Dutchcarplady.com

As I'm writing this first column of 2013, I can obviously tell you that I will continue to work on this blog. In the past months I've received many heart felt reactions from several readers of my blog  about my ideas of quitting my blog. It means a lot to me to receive these reactions.
As you may know by now I'm no longer a consultant for Quest Baits, but I´m still a carp angler, there has to be something very serious happening before I will put my rods away forever :-)

I've also decided to put more energy in pursuing my dreams. Life too short for not trying to pursuit your dreams! I know that I probably will never achieve all my dreams, but I don't want to look back and having to admit that I haven't at least try to pursuit them.
I feel like regret of not trying at all feels so much heavier than regret of trying and maybe not succeeding in the end. At least you can say you did your best and tried...

At the moment I'm making my new fishing plans for 2013 and incorporating these plans in my contest preparations for the IFBB Dutch Figure Nationals in April.

Fishing wise it is my plan to further explore my own grounds as an independant carp angler because Isis is still too young for overnight sessions with me and Gerard, so most of our fishing sessions aren't together but only one of us is on the bank, while the other stays at home for Isis.

This year I want go back to the water where my carp fishing roots are and see if it has some magic left for me and also I want to try my luck on some new waters, explore some different rigs, etc.

Can passion fade? That's a question I've asked myself on more than one occassion in the past week.

Reason for this is the fact that I put lots of time and effort in my angling and writing. And sometimes it is even hard to find time to go fishing or even to sit down behind the computer and write a blog or an article.

Sure, everytime I finish a blog or an article, I get nice reactions. And that kind of makes me proud...But is it worth it?
Every now and then I get a feeling over me, that it isn't actually.. Especially when it comes to writing and working on my website.

First there was my angling, now that is something I still look forward to. Then there came writing and then there was my website. Those were my own ideas and I do enjoy working on both of them, but not so much as I have enjoyed it in the past..

But I think the time has come, to make a decision about going further with my website...I don't know, because I don't want to throw all my work down the drain in just a second. Anyway, it's feels a bit like being stuck on a roundabout, not knowing which road to take next.

As for now, I'm going to plan my next session on the bank, maybe I will find my answer there :-)

To be continued....

Special Crab is one of the two baits we took to France to try out.

On Questbaits.com the boilie is described as followed:

"This boilie contains LT94 fish meal and a blend of bird food ingredients, including the legendary Robin Red. The taste and smell comes from a very high quality Crab flavour with a subtle garlic and black pepper back taste. For maximum results it really comes into its own during the warmer months"


When I received these baits I could allready smell them through the bag, so I found that a very good sign. After opening one of the bags a rich smell of bird food and garlic trickled my nose. All good, natural flavours of natural ingredients! I also like the nice structure of this boilie, firm but still very easy to put on your hair.

If you leave these boilies in the water for a longer time, they loose a bit of their colour, making them look a little more pink. But still they continue to have their smell!

We've caught many fish on the Special Crab during our trip to France, including this fine lady: