Winter's just around the corner

I picked what might turn out to be the last sunny day of the autumn to have an hour on the big drain earlier in the week. Winter spates turn it into a surging mass of water when they fill it up from the river and flush it out to sea between tides. This can be when it fishes best, if you hit the right part of the fill-empty-fill-empty cycle.

When it's standing and the level's low, the water clears and the pike seem harder to tempt most days. There were plenty of fry about, with grebes and a goosander tucking in. I knew the pike had to be there, as I went through half a dozen shads at different depths and speeds, with just one hit I failed to connect with to show for an hour in the sunshine.

I tried an old pit on the way home without managing to add to my rapidly-growing tally of jacks. As the sun sank behind the alders, a stiff breeze got up and the temperature dropped noticeably. I tuned into the weather forecast on the way home up the coast road. Winter's just around the corner, it said.