I always remember my old Dad saying how time flies when you're getting on.... (yeah - right, I used to think)... but it's true - it seems like only yesterday I was writing 2002's account of the season here at AnglersTimes.co.uk. (and I'm not that old!!).

It's been a good season all-round for us here at Chesterfield, we've discovered some new waters, perfected some new techniques and landed some cracking fish!

Portland Grange in Nottingham was an excellent place, we caught fish all day, on all methods, Damian fell in, Dave and Ged both landed sizeable carp on their light-weight outfits (much to their delight). All-in-all, a great day at a great fishery!

The trip to Billy Makins fishery at Wolvey again proved to be the highlight of the year... Damian and myself both landing over 100lb of fish each (look - that's a good catch for us!). Floater fishing has got to be THE most exciting method of catching carp I know. The anticipation of watching a carp approach your surface bait is almost too much to bear... and why do they always take the freebies and leave yours alone?

And to prove nothing changes, we blanked at Cuttle Mill again. One day, just one day, I'm gonna catch a carp there...(I can hear the hoots of derision coming from the AT lads as I write this...). On a better note - I did happen to catch a P.B. 6lb Chub out of the Trent, so my technique can't be that bad, can it?

Unfortunately, the summer wasn't so good for some of our local fisheries though, a major fish kill at Barlow certainly dampened our spirits, but the fishery is bouncing back to form again with prudent re-stockings. The hot summer and low water-table shows that fishery owners have to be better prepared in our changing climatic conditions.

The web site
The web site is still growing... we recently welcomed expert angler - Dave Williams, but at the same time, Glynn Williams is giving up his column with us, due to work commitments with the NFA taking all his time. Early in the New Year there will be another writer joining us, watch this space!
The site now has five awards to it's credit (someone must like what we do!) and is hosted by eighteen of our newspapers - giving it even more coverage than before. The very popular 'Your Pics' page is to be re-vamped, to speed up download times, avoiding the world-wide wait... ok - if you've got broadband it's instant, but for us mere mortals the Internet can be pretty slow.

We experienced a major problem with the site recently and lost some of the pages. Moving to new servers, installing firewalls, etc., etc., just is not good for the health of your web site. Not only did it stop incoming viruses and e-mails, it also stopped us updating the site! We've just about sorted the problems, but it's been hard work.

The Picture at the top?
Well... Santa is really Rex Ward of Barlow Fisheries, and the handsome chap on the right is yours truly... the pic was taken on Christmas Day 2002.
Rex has a tradition of taking a glass of sherry and mince pie, to all the anglers fishing at Barlow Fishery on Christmas Day, so never one to miss out...I had to pay a visit.

Wherever you are reading this, good fishing to you all, have a great Christmas and a fish-catching New Year.

Kevin Miles
Editor