new Rodpod(see photo)Only cost £23.00 including postage, arrived on 31 December, only ordered it on 28 December from Go Outdoors, fantastic Service.

This coming Year

This year I’m going to try and fish in a more organised manor. I’m going to target particular fish at certain times of year.
If this year is the same as last year I will target the Pike on the Bridgewater in the late winter and early spring, looking back at my posts from last year, I started fishing for the Pike in March, and had some success.

Reading ‘Franks column’ in the last couple of week,s it seems the match anglers have had quite a few Pike attacks during their matches around the Dunham area so I’ll give that ago as well as the Oughtrington area, where I did well last year.

Once the Spring arrives I’ll switch over to the Tench, in both Rixton and Cicley Mill. Both these waters are full of fish, but Rixton is beautiful, and quiet, where Cicley Mill is also beautiful it does have the planes from the airport flying low overhead and they are very loud.

I’m going to have my gear packed and ready to go at a moments notice, so I don’t have to mess about looking for my gear. I’m also not going to bother with a flask, I’m going to carry a stove with me at all times having hot drinks on tap is much nicer than a flask

I did'nt get out over Christmas

I did'nt manage to get out over the Christmas holiday, the canals are frozen over and because of the state of my ankle I could'nt manage to scramble around any river banks, so I'll have to wait for the weather and my ankle to improve
I did buy some new gear though, especially some new thermal boots, so I should be able to get out in the cold.