Sonik Troutmasters tour kicks off at Higham Lakes

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Sonik Opening day – Higham Lakes

The winds gusted to tree levelling strengths, the rain fell sideways and the air had a bitter cold grasp to it. This was the first Sonik ‘Open Day’, held at Higham Lakes near Ponteland in Northumberland. With such dreadful weather, we weren’t sure what to expect in terms of numbers, and were all feeling the cold as we set up the flags and banners around the fishery. We know that the anglers of this country – particularly in the north – are a hardy bunch, and if we were to keep going for the rest of the winter we would have to ‘man up’. Shivering, wet through and utterly miserable is never enough excuse to give up, and anyone in the Sonik Team not willing and able would have to speak up or forever hold their peace.

The fishery management were absolutely fantastic in organising everything for our arrival, and even had bacon butties and coffee on the go for us as we were setting up. They had given us the lower lake which is surrounded by mature trees which provided good shelter. It even had it’s very own fishing lodge where we could hide from the weather if necessary, a feature we were sure would be put into use at some stage in the day. In these early proceeding’s however, we soldiered on and by 10am we had a small group of anglers casting away with our rods, reels and lines.

One of Higham’s regulars was eying up the casting competition that we had planned for later in the day, as he had been hitting incredible distances with the SK4 10ft /8-wt fly rod. His name is Richard, a young lad of 16, and an England international already – clearly a bright future ahead.

All the anglers were enjoying some fishing on their own with our products, and although the fish seemed to have gone on holiday, feedback was extremely positive and very pleasing. The casting competition was looming though, something which is to be a big attraction during our open days, and with SK4 fly line prizes on offer to the winners, nearly everyone participated. First on the go was distance, and everyone lined up on the main platform casting down wind, and my freezing cold self taking measurements. Casters came and went, but 16 year old Richard had shined through with some impressive casting that had put him well ahead of everyone else, but to win a prize he would have to carry his success on to the accuracy event. He was pushed all the way by two or three extremely capable casters, but his final display in the accuracy earning him 9 points was enough to clinch it. Big well done Richard!

The darkening sky pushed everyone back to the fishing lodge for home made pork sandwiches, before all was packed down. Considering the time of year and the miserable weather, we were happy with the outcome of our first event, and look forward to building that in coming weeks... watch this space.

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Higham Lakes - 01661 860032

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