The Fishing Festival is only three weeks away now, and there are a lot of people looking forward to it, for my part I’m both excited and nervous about it.

Excited because it should be a fun weekend meeting loads of new friends and fishing in two matches, I have only ever fished a carp match before so it will all be new to me.

Nervous because this event has been in the planning stages for almost a year now and it is now time to see if all the work that has gone into it will bear fruit and the weekend will be a success.

We have 26 people who have booked up for the event so far, so as the first lake we booked holds a maximum of 28 we have decided not to hire a second lake, as this would be a waste of money we could use better, so we just have a couple of places left if anyone out there wants to come along for a great weekend of fishing and socialising. That said, if there are a group of you out there that want to come along it could then be possible to hire the second lake for the weekend.

I know I can speak for everyone at Reels On Wheels when I say a huge thank you to everyone who is supporting this event whether it be by coming along, buying raffle tickets or donating prizes for the raffle. You are all wonderful and we look forward to meeting as many of you at possible at the Festival and I’m sure that those of you who cannot attend will be there in spirit.

Woohoo - Disabled Angler Blog has received an award from Chris - My Peggypeg - the coveted “E for Excellent”. Thanks Chris… will have a think about who to pass it on to!

Nick’s Sturgeon has also made in into the official Prologic Gallery - Other Species section… so click HERE if you want to see some great photos of fish other than carp!! Teehee!!

In other news, we shall be attending the Open Day at Snowland Fisheries on 23rd May and having a good look at all the improvements that have been made. If you’re going to Cornwall for your holiday this year, it may well be a great place to spend some time fishing… we’ll see!

Nick’s sturgeon pic has made the front page of the Svendsen Sports website… not surprising, as he caught it using one of the new Carp Rods that Gareth sent him to trial in France. Click HERE for the article and photo.

I’ve added a new blog link to the sidebar too - Angling Lines is a blog for Carp Anglers by a carp angler, Gareth, living in France… some interesting stuff on there and a lot of useful information too, especially if you’re looking for tips before you go fishing in France.

Tight lines and let’s hope the weather starts to improve so we can all enjoy a few days on the bank!

Well Friday afternoon we had everything packed into the van and were just waiting for the last angler (Chris) to bring his tackle round before we set off on the Reels on Wheels Safari.

Chris turned up spot on time at 9pm and once we had loaded up and topped up with fuel we set of to meet up with Nick and John who had driven up from Devon that afternoon and were trying to get a bit of rest at the services on the M2.

11pm and we pulled into the services and we all met up and had some strong coffee after all this was going to be a long night; it was great to see Nick again, we hadn’t seen each other since before Christmas we also got to meet John who proved to have a great sense of humour and was so enthusiastic about his trip it was infectious.

We arrived at Dover at about 12.30am and then sat about waiting for our ferry which wasn’t due to leave until 2.45, the wind was whipping round the docks and a few members of our group were starting to get a bit worried as they suffered from sea sickness.

Once on board the ferry we found out where we could all go and have a cigarette and waited for the off; as soon as we had left our moorings and before we even left the harbour Chris started to look a little green and he got worse and worse as we got out to sea he looked and felt terrible and spent the whole crossing being ill. Luckily once we got back onto dry land he recovered quickly.

We left Calais at about 5.30am and drove through the wind and rain towards our goal, Sunset Lake. We got to the bailiff’s house at about 8.30am and were advised that all the Welsh lads were already at the lake, so we shot off and the whole group were together at the lake, swims were sorted out, advice taken from the bailiff and we all set up in the rain for what we hoped would be a great weeks fishing.

Well Saturday turned out to be a bit of a damp squib, drizzle and not a sign of a fish anywhere, but hey, it was only the first day.

Sunday started off a bit brighter and got a lot brighter when Martin Cronin hooked into something huge, after half an hour of playing the fish he had to get into the boat to continue playing it, the fish towed Martin and Richie round the lake for another half an hour before they finally netted the fish, a giant 54lb+ sturgeon. Martin’s best ever! Things were looking better. Martin later landed a good carp of 32lb.

That evening we all got together at the mobile home and enjoyed a few drinks and a BBQ - there were a lot of long faces as the water was very quiet and apart from Martin and Richie no one had even had a sniff of a fish..

That evening both he and Richie were plagued by catfish and ended up bringing their rods in at about midnight as they were fed up with cats but before that Richie did have his PB with a cat of well over 50lb..

Next morning (Monday) most of us were still fishless but we were cheered up when Martin hooked into another sturgeon this time he was assisted by Luke in the boat and after another long fight he landed another huge sturgeon, after having a good look at it and weighing it we all agreed that this was the same fish again!!!!

During the rest of the day the whole lake was very quiet and there were mumblings of ‘no fish in the lake’ and similar comments, a couple of people were even talking about going home if they remained fishless.

By Tuesday morning Kenny and Luke were sick and tired of not catching fish and had started to pack up, but Richie had slipped round the back of the lake to a very snaggy small bay and had caught a couple of mid 20’s despite these catches both he and Martin decided that they had had enough and caught enough fish to go home as well so that just left six of us on the lake by Tuesday lunchtime.

Chris decided he would try his luck in the snaggy bay and Nick decided to take over Richie’s swim, Julz and I were unable to move as we were in the only swim that she could get into and Ben decided that he would tough it out in the same swim he had been in for 4 days.

Chris’s move into the snaggy bay really paid dividends for him, on the first day he had two fish, both mid to upper 20’s, the next evening he had a huge carp out which he needed help weighing, so Ben and I went round to help him out, it was enormous and tipped the scales at 43lb 8oz.

First thing Thursday morning we had a couple of beeps on one of our rods just as we were preparing to reel them in to rebait; as I got the rig near the bank I realised there was a small fish on the end, Julz and I had managed to catch a PIKE on a boilie, as it turned out it was the biggest pike ever caught from the lake and Julz’s first ever pike tipping the scales at 5lb 15oz but we were both over the moon and our whoops could be heard all over the lake, it may not be what we were fishing for but at least it was a fish.

Chris had already asked us to come and take some photos of another gorgeous fish he had already caught earlier that morning which he was holding in a sack, this was a huge common but before we got sorted for weighing Nick hooked into something large so I ran round the lake to help him land it. Nick was very intense as he had hooked into a sturgeon so I started getting the boat ready to chase the fish around the lake. What an experience that was no matter how hard I paddled the fish was still pulling us towards the snags, however Nick has immense experience playing big fish and slowly he got the fish nearer and nearer the boat but then how do you fit a 5’ long fish into a 3’ landing net? (Yes, I grabbed the small net not the big one), but eventually I managed to get its head and half its body into the net and with Nick holding on to the net and the tail, we managed to paddle back to dry land, photos were taken and the fish weighed, after much discussion it was agreed that it was the same fish Martin had earlier in the week but all the bait going into the lake meant it was a couple of ounces heavier by the end of the week.

After the sturgeon was returned we went round to photograph and weigh Chris’s fish which was a gorgeous common that weighed in at a hefty 39lb exactly.

Ben was offered the chance to fish next to Chris in the snaggy bay for the last day in an effort to get everyone a fish (John was happy he had caught a few perch and was away in France for the week) Ben did manage to hook one but it got snagged up and the hook ended up pulling, so unfortunately Ben remained fishless for the whole week.

That evening most of us packed up all our gear and we had a lovely social evening in the mobile home all having showers and putting on clean clothes ready for the journey home. On Friday morning Chris packed up his gear and loaded it into the big blue van and we were all ready to leave. After bidding a fond farewell to Steve (the balliff) and his wife Shirley (you were both great - thank you for your hospitality) we set off to try and get a ferry a day early: within an hour of arriving at Calais we were being loaded onto the ferry and luckily for Chris this time we had a lovely smooth crossing. Everyone arrived home safe and well but exhausted.

Thanks to everyone who came along - the social side of the week was fantastic, even if the fishing was not what we had been led to expect.

I just got back from market to find 2 emails from Nick and a pic of a Sturgeon landed this morning by Martin Cronin - of Welsh Carpmasters fame! This beauty was landed at about 11.30am (European time) this morning and weighed in at 54lbs. Way to go, Martin!!

The lads have also had a couple of nice 20lb+ and 30lb+ Carp, but this was worthy of an expensive email!!

We would all like to thank publicly all the members of the Reels On Wheels FORUM for all their support for the Fishing Festival we will be holding in June. Not only those who will be attending and helping us produce a party atmosphere for the weekend, but those who cannot attend and have purchased raffle tickets and especially those who have donated raffle prizes.

The prizes we have recieved from forum members include a Diawa closed face reel from Gary (Forum name Tidalwave), a Maver landing net handle from Steve (Bluey), a set of DVDs from John (Tinca) and also a fly box with approximatley 200 flys in it from Steve (Allthegearnoidea) who has also donated some floats and a few other bits and pieces.

Don’t the flies look wonderful?!

Thank you all very much. Without the support and encouragement of everyone involved on the forum and off it we could not carry on doing what we are doing.

We would also like to thank all the businesses who have donated prizes to us, a full list of those who have donated prizes can be found HERE

Prologic are Nick’s personal Reels on Wheels sponsors and he wears their kit with pride - and comfort. He received boilies to take on the French ‘drive n survive’ Trip, 3 of their new Luxury Carp Rods to test on the private lake they are going to and a Max4 cover for his bivvy. The rods are a masterpiece of design and engineering - similar to the Fox Warriors he had been using, but these 3lb test curve beauties are even lighter - fantastic for someone with osteoarthritis in the majority of their joints (who also has tennis elbow in both arms!) Rock on!

On Tuesday of this week he met with officials from North Cornwall District Council, and the head of the Bude Canal Angling Association for a meeting about the proposals for improving the other side of the canal for anglers. They asked him to join them so that they could understand fully and appreciate the perspective of a disabled angler and a wheelchair user, making it easier to accommodate both when their building works begin.

It was good to be consulted in an unofficial capacity before the event, instead of being ‘placated’ afterwards! Nick and Dick Turner, (BCAA), are confident that the new site will be a great improvement for all the anglers who enjoy fishing the well-stocked Canal at Bude.

Our Fishing Festival raffle keeps growing and growing: We have been writing, emailing and phoning all the tackle and bait companies we can think of to try and get some raffle prizes.

The reaction from the angling industry has been amazing! We have received so many bits and pieces that we are now able to offer every angler who comes along to enjoy our weekend celebration of fishing a free gift just to remember the good times that we hope everyone will have.

If you haven’t booked your place on the weekend, or if you would like to buy some raffle tickets, then you should come along to our FORUM where besides getting a warm welcome, you will find all the details of how to join in the Festival and buy your raffle tickets.

We look forward to seeing you at the Festival and wish you good luck with your raffle tickets.

No, it’s not Robbie Williams, it’s our very own Robbydrum we are talking about: He has been called up to take part in the trials for the England team. If he makes the team, he will be one of an elite band of only 24 anglers.

 In his own words “I hope you do not think I am boasting, but I had a call a couple of days ago, from the team manager, asking me to attend the England squad selection day” 

No Robby, we don’t think you’re boasting! It is great news and I’m sure most of us would be shouting the news from the rooftops. We wish you all the luck in the world at the selection event and will have fingers, toes and everything else crossed for you.

He has a plan to put a sign at the back of his peg shouting about Reels On Wheels … way to go Robby! ….. So we have got some stickers and a cap all ready to post to him so he can really shout about us.

Finally all that remains to say is GOOD LUCK ROBBY!

The Fishing Festival is fast approaching so in an effort to publicise our great event and to fill the final places we have been busy chatting to various magazines both online and in print, to see if they would like to cover our event or even attend the event to do some live coverage.

 All Together Now, the magazine for those who won’t let anything get in their way, has put a great article about the Festival on their website - as I write it is on their front page as news - if you would like to read the whole article you can click HERE. Lets hope that this article raises the profile of both Reels On Wheels and the Fishing Festival.

 The Festival will be held over the weekend of the 7th and 8th of June with a short match on the Saturday and a long match on the Sunday. The whole aim of the weekend is for a group of like-minded people to get together, have some fun fishing together and to join in the party atmosphere on the Saturday evening. Mick Brown will be coming along for the day on Sunday to chat to everyone, pose for a few photos and also to present the prizes.

So if you would like to come along and haven’t booked your place yet, visit the forum for all the details.