ADTV- AD365 Episode 4

This entry was posted on 18th October, 2018

One of the fun things that the marketing team at Angling Direct's head office, in Rackheath, are involved in is our quarterly vlog piece, AD 365, where we bring you up to speed on everything that's happened in the past few weeks across the world of Angling Direct. AD 365 gets you out on the bank, behind the scenes, and into the water, and shows you a little bit of the life behind the brand.

Last time, back in the summer, everyone's favourite mascot, Hassan Khan, was complaining about the unfairness of our filming crew, Stephen “Widget” Crowe and Chris Collins, getting a drone, while he couldn't even get a new t-shirt – so, as summer gives way to autumn, and coarse rods are exchanged for powerful predator tackle, we soothed Hassan's sense of fair play, and gave him a brand new Angling Direct t-shirt... size, Medium Youth. Hassan modelled it for the camera, and, for those of you who believe male anglers are simply there to be eye candy for those of you who are serious about the sport, you'll very much appreciate the posing shots that followed! Head over to our YouTube channel, ADTV, and check out AD 365 Episode 4.

With three A4 sheets of notes to get through, Hassan chose to start Episode 4 of AD 365 with a little tangent of 'What I Did On My Holidays'. Fortunately, the star of the AD 365 show hadn't entirely lost his marbles; Hassan's holiday took him to Cornwall, and a shark fishing trip that netted him a total of seven blue sharks, including one that came in at 74inches, and 100lb +, scoring a place as a member of the Shark Angling Club of Great Britain for Angling Direct's very own Hassan Khan.. Check out 'Holiday Shark Fishing', published on the Angling Direct blog on August 29^th. As Hassan commented while posing with his record catch; “I'm not scared...just slightly apprehensive.”

Moving away from Hassan, and focusing on some genuine stars of the angling world, Angling Direct netted an exclusive interview with the legend that is John Wilson, meeting up with him at Lenwade fishery while he was back in the UK, enjoying a three-week holiday from his home in Thailand. Fishing in completely carpy style, as you'd expect from someone of his experience, John had a cracking little common off the top during the session – check out AD 365 Episode 4 for more.

Keeping it carpy, (and putting Hassan back in his favourite spot of centre stage), Reepham Fishery saw Hassan and Widget squaring up for a carp match challenge. While Hassan seemed confused about the basics of rig tying, Widget was already off to a flying start on his peg. It may not have been match fishing at its finest, but it certainly was match angling of some description.

As you'll have seen if you subscribe to the ADTV YouTube channel, we've been out and about with the Environment Agency, producing a series of “day in the life” pieces that bring another side of the angling world to the fore. This time, Hassan actually managed to pronounce the River Yare correctly! This time, we were accompanying the EA as they carried out licence checks during the river season opening match, while Hassan focused on getting some carpy shots of a lily pad for his Instagram feed.

Norfolk has a vast array of angling on offer, so, from the Yare our boys headed to the Broads, where our filming explored the techniques and tactics involved in fishing the Norfolk Broads from the bank and, if you're so inclined, from one of the many boats that can be hired from operators across the Norfolk Broads network, where Widget took Shimano angler Koto out for his first taste of British fishing. Naturally, you'll be curious to know what species tempted a name from one of the biggest brands on the angling scene. Carp? One of the stunning Broads pike that Phil Spinks spends so much of his time in pursuit of? Maybe the elusive barbel that people still insist are in the Broads, just waiting to be lured out by anglers with the right combination of skill and tackle? No; the Shimano angler wanted to begin his British angling experience chasing... skimmers! He did catch, and they were lively little fish, but honestly.... skimmers? For your first experience of angling in a new country? We were as surprised as you are, but Koto seemed to enjoy himself, and, really, that's all that matters when it comes to fishing.

Some other anglers who enjoyed themselves on camera for ADTV were the British Disabled Angling Association, who took on the waters of Henlow Lakes for a pairs match that was enjoyed by everyone. While supposedly there to work, and film the match, Hassan, Oliver, and Widget decided to take off and go fishing – with some impressive determination to get away from the weird human, and back in the water, from Hassan's catch! Out of the three lads, Widget had the largest catch – though, controversially, it was caught on Hassan's rod... I have a feeling we may be hearing about that for a while...

We mentioned Phil Spinks earlier; a specimen enthusiast with a love for a wide range of species, Phil is doing a specimen fishing series for ADTV, our dynamic, engaging YouTube channel, which now has over 10,000 subscribers. In this episode, Phil takes us fishing for rudd, catching an impressive 3lb 2oz shimmering gold brown beauty. Hassan now wants his own series, in addition to being the face of AD 365 – the marketing team think that “How To Blank With Hassan Khan” has a nice ring to it!

On the coastal predator scene, Justin Grapes headed out, lure fishing for bass from the shore. A lively tactic, lure fishing can result in some spectacular takes from fast and furious predators, and is a great way to pit your wits against the very best of what lies beneath.

In the world of international angling relations, German powerhouse Carpzilla paid a visit to our Rackheath head office, where they saw how the smooth fishing retail machine that is Angling Direct works, before heading out to a carpy social out on the lake known as Catch-22. Carpzilla's visit ties in with Angling Direct's launch onto the German Angling scene – and saw Hassan waxing lyrical about lederhosen, steins, Jurgen Klinsman, and all things German.

As you've probably realised by now, here at Angling Direct, we like to let our media crew out regularly, usually together; however, recently, Widget went off on his own to film Hassan's session with Mike Wilson, of Nash, where Nash's new range of Tungsten hooks, as well as the “sexy” (whatever floats your boat, I guess...) Nash Dwarf Cork Rods, which are exclusive to Angling Direct, were to be put into practice. The session was a washout, in the very literal sense – the rain pelted down, and kept Hassan and Mike confined to the bivvy – apart from the part of the session where Widget insisted he absolutely had to frame the shot perfectly, and that, in the name of art, and good videography, Hassan staying warm, dry, and comfortable had to be put aside, so that the best possible shots could be achieved....

It's not just our media and marketing guys that we take care to expose to sufficient levels of sunlight on a regular basis; we like to give our store managers a break, and remind them that there's a whole world beyond the doors of their branch of Angling Direct. At the Advanta/CC Moore day, that's exactly what we did, bringing the managers of our network of stores together for a relaxed, social-setting encounter with all that's new in the world of CC Moore baits, and the new products coming online soon from Angling Direct's home brand, Advanta – keep your eyes peeled for more on that.

Back in the office, small thank you gifts of appreciation are on their way to Archie Woodyard and Bailey Robinson, who came up with good, clean names for the fish that you'll have met in Episode 3, and which have been happily swimming around in a tank in the office; the ghost common is now called Casper (see what he did there?) while our tench is now known as Teddy. Sadly, we had to say farewell to the small common... he's now enjoying a scaley eternity in the great fishpond in the sky.