Down two, up one, then up a touch

      I bumped into the the farmer on the way down to the drain and after the belated New Year niceties he told me that the drain dropped by two feet the day before, then rose a foot and added another six inches to the depth overnight. The water did look very coloured but at least a lot of the weed has departed with all the pumping. 
      Rain is in the air and it's cold and windy with sudden squalls and showers, a typical Saturday afternoon in January then.
      I start the pike fishing session implementing a cunning plan to fish along the reed beds next to the road but catching fresh bait proved difficult so after half an hour of catching perch, some not so small, on goes a frozen roach.
      In the next two hours three pike came to the net, one the smallest jack pike I've ever caught weighing around one and a half pounds, but perfect in every detail and looking like a large green crayon. Then another three times the size, and finally a low double figure fish from the margins right next to an old and very wobbly mooring, which I wisely vacate as soon as the fish is landed.
      It will be interesting to see what the weather brings us this week and what happens with the water levels too.