Snow and Ice bring back some happy memories of a young boy
by Russ Evans
The snow and ice is back much to my annoyance as the remaining plans and fixtures up to Christmas now look in doubt as the cold snap is expected to last much longer than first reported. I was going to run a Christmas open at Bury Hill on the 1st December but I have had to re arrange the match back to 15th December so it is fingers crossed that the weather improves but that is a big if!
East London was my training ground
It looks like the very cold winters with snow and ice are reverting back to when I was a lad living in East London during the mid to late 60’s when I could remember walking to school in my wellington boots kicking knee high fluffy snow. I guess the weather patterns come round full circle in the end so possibly the next 10 years or so could be very cold ones indeed. When you are young fear holds no barriers and when I got in my head that I wanted to go fishing, I did just that no matter what was falling out of the sky at the time. As I have mentioned in past columns, Wanstead Park was a fishing training ground for me and the first big bag of quality roach I caught came on a day when most people were at home sitting in front of the telly sipping soup. As I arrived at the boating lake or perch ponds as it was also known I was greeted with a white surface as the snow had settled on top of the frozen lake. It was hard to determine the lake from the bank side edges but right up at the top of the lake in one of the corners I could see what looked like open water. I had ridden my bike to the fishery which was some 4 miles from my home and although I was travelling light I still took too much tackle as I remembered having to stop many times on the way as my gear was sliding around my neck and slipping off the main bike frame.
It was cold but worth it
Encouraged by the sight of open water I rode up to the end of the lake hoping and praying my eyes were not deceiving me, that hadn’t as a couple of swims were clear and I as I started to set up my float rod I noticed that someone had left a bag of casters next to the tree I was planning to fish near. I had not really fished with casters before but I knew from my Dad who used them many times that they were a very good roach bait. I set up a porcupine quill with a bright red top and after plumbing the depth which was around 6ft I set the float up a foot over depth so I could pin the bait right on the lake bed. It was very cold with a bitter breeze blowing in my direction but it did not matter as I was doing what I loved to do and although I was the only person on the lake I managed to get myself comfortable using the big old oak tree as a bit of shelter. To be honest I was not really expecting a bite as the conditions were against me but I had a gut feeling that I was meant to by fishing that day and when I put two casters on a size 18 hook things started to happen. I cast my float and bait onto the ice and then dragged it slowly off the frozen lake into the water so my float was sitting next to the ice edges. The feeling I got when I had my first bite and fish was incredible and when I slid my net under a roach of 12 ounces I gazed at how beautiful the fish was with all of its winter’s colours showing through down its flanks. The bites were slow and deliberate during the day and I reckon I had 3 bites an hour after the initial blank first hour and with a dozen cracking roach in the net, the biggest going just under a pound for my troubles.
It was a cracking day as well as a special day that will never be forgotten as the boy angler in me was turning into a young man with many more memorable days ahead.
“Tight Lines”
Russ Evans
3rd December 2010
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