It was only a last-minute trip after I realised, while down at the beach on Friday evening in the strong winds, that the forecast showed them continuing until Sunday. Fishing on Saturday night looked like it could be the best opportunity to catch a few carp.
I arrived mid-afternoon, still looking for a shady spot. With cloud cover forecast until nightfall, I headed to Airfield Lake, feeling it was my best option. I found the perfect swim, with my car parked just behind me, making the unload nice and easy.
As I was only going to be fishing within catapult range, I soon found two perfect silty spots and baited them with a small amount of Nutrabaits EnerGize boilies, Jurassic Particle, and a few pellets, keeping the bait to a minimum until I had my first bite.
I was using Hobo Armour end tackle, fishing a Ronnie Rig with an 18mm EnerGize Corkie Wafter on one rod and two 15mm hardened Trigga Ice bottom baits on the other.
The session produced four takes, resulting in two low doubles and three twenties, with the best weighing 25lb 8oz.
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 