Hi!
This is the first time I have given my name to a commercial fishery and I only do so now because I truly believe Kingfishers is uniquely special.
It is special in my own angling history. It was from the main lake at Kingfishers that I took my personal best pike of thirty-six pounds six ounces on December 23rd 1984. To say that's a day I won't forget is as about a big understatement as I can make!
Kingfishers is special also because I have known the Rogers family who own the Fishery for thirty-four years and I have always been aware how deeply they care for, protect and understand the natural environment. That's why Kingfisher is so beautiful and unspoilt and that's why I know it will remain like this for years to come.
Vitally, Kingfishers is special because of it's fishing. The huge complex of lakes and river mean you will fish in peace, exclusivity and serenity for carp over forty pounds, tench and bream well into double figures, big roach, chub, pike and even barbel. This is more than quality fishing. It can be exceptional fishing.
Kingfishers is also special because of the luxurious Kingfisher Apartments that border this huge varied fishery. They provide every comfort but don't take anything away from the essential feeling of being there on the river bank. I welcome my involvement with Kingfishers because I feel that here is the most ideal holiday opportunity in angling. Big and plentiful fish stocks in breathtaking surroundings. Great for kids who can fish the Lobster Pot Lake yards from your balcony in absolute safety. Great for families who want to see their fishing-mad Dad for breakfast after a tench-filled dawn session. Great for horse riding, sailing trips to Norwich or the coast or simply chilling out by the side of the heated pool. Great for relaxing in the evening over snooker, bowls or a meal in the onsite clubhouse.
Faced by rising flight costs, unfriendly exchange rates, fears of terrorism and ever-mounting hassle at airports, you will soon see why Kingfishers in the heart or rural England is special.
A haven in the countryside. A home on the waterside. A fishing break made in heaven.
See you there,
John Bailey – The Kingfisher Diaries
What we’re hoping to put before you now is a consistently updated account of the Kingfisher Lakes in the Wensum Valley at Lyng in mid Norfolk. Of course, they’re great waters – including a piece of river as well – and we’re really, really lucky to be able to fish them. There are over thirty acres of well-matured gravel pit with all manner of fish species running to specimen sizes.
But even if you don’t fish Kingfisher – and we hope you will! – there’ll be a lot for you to take away from these diaries and apply to your own local waters. For example, we’re beginning with how to kick off an autumnal tench campaign. Perhaps it will be successful for me. Perhaps it might spark your enthusiasm and the tips here will prove successful for you.
March 9th 2010
Early Tench
It's been October since I've seen a tench and I miss them. If this warmer weather continues then, I guess, by the middle or the end of the month, we might have a chance of a tench out of the Lobster.
My tips? Attack the bottom end towards the fishermen's toilet block where there is somewhat deeper water.
Don't over bait. I'd try a mix of hemp, corn, casters and maggots. Perhaps with two casters and a maggot on a size fourteen.
I suggest you can get away with four pound bottoms as the weed is less of a problem at this time of the year. A size sixteen hook, too, is probably adequate. Barbless or squeezed down barb, if you don't mind.
I'd attack the tench with a float at this early time of the year simply because of the spot-on bite indication a float gives. I wouldn't be expecting a tearaway bite under most circumstances. There are all sorts of ways of setting your float up for tench but, on the Lobster Pot, I like to find the EXACT depth I'm fishing and then set the float about an inch or so over. My idea is, then, to put the bulk of the shot round the float and halfway down the line. The bottom three feet or so have barely any shot on whatsoever. I'll probably put something like a size eight on, four or five inches away from the hook. That's all. My plan is that the tench browse along the shelf, come to that enticing cocktail of maggots and casters and simply suck it in on the spot. What you'll probably find is that the float stirs and then just moves away as the tench sucks the bait in. I'd strike fast at any positive indication.
Watch out for bubbling. If the tench are really fizzing, even this early, you can put more bait in but I'd still be careful. You can put bait in but you can't take it out!
I'd forget the dawn starts at this time of the year. Peak times for me would probably be 10.30 until 4 o'clock, the warmest part of the day. I also wouldn't bother if there's a strong wind or rain in the air. Give me a mild, settled day with temperatures hopefully into double figures.
Finally, don't forget your landing net and your unhooking mat. I've noticed some of the tench in Lobster have shown signs of angling damage. Let's make this a thing of the past.
March 3rd 2010
Tony Miles Speaks Out
I seriously recommend anybody reading this blog gets out there to their newsagents and tries to buy a copy of the March 2010 Coarse Fisherman magazine. Failing your newsagent, why not give them a ring for a copy on 01162894567?
But why the importance?
Simply, it's the piece on otters and their impact on our fisheries by Tony Miles that is so direct, so well researched and so heartbreaking. Tony makes it quite clear that he always feared the twin threats of cormorants and signal crayfish. Throw otters into this equation and, as he says, the future is darker than I can ever remember.
Tony is right to stress the perils are especially serious on small, intimate rivers with comparatively low fish populations. Just like the Wensum, Bure, Waveney and Yare.
If we go back just ten years or so, I think we were all confident of seeing bigger barbel and better barbel fishing all around the country. This is now not the case. The whole thrust has stalled.
And it's not just barbel of course, though this species is perhaps dearest to Tony. Chub numbers in the Wensum have fallen dramatically; there can be no doubt about that. And, interestingly, the magazine used one of my photographs across a double spread. A photograph of a massive tench I took at Kingfisher's about a year ago. It was lying largely eaten on the lake's north bank. Otter marks all around.
I know the safe view of most conservationists is that a balance will be reached. But I'm now seriously doubting this. I don't think otters and cormorants know the meaning of the word balance, do they? We are simply faced with too many predators and too few fish. And the disparity appears to be growing wider each and every month.
Read the piece. Contact us at Kingfishers and tell us what you think. Most importantly, how do we go forward in the future? What is the way for our natural fish stocks in natural fisheries?
March 2nd 2010
A Very Special Twenty-Six!
Something of a coincidence. A twenty-six pound pike for JG on the 26th February. A special fish on a day of horrendous conditions. But, if you're properly togged up, weather like this can make a serious capture even more uplifting.
JG deserved this fish. He did his homework. He did a lot of plumbing the day before to get an exact idea of the contours. He found a ledge eighty yards out where the depth fell from five to ten feet and it was here that he positioned his dead half herrings. Getting them that distance into the gale wasn't easy but he did it. Just existing in the wind, rain and falling temperatures was difficult, never mind concentrating on the job in hand.
His reward, as you can see, was an absolute beauty. This is one of the nicest Wensum valley pike I've seen in a long time and just to photograph it was a privilege.
I think the upshot of this single capture is that it's too easy to become stereotyped. Had John not have known the exact depths of the bay he was fishing, he probably wouldn't have caught that pike. If he'd shirked the elements, he wouldn't have caught that pike. If his gear hadn't been absolutely up to the mark (a Prowla rod by the way) he wouldn't have caught that pike.
The carp men out there know what I mean when I say big fish mean a hell of a lot to guys like JG. There really is no substitute for size in the piking world.
As a point of sad interest, the smaller fish John also caught during the day frequently bore the marks of otter attacks. It's a mercy that the big girl hasn't already been lost. How come farmers can cull badgers and I hear they're culling wild boar down in the Forest of Dean. Badgers and boar cause damage and something can be done about it. Otters cause extraordinary damage and yet they are sacrosanct. All three animals are indigenous and yet the Tarka effect is unchallengeable, it seems.
Can I, once again, recommend everyone to buy the March issue of Coarse Fisherman and read the excellent piece by Tony Miles? You won't read a better summary of the horrible truth that awaits us.