Fishing at Kingsbury
Bodymoor Heath Water
Bodymoor Heath is the largest of the Kingsbury Water Park waters. However, although it covers some 47 acres, this former gravel pit is only six feet at its deepest and in most places is only about three or four feet. This makes it an attractive fishery because the water rapidly acclimatises to the prevailing weather conditions and warms up quickly in summer.
Bodymoor Heath is a shared water alternating daily between sailing and powerboats – look out for the sign at the Fishing Lodge saying what’s on.
The predominant species are bream, roach, tench, specimen pike and carp which run to over 20lbs. For the most part the bream average between 3lbs and 4lbs, although it is not uncommon for specimens up to 9lbs to come to the net. Bodymoor Heath also holds quality roach over 2lbs, tench to 6lbs and roach/bream hybrids to over 3lbs with 2lb 8oz fish being fairly standard. There are only a small number of carp.
A typical shallow gravel pit surrounded by willows and shrubs, Bodymoor Heath is shallower at the narrow end.
Being a bream water, it favours the use of open-ended groundbait feeders with many anglers starting their sessions by putting in about eight golf-ball sized balls of groundbait before tackling up. Most successful is a mix of brown crumb and any smelly continental groundbait to which some casters or other free bait offerings have been added.
For the bream it pays to have a selection of hook baits including worm, caster, red maggots and pinkies. Although it is less comfortable, because Bodymoor Heath is a large water, it is better to fish with the wind in your face. Using a swimfeeder is the most common technique, but if the fish are being particular and hard to catch, a long-distance waggler often produces results.
Roach fishing goes particularly well on the pole on selected pegs, whilst the tench tend to be bonus fish when going for the bream. Anglers setting out their stall for tench should fish close to cover, particularly under overhanging willow trees.
