With the school holidays in full swing, I was very lucky to be able to fit another night in this week. This is all down to my dad coming down for a week to look after the kids when I was out gardening. The weather was so hot, he stayed for another week!
The big carp hunting is proving very hard on the airfield lake this year (as you may have noticed) but I just have to keep on going. I will never catch them sitting at home or on another lake. They’re certainly here, I just need to find them – this is proving hard. It’s not helped by the whole of the west bank is out of bounds and a fair few other areas. That said, this is why I love the place, wild, open and peaceful, as a fair few syndicate members can’t get on with the place.
With the wind still nicely pushing from the south, I headed off to the daisy field swim. I soon spotted a few nice fish showing. Now to get the baits out without disturbing them – not a simple task on here and only time will tell. With only 4 spombs of SF hemp, tiger and a small bag with a 15mm Catalyst wafter with an Evo maggot cluster.
I was all set with the Nsr 50 in the water, unhooking mat and water all laid out ready. It was time for some tea.
At around midnight, the left-hand rod belted off and I was attached to a 10lber, it was an ok start but turned out to be my only fish of the night.
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 