WELCOME TO KINGFISHERS - FEBRUARY 2012
February 2012
Remember that your subscriptions are due next month. Full details for renewal you will find in the March newsletter. But I would ask, though, if present members are definitely not joining, that they let me know as soon as possible because this does help with planning. As ever, do contact me either on my home email address - j.m.bailey@lineone.net - or, of course, through the office - 01603 872976 or email
info@kingfisherapartments.co.uk.
Obviously, with the uncertainty over Bawburgh, we are receiving a host of enquiries. Kingy, once again, is being seen as the jewel in Norfolk's carping crown and there will be added pressure for places.
I'm well aware that there are always going to be rumours in the carp fishing world but we have NOT let a flood of new members in over the winter. The very barest handful is the truth. We will NOT be piling new members onto the member ship in the coming year. We WILL continue to vet new members very, very carefully to ensure they are going to fish and act in a responsible way and be a positive benefit for the Club.
We are particularly keen to bypass extreme long-stay anglers. Most of you balance jobs, families and fishing and you don't want to find the best swims occupied by blokes who have been there three months on end.
I'm well aware there will always be problems, issues and personality clashes in any syndicate but we have built up a nice group of lads who can enjoy a quite special place in peace. We won't be jeopardizing that.
Holiday guests will continue to use the walks, subject to the rules and there are no plans to change these. Guest tickets on the big lake will be kept at £25 a day to ensure only the very keen get on. There are no present plans to extend the number of apartments so, rest assured, Kingy will be the same in 2012 as it was in 2011.
Or better. Thank you Ian for a sparkling toilet block. VERY much appreciated. There are also plans to make the Clubhouse more attractive so you might get in there for a pint or even a meal. Mick Munns continues his great work around the bankside and you will notice one or two discreet new swims appearing.
As ever, any questions or worries please do contact me so that I can set any record straight. On the positive note, herewith two or three pictures from last spring which, I believe show just how beautiful our fish actually are. I think it does us good to remember how privileged we are to fish a lovely water with exceptional carp in such a serene and peaceful environment. We will do everything we can to make sure all this continues. Tight lines, John Bailey, Fishery and Conservation Director.
John Bailey – The Kingfisher Diaries
Our fishing diaries are updated every few days and tell the story of the unfolding seasons on our lakes and river. Obviously they are all about the Kingfisher waters but hopefully the lessons illustrated will be relevant to you wherever you fish.
New for 2010 is the Kingfisher photographic competition. We all want to know what you, our guests, have caught during your stay with us at Kingfisher as part of our ongoing work to build our online community. Just email us a photo of you with your catch at caught@kingfisherapartments.co.uk along with details of date, size, and bait used and you will be entered into our monthly competition and probably have your photographs featured on a variety of our Social Media accounts.
Watch the diaries for news, photographs and more details of the mouth watering prizes!
January 31st 2012
The Best View in the World
That is how one of our great members described what he was seeing from his bivvy just the other week. There were shafts of sunlight glinting through the clouds and the Kingy Lake really glowed. Just to be there really was a privilege.
I‘ve huge respect for you guys who are braving Kingy in the winter for carp. I've always tended to wimp out of big waters myself at this time of the year. When the going has been tough, I've always tended to go for smaller waters, preferably estate lakes where location has not been so much of a problem.
These smaller waters made me vividly aware that carp in the winter can be very, very tightly grouped. In fact, you can have the majority of the lakes population with an area not much bigger than an average kitchen. Miss out, even by just ten yards or so and you're likely to go biteless.
Over the years, when location has been really tight, I've tended to find my fish under alders, in amongst dead and dying lily roots or wherever there is just the slightest depression in the lake's bed. Because the waters have been small and I've been up close and intimate, I've often been able to see just the odd patch of silt too, disturbed every now and again by a feeding fish.
All these clues give you a real heads-up as to where the carp are lying. Obviously, on a water the size of Kingy, this type of info is so much harder to glean. So well done you guys that tough it out on a water I'd be scared stiff of even approaching.
January 30th 2012
The River's First Flush
It was just last week that, after a night of rain, the Wensum actually came up and coloured up. On both counts , just a little but, believe me, in that little window, the chub went crazy.
Best mate, Ian, found himself on a lovely glide and put together a catch of four or five really nice fish in just an hour and a half.
It really does make sense to make the most of these little windows of opportunity. After weeks of low, crystal clear conditions, just a bloom of brown really does throw chub, especially, right off their stride and make them very bold indeed. Big baits, small baits, it really doesn't matter. And, on the point of darkness, you will begin to see the roach really rolling when there is colour in the water.
January 26th 2012
First Tastes of Spring
Have you noticed that the lighter nights are beginning draw out at last. We're still getting very nippy winds but daytime temperatures, once the sun is out, are edging up there. It's soon going to be February, then March (how clever am I!?) and we'll be thinking about the summer.
I reckon now is a good time to get down to Kingy if you're thinking about a weekend break perhaps. Interestingly, I saw a very large carp feeding in the shallows on the Friday just gone. Definitely a thirty. There were one or two tench bubbling, too, in a bay over by the island that was sheltered from the wind. A mate of mine has actually had a couple of tench off the Kennet recently, too. I'm also remembering that carp and tench were beginning to be seen in some numbers in February last year and that was after a cripplingly cold winter.
So, if you're thinking about starting your summer early, it would pay to keep an eye on the weather and perhaps come down soon.