Beat the freeze

Merry Christmas! Well it would be a lot merrier if we didn’t have snow and minus 10C temperatures to contend with. So what do you do other than stay at home?
Well first you need to find a river or a very big stillwater. Then you need to make sure that if you can get there, you can get back! A lot of people whine about people with front-wheel drive vehicles and while it is true some do have them for show, those of us that use them for what they were intended have an advantage in the weather we have at present. So I’ll trundle off to the Trent, chuck a couple of baits in and at least I’m fishing. I wish I had a sure fire way to get a run in these conditions, but I haven’t. I think non oily deadbaits have an edge which means roach; pollan, smelt and lamprey are the best choice. You can move about a bit to try and find fish, but that is not guaranteed and it does mean that you can get very cold. The idea of sitting under a brolly is quite appealing when temperatures are 10 below zero. 
There are ways to avoid freezing to death. You must have a pair of hot foot boots to start with. Now if you are moving around they keep your feet warm. If you are like me and suffer from cold feet you can now buy electrically heated insoles as well as heated gloves!
To keep my body warm I’m wearing my Cross flow floatation outfit while on the bank. All that foam padding may make you float, but it also makes for great insulation. Couple that with the obvious of regular hot drinks etc and you can keep warm on even the coldest days.
I will not kid people that I’ve had some epic catches in these conditions, but odd nice fish have turned up over the years. You have to motivate yourself to get out because sitting in front of the TV is the easy option!