What's the worst weather you've fished in?

[flightliner]

I reckon it must have been in the early sixties in my teens when fishing the Trent.
We had travelled Down to Newark in foggy conditions that got ever more difficult by the hour.
It was so bad everyone fished watching the rod top for the odd tap but by late afternoon we were all touch ledgering.
The hour plus journey home took about three hours at what seemed like a slow jogging pace.
Never seen fog like it before or after.

 

[john step]

That 62/63 winter. Hole in the ice eskimo style. Madness.

Not fishing but your post reminded of the fogs we had as kids in The Smoke. They were so thick we had to stay next to the walls to find our way home from school. The irony is that in those days we were sent home early out into the fog. Nowadays they would keep kids back for safety.

Sorry back to thread!

 

[JONM14]

Ive got a picture of my dad somewhere when we went fishing to a canal near Dudley with 3- 4 inches of snow on the ground and an inch on his brolly. Still caught a bag of roach if memory serve me right.

 

[thecrow]

Bivvied up in overnight temperature of minus 7, up all night boiling the kettle to use as a hot water bottle, line frozen in ice in the morning, not something I ever repeated.

 

[O.C.F.Disorder]

This was without a doubt the worst weather I have fished in. I can deal with rain but snow is too much for my bones.

 

[iain t]

30 years ago fished a frozen lake in Alaska at -50 and i thought the Falklands was cold. Firstly drilling a hole then had to keep cupping the water out that was trying to freeze over again. At times i thought my nose was going to drop off. All 5 of us ended up catching 2 Pike in 48 hours. Things you're made to do for Army survival training. Ever since doing cold weather training i never seem to find the temperatures in the UK cold low enough to layer up, i don't even own a pair of gloves.

 

[markcw]

Some years ago I went to fish the Sankey Canal, the day started off well, a bit overcast , not to cold, Anyway I set up a canal wand I use on there, had a few roach and perch fishing straight lead and double pinkie, I was catapulting half a dozen pinkies across to where I was fishing every 15 minutes, After about an hour the sky seemed to turn black and it started snowing, not much at first, so it was up with the brolly and carry on fishing. Half an hour later the snowflakes were the size of saucers and coming down fast, I looked from under my brolly and is was thick on the ground and on the top of my brolly, that was when I realized I was glad I spent the extra and bought a 50" Wavelock Nubroli. I decided to sit it out and hope it eased off, my car was about 500 yards away. I had a couple of knocks on the quiver tip, but a quick nudge on the butt of the rod with my foot deterred any takers. There was a footbridge across the canal near to me and I could hear people going across it and making comments about me fishing in the snow, Non of them complimentary either. The snow decided to ease off, so I packed up, trudged to my car, cleared snow off that and went home.It took me less than 5 minutes to put tackle in the car. This was before the days of space shuttles for seat boxes, bags holdalls etc,It was holdall on one shoulder, box on the other and carried bag with nets and flask in it.

 

[Keith M]

I can handle the cold and rain and snow but if any of these is accompanied by strong biting cold north or northeasterly winds then fishing ceases to be fun for me.

I’ve fished through the night (when I was younger) in freezing cold temperatures and a couple of times I’ve awoke to find my line stuck solid through surface ice, but I was usually able to keep fairly warm under a brollie with lots of dryish layers over me, and rain and snow is fairly acceptable for me too as long as I can keep warm and dry, but if it is accompanied by strong and gusty winds from the north or northeast it can be a total nightmare to keep my brolly still pegged down without being blown away or blowing inside out; and any accurate casting and loose feeding is almost impossible and the rain or snow gets into everything.

Keith

 

[mikench]

Having only started fishing 3 years ago I stay home in freezing windy or wet weather! I'm not daft!

 

[O.C.F.Disorder]

Having only started fishing 3 years ago I stay home in freezing windy or wet weather! I'm not daft!

Winter fishing is okay with good company. If me and my friend were not talking away that day I wouldnt have lasted one hour.. let alone 6.

 

[Specihunter]

I fished in winds that made a boat come in sideways. And river fishing when it snowed so bad I couldn't see the entrance to the field.

 

[Philip]

Fishing a very exposed lake in sub zero temps in Febuary under an open umbrella and a hopelessly inadequate sleeping bag.

Unbelivably in the night I had a couple of runs and landed a brace of Carp, the rods being totally incrusted in frost and sparkled like jewels in the light from my torch.

 

[seth49]

Due to the atrocious weather Ive had to work in most of my life, I’ve more sense than go fishing in it.

 

[Tee-Cee]

As a fishing youngster in the 1950's I went fishing with only scant regard to weather. I was limited to weekends as a schoolboy and the only way I could get out to fish in anything other than my local lake was to go out on club outings. One booked a seat on the coach and you turned up, regardless of weather, to fish a match, so if it rained all day, or snowed or was freezing cold you just got on with it. No umbrella, no tent, little warm clothing of merit, no nothing in fact, apart from a WW2 cape and S'wester to keep off the rain, which they did, until another cast was necessary!

Fortunately, I didn't ail at all, despite sitting in a damp coach for the two hours at least it took to get home, so when I think about 'worst weather' nothing really stands out. Let's face it, how often do we fish in 'ideal' conditions' anyway? It's either too cold, too hot, too wet and everything in between. Most of us go fishing regardless of the elements and it has always been that way for me, but I have been caught out by sudden/continual torrential rain without a brolly which soaked everything and snowstorms where the the float was hard to see and the fishing bag disappeared beneath the onslaught.
And it hasn't always been cold weather either...I well recall going to fish the Vaal Dam in S. Africa (300 odd sq miles surface area and few trees) with a pal and ending up taking shelter from the sun in a cattle shed because of the heat. Heat exhaustion/dehydration was the main issue and it took many days to recover fully. I didn't do that again in a hurry!

These days I tend to be more choosy around weather, but that doesn't mean I don't go. Today we have a heavy frost but it looks like a very nice day in prospect, so I put the bait back in the fridge and will go walking instead. Tomorrow looks like a very wet day and much better conditions for roach fishing, so that is when I will be out. A faff with umbrellas for sure, everything will take more time and all will need drying out eventually, but go I will!

Generally speaking, inclement weather is par for the course in the UK, so I never quite understand those who pull back from a wet, breezy day and sit at home instead. Wouldn't do if we were all the same, now would it?

 

[steve2]

Like many I have fished in weather when all sane people were in doors. Strong winds that toppled trees, flooded rivers in pouring rain, blizzards, minus temperatures just to catch a few if any fish I must have been mad.
Most of this I have done on my own and I didn’t even consider what would happen if anything went wrong. I just needed at that time to be out fishing just in case that was the day the big one came along.
Not forgetting this was all done without the clothing we have now.

 

[The Runner]

Back in the early 90s I fished an open on the Oxford Canal at Kidlington- we left Uxbridge on a cold and clear morning with a heavy frost and as often seems to be the case, on going through the cutting on the M40 at Stokenchurch the weather changed completely and were faced with a whiteout, Steve (driving) did a quick calculation and reckoned we were past halfway so we kept going. Got to the draw with about 4 inches of snow lying, another inch by the time we started fishing (bit of a challenge finding peg numbers) and it kept coming down all match in big wet flakes. Had a drift around 2 ft deep against my brolly by the time we finished, Mick Vincent was next to me, no brolly, and after a couple of hours he looked like a snowman, he lasted another hour or so before calling it a day.

I actually had a decent days fishing in the circumstances, 4 pound odd of gudgeon on the whip which got me in the frame so we had to go back to the pub for the brown envelope. Anyone who had come down from Banbury or anywhere else northwards looked like they were going to have to stay there a good while as most of the roads that way were impassable .

 

[xenon]

dont mind the cold because I wrap up warm-last march I was fishing the Colne on Stanwell Moor in sub zero temps with the line freezing in the rings. Cannot stand the rain though and strong winds are my least favourite conditions.

 

[peter crabtree]

This was the view from under my brolly on a match at Willow’s lakes St Albans in 2012. I came 3rd with a good net of bream and was gutted having endured 6 horrific hours the MO only paid out 1st and 2nd.

 

[Mark Wintle]

Fished a Barclays Bank match at Newbridge on the Thames having travelled on snowy roads in Dorset to find it -10 all day on the river. The line froze up every wind in on the feeder yet I had a couple of bites and landed a 10oz chub. Others had roach on the float and feeder. Kept warm by bonfire of hedge cuttings where the farm hedge was being trimmed in sight of my peg - I had to run to strike the bites. Good to get into a warm Rose Revived pub at the end with a roaring fire and hot food.

Fished a couple of matches on the Frome in force 10 winds, a struggle to stop being blown in yet both days it fished well and by the end the storm abated.

Fished a match on the Piddle where it was bitterly cold - just three hours - all caught a dace or two, I had three to win, and my box was under 2" of snow by the time we'd weighed in.

Fished the Stour late October 1976 when the drought had broken with it 10ft above normal - had the deepest swim so 22ft of water - had a few tiddlers.

Fished the Stour in -6 (March 1987) but with a brolly keeping the wind off and the sun in my face it was warm, the swim had a sewage outfall so not frozen and I had 10lb of roach yet ice formed on top of the float all day and when I stretched out the net to dry it froze immediately and had to be dunked in the river to thaw it.

Fished the Frome when it was subzero and an ice sheet 1/2" thick formed as the tide dropped yet we pulled out dace and roach all day long.

 

[daniel121]

I couldn't honestly say, I remember fishing at ironmongers pond in the 70s when we had some horrendous rain, I had a really good day. Also I remember fishing at Stoke ferry lane on the trent a few years ago I had to stop because I couldn't see a thing when the rain come, a about 10 mins after the sun come out and steam was coming off my body!