Too cold to fish?

Back end or no, today has been positively Siberian and for the first time that I can remember I chose not to go fishing because of the weather. It doesn't look like this lot are gonna get an airing till June now.

Cold but not as cold as today in this oldie: Biked up to the Match Pitch to find it a complete ice over. In one corner the fronds of a willow had kept the ice to cats ice thickness and with plenty of encouragement I smashed a hole big enough to drop in a herring (not much further out than the broken ice you can see). My confidence was minimal, particularly as something clearly spooked had bow waved off with the first crash of the landing net pole/brick combo used to to break up the ice. However it didn't take long for the line to tighten and this was the culprit:

An earlier capture of the same fish from the other side of the Pit. Spot the bike, we all used them at the time. That might be the Essex Scribblers bike, it's not mine. Someone used to get a take and we'd all buzz round to see what was going on,  or if they'd gone home for dinner and left rods out we'd wait to see dog walkers looking at the indicators dancing up and down the needles (Gardner monkey climbers or Lobkin's resin specials) and bomb round to hopefully hit the run and play the fish in. (Carp, not pike on trebles I hasten to add)
                         

 I do remember once getting to the Match Pit on a day like today where the wind had kept an area free of ice but the windchill  was cruel.  It took ages to warm up enough from the bike ride to be able get the rods out, only for me to feel so sick from the cold I straight away had to repeat the torture of tackling down and biking home, this time against the wind and hail. Down hill though.

I think I will get on the river tomorrow,but not chubbing, and hope Thursday is bearable too.