frozen solid or mabey not

OK so winter is on its way but will it ever be cold enough to freeze over the canal i fish well going on previous years I'm not sure , i can remember last year it was only frozen over for a week over the winter , now the great thing about a freeze up is that when it does thaw the water is lovely and clear for a couple of months due to no boat traffic churning up the bottom

the picture below shows the normal colour of the water , of course its not bad enough you cant catch fish as the pike have adapted to hunt in this type of environment deer hair flies and flashy flies usually do the job when it murky like this so i don't worry to much

so the freeze up comes and you cant fish yea bit of a bummer not getting out to fish but at least it gives the fish some time away from angling pressure

this is one of my local stretches pretty much solid a few years ago so zero chance of chucking fluff in this but when it thaws its always a good time to get out early morning before the dog walkers and bikes start up those hounds are a nightmare to unhook but the guys on bikes give you some good sport

trouble is if we don't get a spell of really cold weather it can throw the pike a bit , i mean once you get a cold snap the fish go on a feeding frenzy packing on the weight for the coming winter when they really don't want to be expelling lots of energy chasing prey .

so if the milder weather continues what does this mean to the fishing and the fish well i think milder it gets the more wide spread they fish be , i have spots where the the bait fish shoal up during the colder months and the predators follow them in so if its mild the bait fish will not converge on these spots meaning the pike will also stay were they are and not be to worried about packing on the extra pounds

is this down to global warming who knows maybe this winter will be more severe than other and but the balance back but I'm not sure its crazy that last weekend i was out fishing in just a t.shirt and not feeling the cold and its bloody November unheard of .

but look on the bright side if the UK does become warmer then I'm sure some enterprising angler will start sticking all sorts in the waters i mean myself i cant wait large mouth bass in my canal , barracuda and jacks off the beach down the road .mmmmm maybe global warming wont be so bad after all if your an angler ...tight lines