Fishery Focus: Ashmoor Lakes Silvers

I am lucky enough to be part of a family who own a fishery. Ashmoor Lakes in Old Basing.

It is a small, mixed coarse fishery packed with many species of fish.

Initially they were dug for me, and I have been fishing there all of my angling life, over 30 years. It’s where I learned to fish, and as such I have extensive knowledge of the venue and how best to catch the fish.

So I figured it was about time I shared some of this information I've acquired through the years and how you can best target and catch certain species by design.

ASHMOOR SILVERS

Ashmoor Lakes is a mixed coarse fishery packed with many wonderful species. Though the Carp are the primary and most fished for species, the lakes are filled with a variety of what anglers call ‘silverfish’ as well.

A silver fish is an encompassing term for, unsurprisingly, a mostly silver coloured fish, such as Roach, Rudd, Bream, Chub, Dace, Bleak and other smaller fishes, but also sometimes includes less silver coloured fish like Crucian Carp and Perch.

When Ashmoor Lakes was first dug and stocked a bucket of various unknown tiny fish were added into them. No-one at the time had any idea what they were, and it was down to myself and Aaron over the next few years, before the fishery was opened to the public, to figure out what they were by catching them. As it turned out, the main stock of those silver fish were Rudd and Roach, whose ancestors make up the entirety of their population in Ashmoor Lakes today.

Later on, when the fishery was opened to the public, fish like Bream, Crucians and Chub were added to the mix to add more interest and provide angling sport all year round.

Though these fish have been there for many years, due to the angling pressure of the Carp, none have grown to record breaking sizes, but there are plenty of decent fish to catch for those who want to target them.

Other than the Carp and Barbel, the main focus for many Ashmoor anglers attention, there are Roach, Rudd, Bream, Tench, Crucian Carp, Perch, Chub, Golden Orfe and Goldfish present in Ashmoor, but rather than go into each one, I’ll spend some more time on the top 3 species, The Bream, the Roach and the Rudd. 

None of these fish are particularly difficult to catch, and a general day of mixed coarse fishing will catch all these species, and many of them, but there are ways to target them more specifically, and perhaps pick out the bigger fish..

BREAM

As mentioned, the Bream in Ashmoor were not there in the original stocking, but added just before the fishery was opened to the public. 50 individual fish were introduced to Lake 2, all no bigger than a few inches long. No stocking of Bream has taken place since, and as anyone who has fished Ashmoor will attest, there has been absolutely no need to. Those 50 Bream have bred like rabbits through the years, where now there must be thousands of them.

The fish have spread throughout the lakes via the underground pipe system and can and will be caught anywhere you sit.

There are indeed thousands of little skimmer Bream in Ashmoor Lakes, but bigger ones are present. 1-2lb fish are still fairly common, though none of the Bream seem to exceed 4lb in weight greatly.

A 1-2lb Bream on the Feeder

LOCATION

Though you can literally catch the Bream from anywhere, the best days Bream fishing can be had in the open water. Bream swim and feel safest in large schools and graze together. Casting out into the middle areas of the lakes will see you catching more Bream than in the margins.

TIME

The Bream here can be caught any time of the day. They are usually hungry enough to want food all the time, and they aren't too fussy about what you provide them. But like all Bream, they do prefer an overcast day to a sunny one. They fish particularly well during the winter months. This has a lot to do with the Carp becoming more dormant with the colder weather, giving the silver fish more of a chance to shine.

METHODS

Standard methods for Bream fishing sees good captures. The usual float fishing and quiver tip fishing with a feeder work well. 

When float fishing it is important to know the depth of the water with a plummet. Bream like to feed on the bottom of the lake mostly, where their food is found. Fishing a hook bait dead to depth, or even a few inches over depth to ensure the bait lies flat on the bottom gives them the best chance of finding your bait easier.

Bream are predominantly bottom feeding fish, and have mouths specifically designed to do so, but having said that, Ashmoor Lakes is one those rare, special venues where it is very possible to catch Bream on the surface. Gaining confidence among schools of other silver fish, like Rudd, they will happily come right up to the top of the water to intercept free offerings. In this way, you can fish for them very shallowly as if you were Rudd fishing, or even free-line bread on the very surface, though the Carp do tend to get there first with the latter.

BAIT

Being a farm fishery, the general rule with Ashmoor is that natural baits work best. Natural food is regularly blown onto the lakes from surrounding fields, and falls from the tree as Ashmoor is set in a woodland. Maggots and chopped worms therefore dominate when Bream fishing, and to a lesser extent bread and sweetcorn. However, as there are plenty of Carp fishermen that bait up the lakes too, and the Bream also enjoy pellets, especially soft hooker pellets or expanders, and luncheon meat. The Carp also prefer these however, so the trouble with using them to target Bream specifically comes with fishing fine lines for the Bream and heavy lines so you don't get broken up with the Carp.

In all cases of Bream fishing, using a ground bait pays dividends, not only to draw the fish in, but also to keep them feeding in the swim as you catch them.

BEST WAY TO CATCH

The best way to Bream fish at Ashmoor is undoubtedly to quiver tip for them with a small cage feeder rig on the end. A combination of ensuring the hookbait lays perfectly on the bottom and making sure the groundbait also gets to the bottom through the mostly surface feeding Rudd gives you the best chances of a good day catching Bream.

Throughout the session you will also catch all the other species of course, as they will all get drawn in. But there really isn't much you can do about that. To get the most Bream, hooking on 2 dead maggots is the best tactic. Live ones will wriggle into the silt often, resulting in a long wait for bites, but to target the bigger Bream a little more specifically, a hookable pellet on the hook works best.

As discussed though adding pellets will bring in the Carp. The issue here lies with the line you use. A nice fine line, like 2 or 3lb is best for your hooklength with Bream, but the Carp will soon smash that up. Using a stronger line, like 6lb+ will stop the Carp destroying it, but will result in less Bream.

The best way of getting around this is simple. Fishing for the Bream in Winter is better. As the Carp get more dormant and sluggish with the cold weather, you can more safely fish lighter lines. If a big Carp still takes your bait, they are likely to be more sluggish and easier to land on a light line, and there will be less anglers so you have more space to play the fish. 

Bagging up on Bream

ROACH

The Roach stock in Ashmoor originates from that first bucket of small fish tipped into the water when they were dug. Initially, we were unaware of the quantity of them, as most of the fish that were caught were the Rudd, being easier to see and target on the surface, but it was soon discovered that a healthy population of Roach were present, and caught less only because of the surface fishing tactics that were mostly used at the time.

There are lots of little Roach in Ashmoor, only a few ounces, but if you spend the time to target them, or if you are lucky when mixed fishing, you will often come across a few fish of 1lb+. Anglers who take the time to target the Roach here have caught them over 2lb.

A Decent Ashmoor Roach

LOCATION

The Roach can be found anywhere around Ashmoor Lakes, as they too swim between all 3 lakes freely thanks to the underground pipes that join all the lakes together. The Roach here tend to like the cover a bit more, so are more often found along the margins of the lakes, or underneath lilies or overhanging trees.

TIME

The are definite best times of the day to target Roach at Ashmoor. Being there fishing for them at first light and just as the sun sets is best. Roach always feed more confidently at these times of day, when predators are less likely to see them.

The best time of the year to target the Roach specifically at Ashmoor is during the winter months.

METHODS

Float fishing and quiver tipping, much like when Bream fishing, are the best methods to target the Roach. A cage feeder with a nice Roach groundbait will bring them in for a swim, casting to the margins or a similar feature working best.

BAIT

Natural baits are the best baits to use at Ashmoor as a rule, with the quantity of natural food finding their way onto the lakes from overhanging trees and blowing in from the fields. Roach love to eat maggots, worms, bread and sweetcorn baits. A really good bait to use alongside these is actually prawn, which often targets the bigger Roach.

The Roach will also eat pellet and luncheon meat hook baits, though less readily than the others.

BEST WAY TO CATCH

The best way to catch the Roach is with the float. Finding the depth of the water with a plummet, fishing a hookbait on the bottom is the way forward. No need to cast out far, the near margins are the place to be for them. With targeting Roach I wouldn't use a groundbait at all. It attracts the other fish, particularly Bream, too much. Instead, loose feeding small amounts of bait and often, over the top of the float, is the better tactic.

Maggot or chopped worms on the hook are great baits, but I’d also try some chunks of prawn, as they seem to love these too.

Similarly to the Bream, the best Roach fishing season is in the winter when the Carp are less active due to the colder weather. You can use finer lines because of this and therefore catch more Roach, and also enjoy catching them a lot more on more suitable gear that isn't big Carp proof stuff. It's worth emphasizing that it is the early morning and late even at all times of the year when you will catch the most and better sizes of Roach.

A Classic Roach

HYBRIDS

Just a quick mention at this point about the hybrids in Ashmoor. With the large populations of Roach, Rudd and Bream whose breeding seasons are at the similar times, there are a lot of cross bred fish present in Ashmoor.

Luckily, the cross bred fish are still very decent fish, particularly the Roach/Bream and Rudd/Bream hybrids. Bream as a species aren’t renowned for their fighting habits when caught, but the Bream hybrids give a much better account of themselves.

It’s not always easy to tell if the fish you have caught is a hybrid or a genuine fish. The way I usually tell: if it looks like Bream, I gently pull its mouth down. If it extends downwards like a bottom feeding tube, it's a genuine Bream, if it doesn't, it's a hybrid. 

Figuring out if it's a Roach hybrid or a Rudd hybrid involves also looking at which way the mouth is pointing. A more terminal/flat mouth is a Roach hybrid, and a more upward pointing mouth is a Rudd hybrid, in general.

You can tell if it's a genuine Roach or Rudd or a Bream cross also by how it feels. If you hold it in your hand and it's normal, it has no Bream in it. If your hand was covered in the typical Bream snotty slime, it definitely has a sniff of Bream in it. 

A Definite Bream/Roach Hybrid

RUDD

Out of all the silver fish in Ashmoor Lakes, the Rudd are by far the most popular. This could be because they are quite easy fish to spot as they tend to be seen easily near the surface of the water, or it could be because finding a good fishery with plenty of Rudd to catch is harder and harder to do. The Rudd have been here since the lakes were first dug, and were the most prolific species at the time. When I was very young I used to come down with Aaron with a light float rod and 2lb line and float fish for them with rigs about a foot deep with a single grain of sweetcorn on the hook and catch plenty. I have a deep affection for the Ashmoor Rudd in particular, as it was fishing for these fish’ ancestors that taught me the basic fishing techniques and gave me my love of angling that I carry with me today.

Similar to the Roach, the Ashmoor Rudd all descended from those originally stocked fish. Also back then, Golden Rudd were quite common, but through the years of interbreeding they have had the gold colour in their offspring bred out somewhat, though the odd somewhat Golden Rudd still exists.

The majority of the Rudd in Ashmoor are what I call “handful” fish, being a comfortable fit for the hand, though as some Rudd catching regulars know, there are some Rudd in the lakes of 1lb, and even some caught up to 2 lb. 

My favourite Ashmoor Lakes Fish

LOCATION 

Rudd are found everywhere in all 3 lakes, once again thanks to the underground pipelines joining the water up. They are easily spotted on a sunny day basking near the surface and nipping at fallen items on the water surface. Rudd are mostly surface feeding fish, with their mouths clearly pointing upwards to be able to do so. On warm evenings when the seeds from the plants in the surrounding fields have their seeds blown onto the lake, the water can come alive with feeding Rudd sipping them up.

TIME

Though Rudd fishing is usually best in the evenings, when food items fall from the warm air as the air cools, onto the surface of the lakes, at Ashmoor this doesn’t seem to matter. The Rudd feed well pretty much all day long. I would say that on the very hottest days the Rudd don’t seem to feed too well, whether the heat gets to them, or the sun getting into their eyes when looking up for potential food near the surface.

Spring, Summer and Autumn are the best times of the year for targeting Rudd, when the weather is nice and warm.

METHODS

You will indeed catch Rudd on the bottom with the float and feeder tactic discussed above. 

The better method of the two is float fishing of course. With Rudd being a mostly surface feeding fish, setting your rig at about a foot deep is the better way to target them. No plummet needed, and certainly no dropper shot. This allows the bit to drift down slowly, which is what the Rudd like.

Regular feeding of small amounts of loose feed will bring the fish in to the swim and start them competing, say a pinch of maggots every cast. You will soon see schools of them buzzing around in the water snapping them up, and see them even clearer with polarised sunglasses on, which is a must to have. Though you will be float fishing, don’t just watch the float, also keep an eye on the line as it drops through the water as the Rudd will often intercept the bait on the drop. If the line starts to dash off before the float cocks, strike!

Allowing the line between the hook and the float to lay on the water by swinging the rig out into the swim also helps with this.

I’d still use 3lb line on the hooklength, as there is still a chance a sneaky Carp will pop up and slurp in the bait.

BAIT

Rudd love maggots, casters and bread. Baits that sink slower through the surface levels of the water. Though I always used to use sweetcorn to catch them in the day, and that still works, these other baits are far better. Also, don’t be afraid to improvise. If you catch a fly or a bug on the bank, lightly hook that and use it as bait too, as these are the natural baits they are always looking for. 

BEST WAY TO CATCH

Now, most would attest that fishing on the drop near the surface is the best way to target the Rudd, and they are sort of right. But through the years I have perfected the best way of targeting them with a float. Well, not even a float, a piece of stick or twig will do just fine.

Rather than using a waggler float and only attaching the line at one end, the float I propose is more set up like a stick float. A piece of floating reed, stick found on the bankside or indeed a stick float as used in river fishing held onto the line at both ends with float bands (though I prefer to make or find my own ones).

The idea behind it being that this is your casting weight, much like a normal float in this situation, but the float itself will lie perfectly flat on the surface and camouflage perfectly as just some normal bit of reed or stick on the surface. Rather than having to wait for the float to cock and dip with a bite, if there is ANY movement of that stick, it's a bite and worth striking.

This setup also makes it easier to adjust the depth of the rig if the fish shy off and move to feeding deeper by just running the float up and down the line.

But crucially, it is perfect for stalking individual fish.

Get them feeding up on the surface on a sunny day with maggot or caster and when you see a decent fish you want, swing the float into position right on its nose and it'll grab it perfectly. It won’t be spooked by the splash of a float, because the float is just a normal bit of reed or twig. In this way you can catch Rudd continuously for hours without end, and always target the bigger individuals.

Nature Notes: The Kingfisher

I am extraordinarily lucky to live in Bristol, and have the Bristol Avon on my doorstep. I regularly travel up the river from the city of Bristol and into Somerset. Through Keynsham and Saltford, past the city of Bath and into Wiltshire up through Bradford-on-Avon. Being a pedestrian, I rely fully on the train and my feet to get me to where I want to be, and no matter where I alight, I'll be strolling up or down the river taking in the scenes and wildlife, whether there be a fishing rod in my hand or not.

Along this river there's always a creature that studies and surveys the water keenly, waiting patiently for it’s next catch, a pristine fish. But this creature is not me, or any other angler, it is a Kingfisher.
I regularly boast to others that no matter where I walk on the Avon, I will always see a Kingfisher, be I at Bradford-on-Avon further up, watching them dart up and down the river defending their territory from other Kingfishers, or perched on the handrails of boats drifting in Bristol Harbour itself.
To me, the Kingfisher is the angler's ultimate companion. Where one is present, you know the water is healthily holding plenty of fish, and when you are catching very little, if he is present, he will happily show you how it's done. That is if he stops to show off his skills. More often the angler will hear its whistling 'chee' call and see a shining azure blue flash bolt past without a moment's thought to you being there.

A Kingfisher, eyeing up its next Catch

The Blue Streak

The UK is home to the Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) and is our only species of Kingfisher. This makes them very easy to identify, but not easier to spot at times, despite its vibrant colours.
The Kingfisher is a small sparrow sized bird, measuring about 16cm long as an average, and having a 25cm wingspan. Adult birds weigh around 34-46 grams, with a short little tail, and a large head compared to its body with a very long sharp bill. The upper parts of its body are coloured multiple shades of blue. Green/blue, azure and cobalt. The brightest stripe of shining blue runs down its back. 
Whereas its underparts are coloured a bright orange, and orange also appears as a part of an eye band, the back of the band being white along with its bib. A Kingfisher's legs are red in colour. Male and female birds are only visually differentiated by their beak, the lower mandible having orange markings on the female bird.
Kingfishers, unsurprisingly considering their name, feed on fish and are good indicators of the health of a freshwater habitat,
The Common Kingfisher is also found throughout Europe, Asia and North Africa, though in Africa they do tend to be a winter visitor. They enjoy a mild climate.
Kingfishers fly very fast, and usually in a direct route, low over water. They are mostly solitary birds when it's not breeding season, and roost alone, territorially protecting feeding areas by driving others off. In Autumn, their solitary lifestyle changes as they start to form breeding pairs.
They have been known to live up to 15-21 years, though many don't usually make it past one breeding season.

Kingfisher perch on Branches over a River

A Fisherman’s Home

Kingfishers are found around clear, slow flowing rivers and streams, as well as lakes with well vegetated banks. They like areas where reed beds fringe the banks or areas of scrub, with branches of trees and bushes that overhang the water, perfect areas for them to perch on to hunt. Smaller bodies of water are preferred by them over large ones. Small streams, canals and ponds being better places over large rivers and lakes. They also prefer to live around water habitats where the clarity of the water is clear, as this gives optimal visibility to hunt their prey.
In Winter Kingfishers actually become a coastal bird, with many heading towards harbours, estuaries and rocky shorelines.

A Freshly Caught Minnow

Deep Dive

A Kingfisher's main prey is fish. They eat a variety of fresh water fishes from Minnows, Stickleback, Roach, Rudd, Trout, Salmon Fry, Elvers and Lamprey. 60% of their prey are indeed fish, however, they will also take tadpoles and small frogs, and dragonfly larva and diving beetles. They particularly eat shrimp during the winter months. 
Basically any aquatic species or fry up to about 12cm in length, which is just about big enough to swallow.
Each bird must hunt, catch and consume 60% of its body weight in fish each day (which is about 16 Minnows). It is therefore essential for them to be territorial about the best hunting areas they hold.
As any angler or bird watch will tell you, it is fascinating to watch them hunt.
The ideal perch a bird will look for is one about 1-2 metres above the water level, be it a branch or a river bank overhang. The Kingfisher will bob its head from its perch, looking into the water to gauge the distance of the prey from itself. Amazingly they can allow for the refraction of the light between the air and the water to pinpoint the prey precisely. Kingfishers have two fovea rather than one. This is a small pit in the back of an eye with the greatest density of light receptors that provides the clearest vision. A Kingfisher has the ability to switch between the two as it sees into the water, from monocular vision looking through the air, to binocular vision while looking down through the water.
This ability in the air makes its vision very sharp, and it is able to judge the distance and refraction of the water, however underwater it is not as sharp, but vastly increases its ability to judge the distance of a moving prey.
They also have an oil droplet inside the cone of its eyes that enhances its colour vision, which also goes to reduce the glare of the water.
When all the factors have been judged, which only takes a fraction of a second, the Kingfisher dives down, plunging into the water like a dart to catch its quarry. As the Kingfisher hits the water, a third eyelid covers and protects its eyes, but it happens so quickly and precisely that it doesn't matter that it can visually see. The distance it is looking for between the water's surface and its prey is usually no deeper than about 25cm, so it can be a waiting game to find the right fish.
Once the fish is retrieved back up to its perch, the Kingfisher beats the fish on it several times to ensure it is dead before eating it, always head first, for ease of swallowing.
After digesting the meal the Kingfisher will regurgitate a pellet of fish bones and other indigestible items, much like an owl would, doing so about 3 times a day.
Prime hunting spots are by river bends, where the water slows and small fish move to escape the flow and get cover from overhanging plants.

A Third Eyelid covers a Kingfishers Eye as it Dives

The Burrowing Bird

Kingfisher courtship is fast paced and noisy, as expected. The male will chase the female, calling continuously. When the female is sufficiently convinced the male holds potential, courting continues with ritual feeding of the female, gifting her caught fish to prove he can provide for the young.
When paired up, they become even more territorial over their nesting location, as they are very particular about where it should be. It needs to be on an area of bank that is, more or less, vertical to the water, and devoid of vegetation. It's easier to dig a nesting burrow if the soil is looser, and there are no roots from vegetation in the way. Both birds dig a nest tunnel at the top of the bank to try to ensure that if the river floods, the nest will be safe. The tunnel itself can be anywhere between 30-90 centimetres long and gently inclined from the opening to the back to ensure that any detritus, such as fish bone pellets and waste, falls down and into the water to help keep the nest clean. The nest chamber itself is not lined with nesting material.
Kingfisher eggs are glossy and white in colour and laid at the end of their burrow between March and July to coincide with the breeding seasons of the freshwater fish they feed on.
They lay anywhere between 2-10 eggs, but with the larger number usually one or two eggs fail to hatch as the parent can't cover all the eggs to incubate them properly.
Both the male and the female take it in turns to incubate the egg during the day, but during the night it is only the female who does this.
The eggs take around 19-20 days to hatch, and 24-25 days for the young to fledge.
A Kingfisher couple can have two or three broods of young in one season in this way. Both the adults have to work hard to feed their young, for an average brood of 7 young the adults will need to catch around 5000 fish to feed them.
The feathers on the young moult from their duller colours between July and November, their black bill, and black legs and feet changing to adult colouring too.
Around 4 days after fledging, the young Kingfishers start learning diving. This is a very hard time for the young birds, as only half of them survive the first week or two. The ones that can't learn the correct diving technique, become too waterlogged and drown or starve if they don't learn how to catch enough fish in time.

A Female Kingfisher brooding her Eggs

A Hard Life

The main reason a Kingfisher dies isn't through predation, but through lack of food where their usual fishing areas ice over, or simply the cold itself kills them. Floods make catching fish in rivers difficult too, where the rivers pick up speed due to the added flow, causing the water to become more cloudy and harder to spot fish, and the flow sometimes sweeping birds away when diving. During severe winters many Kingfishers die off.
Summer floods also make feeding difficult, and if the pair cannot catch enough food during them, young often starve, or the floods destroy the nests completely. 
Only 1 in 4 Kingfishers survive their first year. Very few make it past one breeding season.
As far as predators go, their main predators are rats and cats, which can easily reach the nest sites of Kingfishers. Many also die through collisions with vehicles, and windows of properties near the water. General human disturbance of banksides around nesting birds, as well as river works, drive off adult birds and kill whole nests of young frequently too.
And of course pollution in the water is another killer. Pollution mistaken as a fish can be eaten, as well as ingested via the fish they eat. Chemicals in the water can damage their feathers making them less water proof.
In the old days Kingfishers were killed regularly by humans for their feathers. Kingfisher feathers would adorn ladies dresses and hats and was the height of fashion, as was having them stuffed and displayed in glass cages. Anglers too were a big threat to the Kingfisher, as they were also killed for their feathers, with fly makers using them to make fishing flies to catch Trout and Salmon.

Another successful Catch

Securing the Species

The RSPB estimates that there are somewhere between 4800 and 8000 breeding pairs of Kingfishers in the UK, meaning they are a bird of least concern conservationally.
However, they are still a bird that needs protecting to ensure we keep those numbers.
A lot of the Kingfishers habitat gets destroyed where natural flows of rivers and streams get diverted, ‘improved’, or restructured to fit around human development. 
Where ecological concern for the Kingfisher is considered through, human maintenance of banks can help greatly however. By clearing areas of vertical banks of vegetation, the lack of roots and stones encourages Kingfishers to nest, and preservation of existing banks ensures they do not get damaged or swept away by floods.
Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, it is illegal to take, kill or injure a Kingfisher or its nest, eggs or young. It is also illegal to intentionally disturb them during breeding season.
Pollution in rivers particularly has reduced over the years, especially runoff from farms, and Kingfisher numbers have bounced back dramatically since the changes, but still needs maintaining to ensure clean, clear living conditions for fish to thrive in.
But it's not just water authorities that can help the Kingfisher, we can help them too.
To help out the Kingfishers where they are found, people can provide perches for them to dive off. As mentioned above, the optimal height above the water is between 1-2 metres and better placed in areas above slow flowing clear water. The perch needs to be solid, so that it makes diving and precision easier on the bird.
As well as making and placing perches, you can also provide homes for Kingfishers to nest in. These nest boxes or tunnels can be purchased and dug into the bank.
Placed 1 metre above the maximum water height on a vertical river bank, and if digging in multiple boxes making them 2 metres apart, they are also good places for birds like sand martins to nest in as well. Completely burying them and ensuring the tunnel slope is set at around 10-20 degrees, you can place dry soil in the nest chamber for them to lay their eggs on. A single pair of Kingfishers may even use more than one next box, with one Kingfisher brooding the eggs, while the other prepares a second box for a second brood. Placing a few perches a few metres away from the covered box will also encourage Kingfishers to use them.

A Pre-made Kingfisher Home

Having a Kingfisher make your water its home, is something to be proud of and indeed to boast about. It is comforting to know that they are now doing well on our waters thanks to changed ideas and views on water management.
On my family fishing lakes we have had a pair of Kingfishers living there for many, many years, though clearly not the same pair. In times past they certainly used the banks of the lakes to nest in, but nowadays it seems as though they nest elsewhere, perhaps on the close by river, and use the lakes for a feeding place, particularly when the water flow in the river is high and pacy after recent heavy rain.
Last year we added metal perches for them to sit on around the lakes, and within minutes of  putting them in likely places, we noted a Kingfisher using one, and they continue to use them still. With them seemingly to struggle to survive the first year, we hope this will help them out a little and keep our resident Kingfisher population plentiful.
Of course for any angler, the ultimate Kingfisher experience is when you are sat peacefully by a river bank, perhaps quiver tipping for Chub or Barbel, with your rod poking out over the water. And as you lazily await a fish to take your bait, a Kingfisher comes along and uses your rod tip as a perch to sit on creating that true magical moment, where the angler and wildlife is, without doubt, at one.

Piscatorial Pondering: Dream Fishing

Angling is a dream.

Anyone who stops for a moment in the wonder of nature and wildlife understands the dream world that we live in, be you a fisherman or not. But if you are an angler you perhaps understand it a little bit deeper.

Being up at dawn on a summer morning and venturing down to a lake side to exist in a world of lazily drifting early morning fog over a pool of inky water.

The rising sun cresting over the treetops, piercing through with glorious, golden rays of light and waking up the world.

The beauty of being beside a still lake or pond is that it reveals one of the magics of water. It reflects our world back to us, like a mirror. And like Alice through the looking glass, anglers find it impossible to resist looking into it, and being taken by its hypnotic wonder.

The slightest movement on this mirror, like skimming pond skaters twitching over the surface, breathes life into everything around. Ripples spreading gently across pools or ponds are mesmerising.

The health benefits of fishing are immeasurable. In this dreamlike paradise, everyday worries and stress, anxiety and depression wash away with the water. No more does that world exist. There's only you, the float or bobbin, and the calming embrace of nature to set the scene. Until it is broken by the intense excitement of a screaming bite alarm when a monster from the deep ventures to take your carefully presented bait. Whether relaxing calmly or exhaustingly winding in big fish all day, sleep comes easy after a day of fishing

The denizens of this still, silent and peaceful world lurk in its depths. Skulking Pike creep slowly through the underwater vegetation, ever vigilant for their next meal to snap at, while fat, lazy Carp bask in the late afternoon sun, drifting peacefully by.

All anglers dream of fish, whether the angler is asleep or wide awake.

Sometimes the dream is of leviathans. Huge monster fish that emerge from the water and are so big it defies belief.

I have these dreams from time to time. But most often, when I dream of catching a fish, they are about as big as to fill my hand.

As a child a monster fish was one big enough to fill my palm. Perhaps a Rudd of 6-8oz. And an impossible fish one where you had to use two hands to hold it. A 2lb Tench!

Rivers are the other side of the scale to stillwaters. Rushing by like thunder, over waterfalls and through weir pools, but also gently flowing by making a sound track that is calming and peace inducing. 

The swirling, twirling flow provides another hypnotising way the water can magically transport you to a world of peace and dreams. Anglers swept off to this world dream of the

fantastically rainbow coloured Grayling drifting through the water like graceful ballerinas, elegant and delicate, while Minnows in the crystal clear rivers rush and dart like arrows, keeping pace with their fast flowing world.

Watching a kingfisher perched on an overhanging branch, keeping a hungry eye into the depths, only to drop and pierce through the mercury and return with a creature from another world in its beak can enrapture you so much you can often miss that twitch of the quiver tip.

Chilly winter mornings strolling the river banks looking for tantalizing spots to trot a float down the flowing glass-like liquid where the grass underfoot, once green, is now glistening like crystal with frost, and crackles and crunches beneath your feet. Falling leaves from trees, golden red and yellow, dancing down from the branches like confetti.

There is still nothing that delights me more than the journey down to a babbling brook, net and glass jar in hand. Rolling up the trousers to the knees and dipping my feet into the chill water. Swooping and gliding the net at Stickleback, Bullhead and Minnows and filling the jar to observe the fish better.

 

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Canals, though also still waters, provide a different angling world. Where the industries and urban life of the human race meets the natural beauty and wildlife of nature.

Perched alongside the straight lines and brickwork of everyday life, the swans gracefully gliding, rippling out bow waves that spread out peacefully like silk in the breeze; happily reveal to you that the countryside isn't very far away, and can combine together perfectly.

Shipping out a pole towards a bramble-covered bank, or alongside a gently bobbing canal boat, remaining still as a heron, you know its mystery as to what will happen next. Every moment passes with patient anticipation. Will the float dip and yawn, and will we get a chance to meet, face to face, one of these magnificent creatures from under glass? Or will it remain, hiding its mystery, leaving us in the glorious world around us to contemplate its own?

Golden Rudd as bright as the sun's rays, with their blood red fins, to red eyed green Tench with paint brush tails, that could easily have painted the whole scene around you.

The joy of people can often be found here especially. Canal boats busying up and down, joggers happily chatting as they pass by, though shattering the peace, is a vibrant reminder of all the people who also appreciate the same watery landscape you do. Children with their parents coming up to you and watching with excitement to see what fish you might catch next, and cheeky dogs with tails wagging, hoping you might have a bit of spare luncheon meat bait you might be able to treat them with.

Minutes can blend into hours when you are fishing. For time itself is magical here. Often it slows, minutes feeling like hours. Lazily sliding by in peace, sometimes even to seemingly stop entirely. Other times it passes like lightning, particularly if that float does dip under the water's surface. Excitement, heart racing, minutes seem like milliseconds! In the blink of an eye, it is gone.

Time you see, when fishing, doesn't just slow, stop and speed up, sometimes it reverses entirely and takes you back to your childhood. Such is its power. Days gone by are revealed by the canals, an industrial age long forgotten returns, like the horses pulling the canal boats along the towpaths you now fish

The sheer power of water is truly seen within the sea. Violently crashing against the rocks and rolling in large sheets against the sandy shores. The fish that make this impossible paradise their home are vast and varied. The ravenous Dogfish hunting among the barnacle covered rocks, the darting Bass sailing among the waves, snapping up small fishes in silvery schools.

Strong sea breezes thrust sand and spray into the sea angler and the wind can blow through you. It’s invigorating experiencing the force of nature flowing around and through your very being.

But the sea can also be witnessed by the angler in calm, lapping lagoons of hidden underwater plants, molluscs and crustaceans. Kelp and weeds like a rainforest in a different medium, where creatures dwell hidden in a world so different from our own, it may as well be another planet.

Sound also fills the world of the angler here, the crying of gulls on the air and the piping of oystercatchers busying around the surf, picking at the pebbles and sandy surf lines for morsels of food. At night, the sounds relax the weary angler, as sea salters rush up onto the rocks to scurry around your feet.

An angler gets to witness all of this, and dream of what lies beneath.

The anticipation of a bend of a rod is extreme, as the denizens of the deep, vast oceans are innumerable.

No matter what waterside world the piscator chooses, fishing gives us anglers the excuse to stop and exist in a world surrounded by beauty and magic.

I for one wouldn’t want to exist without any of it. Other water users, I'm sure, enjoy aspects the angler gets to dwell in too, but it is the angler who gets to unlock the secrets beneath the waters surface. That opposite dream world filled with impossible fishes.