December must be my least favourite month for fishing, partly because I do not get out as much as I would like due to family commitments plus when I am free the weather tends to be inhospitable! This year is no exception, what with various storms creating havoc, Christmas preparations and family visits I have been reduced to two short sessions.

Session 1 was at peg 10, of course you say!, but even then it was a latish start with the pike rod going out at 10:05 and the pole following at 10:15. The very cold wind and no runs on the pike rod meant this session ended at 12:15 with the staggering total of 5 bites, a roach and two small skimmers/blades for 4oz plus two minuscule fish that dropped off on the way in, probably just holding on to the maggot! Storm Darragh hit the next day!

Session two was on the Monday following the storm and it had uprooted a tree that had fallen across the road at Bowood, but had been quickly dealt with by the estate workers to keep access clear. I had decided I needed to get some action so tackled peg 1 on the Pondtail with a 4.5m chinese whip and rig. Feeding small marbles of groundbait and loose feeding half a dozen grains of wheat every few minutes saw me get plenty of bites on maggot and then wheat with 36 roach and 4 perch coming to the net for a 4-04 total. The remnants of the storm made the fishing difficult for the two hour session with it being very cold and windy with showers off and on throughout the session.

That was my last chance as a trip to Yorkshire then intervened along with Christmas preps!