Warwickshire Avon - Gormless and Gourmandizing

As we know Kingfishers have excellent eyesight and can see underwater, but there is a good reason for that as they can apparently adjust for the refraction of light in water, allowing them to accurately judge the position of their prey.

You see light rays reflected from the object are refracted at the surface of the water, however our eyes and brain trace the light rays back into the water as though travelled away in a straight line, and not refracted at all. 

This results in an image of the object that appears at a shallower depth to where it really is.

Not an issue for the Kingfisher...

As someone who has seen one close up and actually handled one back in 2019 when I discovered one injured, they really are stunning creatures. 

Sadly despite our best efforts it ended up in bird heaven where I hope it is looking down on us, and especially for this short smash and grab session for Chub or  Barbel, this was once its stomping ground you see. 

Now one thing that I saw that stood out was it could spin its head 270 degrees (at least) which I'd never seen before because despite seeing loads of kingfishers I've never noticed that ability. But then again most of the time they wizz by with that distinctive call of theirs, and it was nice to see some again for this trip out. 

Arriving a couple of hours before dusk and having to leave 30 minutes after dusk isn't a lot of fishing time, but with a low and clear river, when the light levels drop, things start to happen when you'd usually be thinking were there actually any fish in the river.

This trip out played out exactly like that because having been in no rush to get set-up, I'd had a natter to another angler fishing just upstream of me before getting the rod set-up. Simple barbel tactics of a Dynamite Hot Fish boilie with a PVA bag of hemp and small pellets and positioned in a gap between two sets of streamer weed.

Nothing happened until the bats arrived and then there was the first chub clang, then soon after a slow foot long pull of the tip towards the river that the novice might have stuck at. Using a long hair though there is no need for that because you'll know if a fish as hooked itself, like barbel, or gluttonous chub tend to do.

Now chub are the most shyest of fish and then the most aggressive of fish when they want to be. This session well, played out exactly that as there was determined chub in this swim to get the bait no matter the consequences. 

So this culprit slipped up and probably knackered the swim because of it, the water is only around 2ft deep here and the commotion probably scared the other fish away, as despite retaining it in the landing net the strict curfew time arrived and no more bites.

So no barbel slipped up, but unperturbed I'll give it another go especially with the long days as they are. Not my usual kind of fishing session to be fair, but from time to time I don't mind them.