Freeze-up hits piking latest

ICE BREAKER: Mark McLaughlin clears some water to fish.

Not everyone's bothered by a bit of ice, according to Irish piker Mark McLaughlin.

In an e-mail to the PAC in response to a forum post about frozen waters, he reports: "Here's one of a large irish water and me breaking the ice in the boat - and we still caught...."

Things are looking grim as an unseasonal cold snap descends on much of the British Isles.

Tonight club member Danny Jones told the PAC Forum: "Three quarters of Llyn Brenig and some of Lake Bala were frozen last weekend.

"Some of the large lakes in Snowdonia are totally frozen, there are photos in the local papers of people skating."

Colin Alchin, from Essex, added: "Essex lakes I've seen in the last few days are frozen solid, mates report Thames Valley gravel pits are also frozen and ice in margins of rivers.

"Sea freezing at Padstow according to the weather man just now. Minus-11 at Benson (south of Oxford) currently. Minus 4.5 currently where I am south of Chelmsford (minus 6.5 this morning)."

Chris Bishop, from West Norfolk, said: "Many of the drains and stillwaters in the Fens are frozen. I'd check the weather if you're thinking of fishing in this part of the world at the weekend, and wrap up warm if you're daft enough to be out."

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More ice fishing tales from Sweden

Christer Sjaunja details the capture of an impressive brace of pike caught ice fishing in his native Sweden over on FISHINGmagic. Click here to read all about it.

Ice fish mate... Piking Swedish style

FISHINGmagic's running a great piece on pike fishing through the ice by Swedish piker Christer Sjaunja, which features the capture of a near 30lbs specimen. See it here.

Ice fishing time over in the States

While pikers over here bemoan the wet, mild and wild conditions of late, they're reaching for their thermals over in the US, where it's ice fishing time.