With more rain having again caused rivers to rise and in places break their banks, I decided on another trip to a lake. I went to the small lake in Earith that I would normally fish in spring. I hadn't fished it in winter before but a call to the owner confirmed that silvers at least should be feeding. It turned out that I was the only angler on the lake. Exclusive or what!

I would have normally walked around to the back of the lake but on this occasion chose to stay nearer the entrance. I had the choice of swims and plumped for one I had fished in spring a couple of years before. I knew that there were lily pads and chose to fish to the edge of one of the beds, the lilies being submerged but still visible. The surface of the water was calm when I arrived but by the time I started to fish the breeze had caused a ripple that was to frustrate me throughout the session.

Starting with maggots after throwing in some free feed a small fish was on as I retrieved despite not registering a bite. It came off! This was to be sign of what followed with a couple roach hooked but without an obvious bite. The ripple made it difficult to see any pre-bite activity. The one positive bite proved to be a small perch, the only one of the session, on worm of course.

I soon decided that it might be better to move where I had more shelter from the surface wind. I had a wander around and in the end pitched only a short distance along the bank, in a swim where the remnants of a projecting reed bed offered some shielding from the wind.

It wasn't long before I was getting more positive bites from roach and I went on to catch quite a few throughout the session. I had switched to worm having tried sweetcorn for a short while with no luck. There were a couple of better fish but most were small. I also caught a couple of rudd, the larger of the two being probably the best fish among the roach and rudd.

The wind continued to be a nuisance although there was an interlude around noon when an hour or so of sunshine seemed to calm the breeze as well as providing a little warmth to thaw my very cold hands.

Among the numerous roach there were a couple of bream, a skimmer and one better fish, the heaviest of the day. However both showed indications of perhaps being hybrids, the reddish colouring on the lower fins of the larger fish being uncharacteristic of a pure bream.

After the warmer midday spell the cold breeze returned and bites fell off. And I was starting to get cold. So that was the cue to call it a day at about half past one in the afternoon. I was still the only angler on the lake and was looking forward to benefitting from the heater in the car.

For a bitterly cold day on a stillwater I felt I had done quite well and was pleased that I had decided to give it a try.