John Bailey – The Kingfisher Diaries
February 14th 2013
Cormorant Control
I got a bit of stick in the Angler's Mail letter pages about my orange starter pistol being wielded to scare away cormorants from our stretch of river here. Of course, these days, people will complain just about everything and I realize that we live in this type of health and safety world.
However, as those of you who know Kingfisher will realize, my scare tactics were conducted on the river at least half a mile from any human habitation whatsoever. Whether or not I did any good and whether the roach stocks have been protected to any degree, I just cannot tell until the water warms and we start fishing properly again.
What I do know is that I couldn't stand back and watch the cormorants have free rein. These Kingfisher roach mean the absolute world to me. They're young, pristine and they deserve their lives, too. If it means that I have to do some tramping around in the worst of the snows waving my deadly weapon (!) so be it.