Grantham Journal angling writer Coster braves the cold with 'Ralph' at Ancaster's Woodland Waters

It has been extremely cold, wet, windy and often gloomy, with not many people venturing out on the banks of popular fisheries around the Grantham area.

But there is one angler who refuses to pack away his rods in the depths of winter, who can often be seen on the Specimen and Match Lakes at Woodland Waters, no matter how dire the weather gets.

Journal angling correspondent Dave Coster decided to join this dedicated soul, whom locals simply know as 'Ralph', on the main lake at Woody's during a recent cold snap.

Even hardened carp anglers were packing away their gear as the Arctic winds coming from the north put an icy chill in the air. But as always, Ralph was as enthusiastic as ever and determined to catch some fish, setting up his trusty extra-long Drennan Acolyte Float Rod.

The big lakes at Ancaster are deep, making a longer rod for float fishing an obvious advantage. It helps to cast the tackle out better, also connecting more positively with the most delicate of bites, which are common when the hook bait is a long way below the surface.

Ralph uses a fixed waggler float most of the time, which many anglers find tricky in depths of 12ft to 15ft, but he makes casting it out look so easy.

Another thing Dave quickly noticed was the way this thinking angler keeps regularly loose feeding his swim, pinging out a mixture of hemp, pinkies, maggots and micro pellets with a catapult, to discover what the fish want.

It did not take long before Ralph was reeling in a string of lively roach up to the 8oz mark, not proper rod-benders but enough to keep things interesting.

Meanwhile, Dave had opted to fish with a small blockend feeder in the next peg, casting small helpings of maggots 30 metres out. It took a good hour to get a response, but when it came, slightly bigger roach resulted.

As the session progressed, Ralph tried introducing some dark groundbait, which added some better sized skimmers and hybrids to his growing tally, while Dave caught a brace of near one-pound roach and a similar sized hybrid. If this had been a competition, it would have been a close-run thing.

Towards the end of the day, the bailiff informed the two anglers that they were the only ones left on the water, yet both were enjoying amazing sport considering the wintry conditions.

As darkness descended, Ralph gently tipped his catch back from his keep net, estimating he had easily amassed double figures. Dave caught less fish, but his were on the larger side, including a bonus 1.5lb perch, making his haul remarkably similar weight-wise.

It was an enjoyable experience, fishing with Ralph, and one thing is for certain, if you spot this avid angler and his extra-long float rod on either of the big lakes at Woody's, the fish will not be far away.