Next out on Wednesday 19th back on peg 7 which was a mistake as the water was very cold and flowing! Anyway I decided to try it and fished 9:15 to 1pm during which time I managed the grand total of 4 roach, 2 rudd and two skimmers(blades) for the princely total of 4oz. It took me two hours to get my first fish and despite rotating through the baits could not get anything other than on single bronze maggot which is unusual for Bowood anyway. The day was capped off when at five to one the pike float buried and a strike resulted in me hooking a good double that eventually threw the hook after doing a “crocodile roll” complete with head shake. I packed up then!

Friday sees me back at Bowood complete with ice-breaker as the car was showing a temperature of -3C on arrival following a couple of days and nights of low temperatures. Bowood was indeed iced over!

I made my way up to peg 10 and 20 minutes later I had cleared a 5m x 2m hole in the 1cm thick ice.

I took it steady and drip fed 2-3 maggots with a peanut of groundbait via a toss pot every 10 minutes straight out , the pike rod was dispatched to the right edge of the ice.

I gave it 2.5 hours without a bite/run before heading home!

Monday 24th I decided on a change and went to Blacklands which is just as close to home but I had not fished it for a couple of years after they messed about with Heron Lake and spoiled the fishing. I wanted to see if things had settled down and returned to a point where it was worth holding a match there. Alas it was not, although the weather was cold previously I would have expected 50-100 fish for the 4 hours I was there. I scratched my hardest to get 10 roach for 14oz with a further 4 small roach dropping off. I will not be back!

I was out of sardines and I knew the local Tesco would not have any until the Friday so on the Wednesday I tried the Pondtail peg 1, fishing whips- an hour at 3m for no bites and an hour at 6m for (you guessed it) no bites! I gave it up as a bad job then as previous experience had showed that you would not catch if bites were not forthcoming after an hour!

With Friday being Sardine Day and my aversion to the week-end, Monday would be my last opportunity for January- Chinese New Years Eve! I will add the last day next month but in view of the forthcoming lunar new year I thought I would share a review of my new Chinese whips!

I am now in possession of a set of 6 ply cross-rolled carbon whips from Aliexpress.

I initially bought the 7m version before adding the others in stages and have been very impressed with them. Now it must be said that I am “a whip is a whip” person and as soon as anybody says elastic it is no longer a whip in my opinion. Mostly people say they use elastic as insurance against better fish but I have landed carp to over 4lb with no issues on a 5m whip and these whips will lift a dead weight of 2lb+ so I have no worries about their strength or their ability to bend! Anyway some facts about the whips;

Whip Tip mm Butt Weight g Length m Closed Length m Cost £

3.6 0.8 13.7 89 3.85 0.77 9.36

4.5 0.8 15.6 113 4.60 0.77 10.21

5.4 0.8 17.5 142 5.31 0.77 11.42

6.3 0.8 19.7 206 6.48 0.77 12.44

7.2 0.8 21.1 246 7.20 0.77 12.51

The cost is what I paid in total including delivery from China, so for £55.94 I have a set of whips that will cover me in most situations. The whips are fitted with a Chinese whip fitting that allows 360 degree rotation and all is needed is to tie a small knot in the braided piece to allow the rig to be attached.

These are definitely not the cheap and nasty versions of whips you sometimes see and are made for the Chinese market where they would be considered to be in a medium price bracket. Their action is different from European whips in that they are designed to bend but once you have got used to the action they are a joy to use.