Nil Pointe ( or same start as last year) but a lovely day

[pingu]

well after a quietish night where baggie dragged me down the pub for a few of these( i will drive next time mate )



it was home and for the first time saw the new year in with both of my kids and mrs p ,rather than just with mrs p ( son had no idea what was going on with aud lang seign )

so i found myself still undecided where to try this morning so started near the boathouse on the canal,about 8am( a tad later than expected ) found a small patch of unfrozen water and started the 2010 pike offensive


it was far too quiet and the ice was slowly filling in the free area, so i decided to move to the culm at beare gate
it had obvioiusly been wetter than i thought as the field stream( usually hop over or small plank bridge) was flooding the field



but the ground was frozen enough to get arround

the river was running fast and high but still increadibly beautifull





but still very wet underfoot



unfortunately i got the same result as new years day last year, a big fat blankety blank chequebook and pen

left at 2 as
1: was defrosting fast underfoot and needed to cross that stream again
2: had to do stockcheck at work
3: Mrs P was prepareing a rather nice pork joint roasting slowly for dinner

a lovely day out
very quiet and peacefull ,
and the abundant birdlife was superb,todays included a lesser spotted wooodpecker 10 ft away ( absolutely stunning), herons, egrets,kingfishers, lapwings, longtailed tits and all the other usual suspects,

and also i'm sure saw what are vole tracks everywhere on the culm( good news as shows river is clean)

next time as ever

dave

[Greenheart]

Great report & pics Dave. Been over that bridge on the canal a few times, but never fished it. I'm sure your score card won't remain empty for long mate...

[Chappa]

Hard luck mate. Glad I didn't venture out now!

[Devon Born & Dorset Bred]

Well, a bit of a shame, you did not catch! Nice effort.

Had heard Terry Wogan and Les Dawson, were both fishing down there. Did'nt realise they still carried token gifts around with them!

[paul p]

Great pics dave looks a lovely stretch of water mate. Once the frozen ice goes away on the water as in pics dave and stays away just for a few days i would guess your rod will bend once again. Great stuff.

[oxgull]

Oh, I remember fishing on th canal at double locks many years ago, probably back around 1976. That and the Culm too. unlucky on not catching but what a glorious day to be out. I will endeavour to try and get out on the Cherwell tommorow but its always nice to see pictures from home.

[blackwater]

Unlucky, conditions really arent in our favour at the minute!

BW

[Leigh Cocker]

nice report :)

[Banana Steve]

well done dave, shame about the Blank but the day looked realy nice loads of bright sunshine at your neck of the woods.

[fullcreel]

Same result as me today. If I mat say so, your sillouette in one pic is a tiny bit like that of Darth Vadar.
Sorry.
Lovely stretch of river, shame it was misbehaving.
Might get down to the Nadder, or maybe chesil.