There's a couple of hours of daylight left so, being decisive, I decide a quick pike fishing expedition was in order. You just cannot beat decisive.
I load up the car with with one rod, landing net and all the other gear I need reduced to fit in a canvas bucket and off we go.
Fifteen minutes later and we are there and it is absolutely freezing. I tackle up and fit the trace on and go to the bait bag for a frozen roach to use as bait. I ransack the back of the estate car for the bait bag and realise that I have left it hanging on the back gate.
Bugger.
I drive back home and lo and behold, there it is, hanging on the back gate. So it is back across the fen to the drain to tackle up again. After about ten minutes a jack pike of about three pounds is on the bank and being returned. Two more good pulls but they result in no pike hooked, just the loss of the bait.
Then a pike is landed that is just a needle twitch under ten pounds on the avon scales but apart from the odd bump and twitch there are no more fish coming to the net.
I make a final move to an area of the drain that I haven't fished before, just as the light begins to go and in the space of ten minutes the baits are ripped to pieces three times but the fish simply let go, so all very frustrating.
The new hot-spot has been marked down for further attention and surprise, surprise I'm going there again today.
This time I'll try to remember the bait, well it helps.