The Week Ahead...

This entry was posted on 3rd March, 2014

The Prospects…

Well last week wasn’t a bad week at all, certainly here in the East, we received very little in the way of heavy rain or strong winds as the weather remained relatively settled, with the only exception being yesterday afternoon/evening.

Temperatures have remained around a steady 7-8 degrees; however the evening temperatures have been lots cooler and a frost on Saturday evening reminded us all that we aren’t quite out of the woods yet, as far as winter is concerned!

Looking ahead to this week it looks like it could be a cracker of a week, as temperatures are set to rise, with a forecast peak of 13 degrees on Friday! The thing which is most encouraging is the fact that even the night time temperatures are also forecast to rise, with a balmy 8 degrees Thursday/Friday night!



With plenty of sunshine, coupled with light Southerly winds it could perhaps even feel a little warmer than predicted and perhaps this week, the first week of March, spring has really sprung!

What could this mean for the fishing?

According to our friendly fishing app, this week doesn’t appear to be the greatest, as for the early part of the week fishing efficiency struggles to rise above 20% and in fact it only peaks at 64% on Saturday and Sunday!

However… with some great fishing weather forecast and with some lovely mild temperatures, I’m going to ignore the App this week and make my own predictions, as I think at the end of this week (and hopefully) into the weekend, fishing could be very good indeed, proving the forecast is correct!



Whatever happens, if you do plan on having a session and do get out then good luck and of course don’t forget to let us know how you get on! Send any pictures and reports to: [email protected]

 

My Fishing…

Finally this weekend I managed a trip to the coast, armed with the camera and 100 prime Lugworm and a box of Squid, me and Steve headed to Aldeburgh with the hope of catching a few Codling.

The plan was to fish from around lunch time Sunday into late evening, fishing most of the ebb, to the bottom and a couple of hours of the flood. However nothing ever runs as smoothly as it should do and this week was no different…

After a lovely settled week with very little wind, it was typical that Sunday, just around midday (perfect timing…not!) a storm front was moving through, with strong Southerly winds (did I mention Aldeburgh is pretty much South facing), gusting gale force, with heavy rain predicted by tea time… great… just great…

On arrival at the beach it was windy… in fact it was very windy! Fishable, but pretty tough, with it forecast to get worse, we didn’t hang around and soon had two rods baited and in the water.



Luckily we didn’t have to wait long for some action, as a plump, if undersized Codling was beached, shortly followed by another and then another… in fact we had around a dozen of them in total, as they fed all through the ebb tide.

By 6.30 it was grim and the plan to fish well into darkness was quickly aborted, with the arrival of the rain signalling to us it was time to retreat!

As we reflected on the session in the car on the way home, given the conditions it had been relatively successful, we’d beached some nice Codling and got some nice footage for our YouTube channel, so I guess in that aspect it was mission accomplished.

It was great to see so many small fish and hopefully if they can avoid all that man and nature has to throw at them, they will be back next winter, providing us shore anglers with some great sport. As far as this spring run goes, I guess there’s a possibility that some slightly larger fish may venture inshore and follow the annual crab moult, but in reality who really knows!



As far as this week goes, I’m not 100% sure what we have planned, I’ll speak with Steve and hopefully get something sorted, whatever happens I’ll report back next week.

 

Pictures Of The Week…

February’s picture of the month competition is now over and what a competition it was, we had some absolutely fantastic entries and the voting went right down to the wire, with many pictures separated by just a handful of likes! But unfortunately there can only be one winner and that was young Jack Hague, as his picture of a cracking 17lb 2oz Scaley Mirror, received 41 likes.

A massive well done to Jack, who’s picture can be seen below.



March’s picture of the month competition is now open and in full swing and already we’ve seen some real crackers, as soon as I get five minutes I’ll get the album created and everyone can start voting!

In the mean time, if you want to get in on the action and stand a chance of winning a £50 voucher then get sending your pictures in!

Also it’s worth remembering it’s a picture of the month competition and not a just a fish of the month, so it’s not all about the biggest Carp!

If you want to enter our February competition and appear on our blog and social sites then feel free to email your pictures and reports to…[email protected] you can also share them with us on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

 

In The Press

For our ‘In the Press’ section this week I’d like to stay a little closer to home, and focus on a few Angling Direct staff who’ve made the headlines this week.

I’d like to say a huge congratulations to our Stock System Manager Michael Stewart, who managed a cracking Mirror of 33lb 14oz at the weekend. The fish, which hadn’t previously been captured for over three years, was also a new lake record and was Michael’s first fish from the water, which holds only a handful of Carp.



I’d like to give a shout out to AD Norwich Carp consultant Nathan Highley, who managed one of his target fish from Cobbleacre Lakes. The fish known as ‘The Fungus’ was one of just three fish Nathan hadn’t captured from the water, but last week he added the big Common to his list at a few ounces over 28lb!



Last but not least I’d also like to congratulate AD Norwich Match/Pole consultant and ‘King of the Yare’ Wayne Anderson, as this weekend he regained his Riverside Road Winter League Crown. In a series that went all the way to the wire, a third place finish on the final match, gave Wayne enough points to successfully lift the trophy and to finish a few points ahead of nearest pursuers Steve Borrett (second) and Peter Swan, also Angling Direct (third).



 

In Store

Without sounding like a broken record, last week was another busy week and to be completely honest it has been really full on since Christmas, which is great stuff, considering we are traditionally, what has been a ‘quieter’ time of the year!

For the past couple of weeks we’ve mentioned lots of exciting things in the pipeline, which we couldn’t quite share, well now we can! As things came to fruition last week, including finalizing all the details of a brand new Angling Direct store, rolling out our popular online finance scheme in our shops and putting the final touches to a brand new website!

First of all the new shop… It’s based in Dartford and was formerly Mark II Angling, but is now under the Angling Direct umbrella. In the next two three weeks we will be working hard on a new re-vamp, as well as making sure the shelves are full to the brim with a whole host of new products, as well as all the popular existing ones. It’s an exciting time and great to have a presence in a brand new area of the country, we look forward to welcoming many customers both old and new.



Secondly our popular finance scheme is now available in store! At the moment it’s limited to the Angling Direct Norwich store, but all other shop managers are getting trained as we speak, so it should only be a matter of time before all stores can offer our interest free and low credit finance options.

Thirdly, and something that’s been a real secret, is the fact our current website is being upgraded. Don’t worry, it’s not going to lose any of the easy to use features it currently posses, it’s just going to get a make over and a few new, cool functionality features. This is only a few days away now, so hopefully next week I will be able to show you a brand new site!

Last but not least... last week we also announced the winner of our £500 in store January Voucher competition and the lucky winner was Ben Saville, who entered in our Beccles store. A massive congratulations to Ben, we hope you have good fun picking your prizes!



As well as all this last week we added a whole host of new blog content, a whole batch of new products and a wide range of new adverts and banners.

It’s much of the same for this week, as Team Angling Direct powers on into spring!

 

Product of the week…

Vass Waders

Based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire Vass Textile Group manufacture and distribute the very highest quality waterproof clothing and waders. The company quickly established itself as a specialist market leader with products for the offshore fishing industry as well as the fishing tackle trade.

From continuing research and development with the aid of latest technology a new generation of materials is provided for the next century, means Vass are now able to offer a wider range of guaranteed quality waterproof clothing and waders.

The quality, design and production of these products is some of the best, if not the best on the market and this is one of the reasons you will now find Vass clothing and waders both in store and online at Angling Direct…

To read the full review, click the link below…

Vass Waders & Clothing