Mark's frosty fishing

I well remember those bitter cold mornings, damp, freezing fog and not a hope in hell of catching fish but somehow we nearly always did, in spite of the conditions.

I was always of the opinion that the worst conditions were caused by frost taking the colour out of the water rather than the fact that it was cold. Standard practice for me and a lot of others was to start with a size 20 and a 1.7lb hooklength and move up or down depending on results.

Roach and perch were usually willing feeders with the odd chub as a bonus and like you say Mark presented as slowly as possible.

Very interesting, especially the effect on colour.

My only "challenge" if you can call it that, is just how quickly ambient air temperature actually affects water temperature? Given the fact that most water in rivers is derived from underground sources, and that heat transfer from air to water is significantly slower than from air to ground, how quickly does it really impact the temp of rivers, especially if it is a frost following warmer conditions ?

Equally, just how quickly can the sun turn this around, also considering that water reflects a lot of the suns energy.

I am not doubting that when it is cold, it is harder to catch (been there), I just wonder if it is more a state of mind than anything else, especially if, as I mentioned, its a first frost after warm weather.

I dont fish in the cold because when I did it was so uncomfortable that I knew I wasn't fishing that "well", plus I didn't enjoy it.

Q Barney in his TFG Thermals attacking Southern Softies !!

Bully,
Many years ago I fished consecutive days when there was a very cold Northerly wind plus frost. Each day the air temp dropped. I measured the water temp each day. It dropped about 2-3 degrees each day. When it got down to 36 F it was a struggle! Last weekend's frosts/cold winds definitely affected the fishing. As for groundwater, the time taken for the water to get well down a lowland river in normal conditions is several days so the spring temps effect is lost (less so in short chalk streams)
Short answer is that measuring effect of air/water/sun effect is impossible but towards end of day it has been measured that water temp has risen slightly and fish have come on feed.
Only ever reckoned it too cold to fish when fingers were numb by time got to threading 3rd ring of rod!
After grayling tomorrow, they should feed.

Somewhere in the dusty and dark corners of my A levels memory I recall that the land cools (and warms) roughly 5 times faster than a body of water.

I would not swear to this one as (like Mark) my A level study era was a long time ago :-0)

Mark notes:
"Only ever reckoned it too cold to fish when fingers were numb by time got to threading 3rd ring of rod!"

Mark, those days were meant for sitting in the warmth of the pub' over a double brandy just thinking about going fishing.
Ok, call me a Southern Softie, see if I care!

it's only too cold if you can't cut a hole through the ice.

Mark - the one difference in your note to my comments (which I didn't make explicit) is that yes, a cold North wind will make a lot of difference, as by definition, wind will increase the rate of heat exchange.

And Peter, you are correct, which is the reason you get onshore and offshore winds at various times in the day.

Many times as kids we smashed a hole through the ice on the B'ham/Worcs canal.

And yes, caught fish too. Ok, they were mostly small perch, but catch we did.

Jason,
Have you ever been ice fishing?

If not, from experience over many years living in Norway let me tell you; it is more BORING than watching paint dry, or Man U. trying to play football.

My office window used to look out over Oslo Fjord and all through the winter I'd see these hardy types sat on little stools, looking like garden gnomes covered in snow, but over a 5 year period I never once saw any of them actually catch anything.

There used to be a guy posted on here from Norway who ice fished for Grayling --he had some really good ones too