John Bailey – The Kingfisher Diaries
January 12th 2010
Wensum Winter Pits
The winter, to me, means piking along the pits of the Wensum. Some years, the fishing can be classic but since November 2009 and into this New Year of ours, I admit I'm struggling. And, in large part, I guess its water colour. Whilst the Kingfisher Lake itself has turned crystal, other pits haven't proved as obliging. Over and over, I've arrived at my water and found them coloured. And I don't know about you but when the visibility is much less than a metre, often half a metre, I begin to feel apprehensive.
I can't quite work out why some pits colour and others don't. You'd think they'd be uniform but they're not. Perhaps it's something to do with river feed. Perhaps when the river rises and colours some of the pits lying very close absorb this coloured water. But why not the Kingfisher Lake? Perhaps it's something to do with rain, sleet, snow or even ice melt. Perhaps it's all down to complex aquatic reactions but the colour can't surely be anything to do with the blooms of the summer. Does the wind play an important factor on exposed waters?
Whatever, all us pikers are stuck with it. I love my lure fishing but I don't register much success in water like tea. I adore sink and draw with a dead roach, but similar. Live baits can just swim untouched. Perhaps it's really down to me sharpening up my dead baiting technique. Not for years have I really concentrated on deads and I really should dig out some of the really inventive work some of the top predator anglers have put in.
John Bailey is away leading a mahseer trip in India. He will be back with more news on January 16th or thereabouts.