It used to be thought that the trout in our reservoirs stop feeding with the arrival of the first frosts, but nothing could be further from the truth. The low water levels at Grafham meant bank anglers could cast into deeper water, and also fish banks where a back cast was normally impossible.This, combined with a big head of fish intent on packing on weight for the winter resulted in spectacular sport last November and December 2009.

Although there were good fish coming from all the popular spots near the car parks I preferred to find a bit of space, and more importantly fish that weren't having the water around them being thrashed by too many anglers. This often meant a long walk, so I just took my made up rod and a small shoulder bag. The fish were still to be seen herding fry in the shallows, and though the weed had long since died they weren't afraid to come charging into knee deep water - whether after real fry, or better still my flies.

Deep wading was found to be counter productive, you just needed to be a little patient and a pod would appear eventually - then the fireworks would begin!

For eight weeks I didn't change my leader set up: fifteen feet of eight pound test fluorocarbon, with a size 12 minkie booby on the dropper, eight feet from a size 10 minkie on the point. The mini booby, tied small so it doesn't float too high in the water, is a magnet to the ravenous rainbows, and those that turn away from it invariably took the small minkie on the point. Be prepared for some rod-wrenching takes, and the combination of fit, grown on fish in shallow water resulted in some searing runs as they headed back into the safety of the depths when hooked.

My best day in November yielded fourteen rainbows between three and five pounds, and even the days when I only managed five or six were full of action and excitement.

December saw the fish feed hard on snails, corixa and orange shrimp. (The orange shrimp being infected by a parasite that both colours the shrimp and makes it attracted to the light, both of which make it easy pickings for the fish. Of course this is what the parasite intends, as the trout then carry it to other parts of the lake, to infect more shrimps - clever stuff!) Despite the trout's change of diet the fry patterns still scored well, indeed when I added another dropper with either a corixa or shrimp pattern neither were taken. As the frosts got harder towards Christmas the water started to chill, but was still much warmer than back in April 2009. As a result the fish fed less, and for shorter periods, but I was still enjoying catching three or four full-finned beauties in a session.

Unfortunately I ended my season slipping on the ice and breaking my rod, but I can honestly say that the back end fishing beats any other time of year, given the right conditions.