Another frosty start, and having had a 'meh' day at Dobsons yesterday, I made for my default lake of Willows.

Here the water temp at 11 degrees was down a degree, and I wondered if it would have any effect. Maybe it did, because after fish at 9:20am (a pretty Mirror of 6lb 6, 10:20am (a Common of 8lb 9) and 11:20am (a 1lb 3oz tench), the old '20-minutes-past-the-hour' trick evaporated and so did any more catches. The surprisingly few anglers around the bank also struggled.

The morning warmed to a point when my jumper came off, but clouds bubbled up and a breeze came in giving the water a chop and had be reaching for the woollens again. Each time the sun burst through for a few moments, I could see groups of 5 or 6 carp circling the water under the surface, before the returning cloud rendered them invisible again. I fished a zig-rig either on, or just under the surface hoping to ambush one of these patrols. A good strategy, would you agree, but the fish didn't,  though in one moment of clarity I saw a fish approach and mouth the floating pop-up, but it immediately spooked and disappeared with a swirl. 

Bit disappointing really, and Saturday night TV was even worse.