“Never, ever give up” is the recurring message of current fishing. As winter sets in, action is rarely instant, especially when it’s been freezing cold overnight. It can be awfully easy to feel defeated when things don’t work or you draw what feels like a duff peg. But the one thing we can all cultivate is a mindset of hope or at least a sort of steady optimism. Because that’s what angling is all about, right? Any England fan will be familiar with the feeling of hope over experience.

Ok, so I don’t want to get all “Thought For The Day” on you. Especially as a man who’s only source of faith is the idea that, no matter what a pile of Liz Truss the conditions are, the float will eventually bury or the line will pull tight. Sometimes I’m plain wrong. But on most days, something will happen if I can only keep going, or perhaps explore plans B and C.

Scratching at the Christmas Match

My favourite match of the year, the Tivvy Christmas special, was a great example of persistence this year. I’d drawn a peg in a tough section, where a Kilo will usually get you somewhere. “You’re on the dead stretch!” Sam Williams told me. Could we not at least refer to it as the “just about alive stretch” or “not quite hopeless section” or something?

Anyway, all my prep was soon going down the pan. Perfectly liquidised bread and fine rigs won me the sum total of about four little starved roach in the first hour. In such circumstances, chopped worm is normally the way to add some more precious grams. On this occasion, however, even that didn’t add a lot of bites. Lobs were hopeless, so it was a case of redworm and a disco pinkie on a size 16 to 0.12 line. This at least earned the odd perch- and I had two of about four ounces a piece before no further bites were forthcoming.

At this stage the match became a bit of a trial-and-error game. I tried some casters over my bread lines, to no avail. I even tried starting a completely new bread line right down the peg. Only one little roach came of this. And so it went on. I ended up fishing several worm lines and intermittently checking the middle on bread. Nothing was working, although I added another two perch by trying that king of scratching baits, the disco pinkie, and fancied I had about a pound.

All is never lost in such a scenario, however. If you’re in a poor section, there’s still all to fish for because it becomes a mini-match against your neighbours. Especially under the new rules of our organiser Phil Madams, who decided each section winner would get a hamper rather than just top 5. This way, even those on the rough sections still have a prayer! This is also what I love about match fishing in general- you have exactly the same time span and conditions faced by other anglers. It’s not like Instagram, where your mate might have had the whole week off on an amazing venue, while you got three hours in a puddle.

Anyway, back to the match in question and things were rough for the second half. Most baffling of all, I had a big load of tree branches to my right that hadn’t produced anything at all, despite several attempts. When the going is desperate, I tend to feed sparingly, by putting in as little as two chopped redworms and 3-4 pinkies with a thumbnail of groundbait. Basically, just enough to hopefully pull in a fish- and I think finely minced worm with the odd pinkie gives maximum smell and sight attraction for a measly amount of actual feed (a single goldfish in my pond could demolish that lot, never mind a greedy little perch).

Great theory then, but no more bites. I even tried right in front of my keepnet with a worm when a pike swirled close in. Nothing, not even on a lobworm. With time running out, I was then tempted to simply put on a decent bait and sit it out down the middle. I’ve done this enough times before- although like a loyal football fan, I will almost never make an early exit! But with just ten minutes to spare that far bank tree caught my eye again. I just refused to believe there was nothing sitting there, surely there was a fish of some description.

One more tiny helping of worm went in, with the bait lowered right over it, this time a double lively redworm offering. It still seems daft that after four or so previous attempts to no avail, this time the float didn’t even settle, but took a walk towards the tree. This time, the elastic (a hollow of 8-10 grade, set fairly positive and ideal for worm fishing) streamed out quite dramatically.

As soon as a pike thrashed at the surface, it was a different story. My nerves kicked in and I took it as smoothly as possible- knowing that even if it needed a few minutes, I could legally land it just after the buzzer. In typical pike style, it gave just one more lairy run before giving up and sliding into the landing net.

I still cannot quite believe that finish, or the fact that just 1.075g (a bit over two pounds, in old money) was enough to win the section and a hamper. Then again, it had fished hard for almost everyone- and by being persistent as well as lucky, I’d just about done enough.

And it was a double celebration at the end, discovering that my mate Russell Hilton had won the whole thing with 9kg of bream at the fancied basin end! Talk about deserved- after several years of duff pegs and the odd tactical glitch, he got his approach spot on this time, using worm and caster for an excellent weight.

After a bit of an underwhelming match season, it was certainly nice to finish on a high. Within seconds of getting home, my daughter was already ransacking the box, but I can live with a missing item or two when my luck is in.

Lift method… for perch fishing?

My other recent session was also a case of persistence at Viaduct Fishery, which is a great place to try when the rivers are up and down or temperatures plummet. For £10-12 a day, it’s ideal to try on a winter’s day with simple leger or float gear. I very much like the fact that they leave in plenty of juicy features- and your next bite could be a 3lb perch or a 20lb carp!

To cut a long story short, my session was woefully slow in the morning, before getting miles better in the afternoon. I tried Cary Lake first, partly because I wanted a lazy start with a cosy seat and a couple of leger rods out. But it was deathly slow – and I fancied Spring Lake would be a much better prospect as things warmed up a bit in the afternoon. Truth be told, I also caught far more by adopting a more active approach later in the day, swapping the lazy kit for a method I’ve come to love the past few winters. And that is the lift method!

Surely, that’s for tench in summer, right? Well, not exactly. With a loaded insert waggler and prawn hookbaits, I find it terrific for perch. I have only a small weight as my “anchor” -usually two no.6 shot. The prawn on its own would cock the float- and you don’t even need a plummet to test the depth because it will sink the lot if you are too shallow. Never mind watching bobbins or setting alarms, you tend to get an instant sailaway bite or a delicious sudden rise of the tip.

I tend to fish this with a decent whack of chopped worm (free from my compost heap) along with sparing amounts of chopped prawn (raw is best- and I pilfer mine from the local supermarket whenever there’s some on offer). Over the top goes a decent chunk of prawn, hair rigged on a barbless size 6. This last detail is critical- because the hook is then free to penetrate, whereas when impaled in the bait you miss more fish on the strike.

I didn’t get a “two” on this occasion, but had around a dozen fish, with four or five pound-plus beauties. Lovely sport on light tackle, especially after that slow start. I have to say it was very much a case of swim-hopping to find them, because there wasn’t always a lot of rhyme or reason as to why some swims were excellent and others were rubbish. The fog didn’t lift all day, but thankfully the float did!

As always, when it comes to how to find and catch perch, so often you need two things to come together: cover and depth. One or the other alone isn’t always enough, but if you find any snag with at least two and a half feet of water under it, game on.

Happy fishing out there for now anyway- and stay tuned as we approach Christmas, as I’ll have some more content coming up shortly, including some excellent winter reads. Be lucky… and if you’re out on a cold day, be persistent because the afternoon can often be better than the morning.