Is it nearly February already?!

Happy New Year, piscators, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year, and you've recovered from any over indulgences. I had a quiet, cosy Christmas and spent some time planning my fishing for 2026, which I'll write about over the coming months.

I treated myself to something nostalgic and retro for Christmas, an Action Man! I had several as a youngster, along with lots of accessories, all of which were sold at a local Jumble Sale when I got "too old". After buying an original figure, I bought some clothes, and then I thought of a theme for my figure: Quint from Jaws!

He's a young-looking Quint, before the sideburns and moustache, and although the jacket isn't a U.S. Navy field jacket, I'm pretty happy with his apparel. I bought the rod a while ago and put it in a drawer, where, somehow, the reel broke, so I "made" a Penn Senator 16/0 reel and painted the rod to look more like a Fenwick Woodstream 130lb class rod seen in the movie. The finishing touch is the can of Narragansett beer, and he now has his own Instagram page @actionmanquint. I told you it was a quiet Christmas! And yes, he will be joining me on some of my fishing adventures this year.

I did go to an antiques fair this month, and the only fishing-related item was this book, which I thought would be easy to carry and read on the bank.

Well, the weather has been terrible to say the least this month, but other parts of the U.K. have experienced much worse conditions than we have. Here, it's been either too wet or too cold to go fishing, and my shed has been more inviting than a cold, wet, muddy bank. The outlook for February doesn't look any better so far, but with some luck, we might get a mild spell, and March brings Spring which is just around the corner. Silver linings.