Chris BishopSomeone once called it a rod with a worm on one end and a fool on the other and if you've ventured out over the last few days or are planning to, you might well agree.Chris Bishop

Someone once called it a rod with a worm on one end and a fool on the other and if you've ventured out over the last few days or are planning to, you might well agree.

One weather expert was yesterday predicting the cold snap could last weeks or even longer. Before you despair over long-term damage to fisheries, the weather could actually do us a favour in a roundabout way.

Instead of the usual moans about why we're not catching pike (not cold enough/water too frozen) a proper winter might just knock things back into shape.

The blurring of the seasons seems to make the fishing less and less predictable as the years go by.

A recent trip to a large, windswept stillwater saw almost the proverbial four seasons in one day.

With strong sunshine and a southerly breeze melting the ice as I got there, I half fancied my chances of a fish or two.

An hour later it was all-change, with the ice heading for my floats so fast you could almost see it freezing and some flurries of snow.

A move to more sheltered climes and moving water brought several twitchy takes that marked the baits but failed to materialise into full-blooded runs.

There were pike of all sizes out in front of me, judging by the differences in some of the teeth marks. That's where they stayed, out in front of me.