By Martyn Russ
As i looked back over the last year i realized just how much fishing i missed out on and how many venues i didn't visit but had planned to. When illness strikes there isn't much you can do except wait until you are well again. Thankfully the other members of Fishing Adventures Wales managed to pick up the slack and managed a few sessions through the season. Brian Chandler, one of the clubs admins, was on his own little mission and managed to smash his personal best on several occasions and caught some lovely specimen carp from some of the local venues here in south Wales.
Even though i was suffering from my illness playing up i still managed to get out a couple of times at some of the local waters and managed to catch some fish. I didn't get a chance to go out Carp fishing as i had planned but still had some great fun when i did get out. Thanks to member John Rees for tagging along with me to help with all the heavy lifting and setting up so i didn't strain myself too much and hurt my back. We managed an over night fishing trip on our local lake, Hendre, in St. Mellons, Cardiff. We also managed a few day sessions at the Birch in Peterstone, Newport where we caught some quality carp off the top.
It looks like John Rees has caught the bug really bad and couldn't wait to get out fishing so he ended up going on some fishing trips along our local river, the River Rumney, and even managed a night session on the side of the river resulting in him having one of the best fishing sessions he has had to date with non stop action and so many fish he lost count. A few of the other members also managed a few day session trips including Brian Lloyd and Trish Lloyd managing to get out on several occasions and managed to catch some beautiful specimens including a personal best carp for Trish. Brian Lloyd seemed to catch even when the going was tough and although no one else was catching anything he still managed to pull a few Barbel out of the Pencil lake at the Birch.
With me being stuck at home for most of the season suffering from different side effects of the medication i was on it gave me a chance to concentrate on the web site and finish all the design work and layout for the club web site ready to launch this year. Also i managed to keep the web site up to date and managed to launch our first competition online and in Facebook with someone from Swindon winning the prize. With the popularity of our web site increasing every day i decided to create an online digital magazine all about carp and specimen fishing in Wales and launched 2 trial issues at the end of 2014. This seemed to be very popular so we have now decided to take it a step further and FAW will be releasing seasonal magazines each year with some of the best adventures featured inside including some great tips and tactics from other professional fisherman from all over the country.
Now that i am feeling better and having serious fishing withdrawals 2015 is going to be a busy year as i catch up on all the fishing i missed out on in the last year. I have to thank the team members for continuing to get out and catch fish and have their own fishing adventures added to the site. We are also taking on a few other team members this year that will bring years of experience with them in the carp and specimen fishing scene. So don't forget to check back to see what adventure we have been on and some great new features and magazines coming soon......
Wet Nets & Tight Lines
