Trailer – Trip 28 Carp Fishing – 2025 – Riding the Wind on Meadow Lake
Welcome back to another fishing adventure. With heavy showers forecast over the next few days, I shuffled around my gardening work, pushing jobs to the end of the week. That gave me a chance I couldn’t ignore—two nights on the bank. The car was already loaded before I had time to second-guess myself, and by mid-afternoon I was crunching down the familiar track toward the lakes. I was surprised to see a couple of good swims still free. For a moment, I nearly swung the car around and headed straight to Airfield Lake. The southwesterly was tearing across its wide waters, piling into the big island swim—a spot that’s hard to walk past when the conditions line up. But something made me pause. I’ve always had a soft spot for Meadow Lake, even if it doesn’t always produce. Less angling pressure, fewer distractions, and a kind of quiet character all its own. It’s the sort of place that tests your patience but rewards effort in its own way. In the end, I couldn’t resist the temptation.
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 