I arrived down this evening to a complete void of anglers. I love mid-week overnights! Now the big problem, oh so many swim to choose from.
I finally picked a nice bay area with the wind blowing into the corner nicely. I baited up with a mixture of chopped Smokey Jack and chopped catalyst boilies. I had found a bucket that I had done in the freezer (always a bonus). The rod was baited with a 15mm Smokey Jack wafter and the other with a Fw Masala pop. Both were placed in bags with a mix of Spotted Fin Liquid products and some micro pellets as well. I was all set for the night.
I managed another couple of low doubles last night and one was a perfect alarm call. It ripped off back on 6am and with that safely returned, I packed up and headed home.
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
