My favourite capture of 2025 has to be during a red letter session whilst doing a bit of filming on Stickney Brick Pit! After what proved to be a manic start after finding the fish grouped up tight in a snaggy corner of the lake. The icing on the cake came on the second morning, the rod that had been doing the bites pulled up tight and up popped the queen of the lake, one known as “Yellow Belly” a 40+ year old mirror I’ve been hoping to hold aloft for over 4 years. What made this capture more special was I’d just slipped back a new PB as well from the same spot at 35lb 12oz!
Fishing snowman rigs using 15mm Trigga hard hookers topped with 12mm yellow pineapple & n-butyric acid pop ups fished over tightly baited areas of Trigga solubles, Trigga shelf life boilies and Trigga pellet mixed with the lakes own Maize!
The session ended the with 15 bites over the 72hr and my target fish finally ticked off!
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 