I am out on the Airfield lake for a quick over ‘nighter’ and I have gone down to the top part of the lake, which is deeper.
I have chosen a swim that gives me access to a long gravel island, in between two gaps that the carp use as a route though to the next part of the lake. I am fishing at the bottom on the gravel shelf and have spombed out a kilo of chopped Catalyst boilies mixed-up with pellet and soaked in the catalyst Food Dip.
With the sky looking blacker and blacker with a pending thunder storm. I was going to be in for a sleepless night and sure enough I was. But lucky me, the rain stopped at 0545, just in time for pack up.
Unfortunately no fish, which may have been a good thing in a thunderstorm.
I would like to give a brief snap shot of my life and introduce myself;
My name is Richard Handel and was born in 1965 in Suffolk. I have worked as a UK Operation & Intermodule Manager for a shipping company. I live in Hampshire now and am married with 2 young children, both girls so I am a bit outnumbered even the cat is a girl!
I have been fishing since I was about 7 years old. I started on small local rivers in Suffolk, then moved onto gravel pits and then carp fishing. My personal best is a 39.08 mirror, over recent years I have started river fishing again, on the Hampshire Avon, this is a nice break from the carp lakes.
My life has turned a big corner this year, the company I was working for relocated their Operation centre to Estonia. I was offered a job at the head office in London. This would have meant a 5 day commute and working in Stratford. As a family, we did not fancy this, as I would hardly spend any time with the children (and the Mrs). So after 22.5 years, I was given a nice redundancy package and with my wife is working full time. I became the house husband.
This has meant a complete turn around in my fishing, as I can pick and choose when I go. I have found a splendid new syndicate to fish this year, which includes 5 lakes and some 8 miles of river with only 150 members. It's an amazing change to the way I am able to fish.
I am now trying to start my own tackle business and make a bit of a name for myself in the world of fishing, as I have retired from real work.
Richard
UK Carp & Coarse Fishing 