As plans often go astray, so did ours. A breakdown in the morning put us back about 2 hours, but we still got on the road. The quest for Karl to catch a Pike was too strong, so we finally got to the Canal - in the dark.
We had the area to ourselves, and soon had the bivvy up and the kettle on. Karl had taken his wagon (a huge van) and so we had the stove on the back plate. The temp was about 3 degrees C, so the kettle wasn't cold for long at any point.
We both had 2 rods out. Each with a Smelt or a Joey Mackerel.
The night was clear and cold, without a breath of wind in any form, and very bright full moon, so we sat and enjoyed a cracking atmosphere of winter Piking.
Not surprisingly, given our luck that day, we didn't catch a anything, but it was still worth the trip out.
Interestingly, we did have a few minor beeps and knocks on the baits, but we aren't convinced at all that it was pike. We do wander if it might have been eels, or even carp investigating the splash down of the baits. There isn't any flow at all really on this locked canal so it wasn't that, and there are a good head of large carp in there.
We packed up when it got to the point that Karl was hugging the kettle to keep warm.
We plan to return, and have another go at bagging Karl his first Pike.
