I arrive on the banks just before 5am in the pitch black in the middle of nowhere!

As soon as I saw the river I knew it wasn't going to fish as it had risen by nearly 2ft overnight. I measured the water temp and it had fallen by several degrees and I knew the Welsh had been up to their old tricks, releasing ice cold water from their dam.


This peg was being fished around 10 hours ago and was my chosen swim for my first early morning session in about a year!

I setup and cast into the muddy, cold water not expecting much. I was right and had nothing but piles of weeding pulling the tip round on my rod and my feeder right into the edge by the bank. I only had feeders up to 5oz and that wouldn't sit still, so I packed up and came home for a nice coffee.

I have been spoilt of late with consistent catches, so a blank - even though I only fished for less than an hour - was inevitable at some point. Hey, ho, as soon as the cold water pushes through it should fish well. Probably Saturday I reckon.