I fancied going for trout and grayling on the Derwent, but it came up a metre yesterday, and some of that would be snow melt, so I settled for the Marina. Not that the Trent got any less rain and snow - it's a metre and a half up right now - but you're out of the flow and stand more chance with the roach. I love the fact that you could fish here in your slippers in the worst weather in the middle of winter
It all looked serene when I set up, and the day was mild and dry as forecast. I wasn't encouraged by the state of the water, though. It was a filthy colour and coated in debris
You had to ask yourself how fish would find a bait in this. I usually start with groundbait to give them a clue when it's so coloured, but I'd left that at home. The other thing I'd left at home was an umbrella, and a steady drizzling rain set in as I got fishing. With more water than usual under the usual slider, I fed hemp, casters and a few tares out, and maggot to the right. No bites for half an hour, but chatting to a friend who lives nearby and brought his dog - a big, lovely, daft Labrador - down passed the time while fish homed in.
My expectations, given the state of the river, were low, so I was delighted when some decent roach started to take the tares
Things were going well until the thought crossed my mind that I'd not been bothered by pike here for a long time. It can be a bit of a predator hotspot. Naturally, in no time I was locked in a stalemate with one. It couldn't bite my line (or it would have done) and I couldn't get it in. I thought of just cracking it off and tackling up again, but that goes against the grain. The thing wasn't that big, but it would not give up and it was a good 15 mins before this was in the net
Hooks and knots are a hot topic, so I should just say my pike gear has a Kamasan B560 size 18 spade end whipped with the ever-reliable Matchman hook tyer to a .10 hooklength.
It was still raining, my arm ached and I hadn't fed my swims for a quarter of an hour, so I was happy enough to pack up with more fish in the net than looked likely when I started