John Bailey – The Kingfisher Diaries
April 28th 2010
Carping Craft
I'm always saying it but I'll say it again: the ingenuity of the Kingfisher carp syndicate members frequently takes my breath away. There's real cleverness, real imagination, real blue-sky thinking dare I say on evidence, day after day. This weekend, I was pretty well resident on the lake and just loved watching what was going on around.
A lot of the carp anglers do stalk fish on a regular basis. You see a good deal of tree climbing and sight fishing. All the members have Polaroid glasses and a good many have binoculars, too. They're always watching for rolling fish, for flats on the ripple, for bursts of bubbles, for crashing fish, for anything that gives the game away. 
More of the members are enjoying short, fast-moving sessions. They will bait a few swims and move rapidly from the one to the next. This approach fits in well with a busy work or family schedule.
Many of the anglers have cultivated the ability to uproot and move fast if the wind changes or they are seeing fish at another part of the lake. It's easy to think of carp anglers simply rooted like trees to their swims but this is increasingly less the case, I guess.
A lot of the anglers now are fishing slack lines, different ground baits, different rigs, breaking away from anything that is stereotyped and tired.
What's very evident is that love and experience of water leads an angler into a real understanding of that water. So many of our experienced guys really are so deep in the zone that they are a joy to watch and to talk to.
On another note, it's great to see the stockies that we put in just about a year ago really flourishing. Already they are coming out in the teens and by this time next year, and nature willing, we'll be seeing them in their twenties. They are stunning fish. They fight hard. They offer a really bright future. But more fish will be going in gradually over the course of the coming spring and summer so that we have a regular influx of fresh carp faces...
There are still just a few places left on the syndicate. If you're interested, please contact info@kingfisherapartments.co.uk but do remember, this is very much a club, there is very much a spirit of friendship and co-operation here which we are eager to keep.