Winter Session and Fly Tying Update

Snow melt. Definitely the worst possible conditions to try to catch a river fish. If you are out this weekend I wish you the best of luck, you're going to need it.

Comes into it's own in this weather!

I managed a mid-week session in the freezing temperatures pre-melt and to be honest I faired no better. I fancied my chances of landing a Pike or two and set my stall out accordingly fishing low resistance running rigs in a deep back eddy on a bend of the Warwickshire Avon.
The bait bucket was filled with Mackerel, Lamprey, Roach and Herring to cover every angle. I also fished three rods wanting the odds as much in my favour as possible.

All bases loaded

Four hours and several bait changes later and not a sniff, not even a dropped run. I was sure that fish were in the area but they were not interested in the slightest.
I hate blanking. With this in mind I usually have a back-up plan. In this weather it almost always involves Chub and to that extent I had chucked a load of cheese-paste in the bucket too. I moved upstream to a slightly quicker stretch and tried the cheese on my usual simple running rig. First cast a bite, I think my reactions had been dulled by the cold and I missed it. Within the hour I had another bite but struck thin air and that was the end of the action.
Disappointed to get a blank but at least I got to admire the first visible sunset of the year.

Fly tying update

Cold winter evenings, snow falling outside, roaring fire in the logburner, Mrs C watching crap on TV (Eastenders!), my time for messing about with feathers and thread. Mostly tying lures because they are easy but then you have to walk before you can run!

Also trying a few other patterns, a coch-y-bonduu

a pink buzzer 

and a rough house fly which needs work on getting the eyes right!

Any tips from the experienced fly tiers out there gratefully received!!