Today’s trip is more of an investigation mission, as I was away from the lake for nearly two weeks. So with that in mind, I picked a swim with a good all round view of the lake and an area I had confidence in.
And with some nice warm margins to cast to, I was feeling quite happy.
The lake was flat calm and the sunshine was very warming on my back – I nearly dropped off. I spotted a few fish showing, with that, I was off and soon settled into another swim.
With only single hook baits and a tiny Stix Mix ball, I sat back and watched the carp. They were quite spread out over a large area, there were also a few bream around, which I was hoping to avoid.
Well, despite staying a bit too long and nearly being late to collect the kid’s. The fish where clearly only in the mood for cleaning themselves. But armed with the information I gathered today, I will be back tonight and hopefully, will get a swim in that area of the lake. I think the whole lake has woken up for a short spell.
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 