freeline-101 - Flipbook - Page 176
AIDEN SAVAN
s h e seemed to become ge t to t he o t he r b an k . At o n e s t a g e ,
h aving hooked her from v i rt ua l ly u n d e r t he ro d ti p , s h e wa s
n ow 80 meters away at wh i c h p o i n t s h e b o i l e d o n t h e s u rfa c e .
I really wish I hadn’t seen t he f i s h I wa s a t t ac h ed to , a s my
n e rves weren’t helping the f i gh t . S h e ki te d ri gh t o n a l o n g
l i ne and then came toward s m e, wh i c h p u t m e i n t h e b ox s ea t .
T h e fight under the rod tip wa s e p i c , an d i t fe l t a s t h o u gh s h e
was tiring. Just as I though t I wa s ge t t i n g t h e u p p e r h a n d , s h e
m ade one last deep dive to t he le f t , an d i t s ee m e d a s t h o u gh
t h ings had gone solid. As I i n cre as e d th e p re s s u re a n d l i f te d
h e r up through the depth s , s he b ro u gh t u p a n o l d tet h e re d
r u sting boat chain with he r, a n d as I re ac h e d fo r t h e n e t , t h e
f i nal surge of the fish wi th t h e c ha i n’ s a n gl e p u l l i n g a c ro s s
t h e line caused the hook to p ul l f re e. We a l l s u f fer l o s e s i n
o u r angling, but somehow I k n ew t h ere wa s n o way to eve r g e t
over this one.
When I first arrived o n th e i s la n d , I h ad th e d i l e m m a o f
what to do with the 28 c ar p th a t I ha d i n my p o n d wh e re I
p reviously lived. I didn’t h ave mu c h c o n f i d e n c e i n th e n e w
h o meowner and was sure th a t h e wa s g o i ng to n egl e c t t h e s e
b e autiful creatures. T hey ha d b ee n t ake n o u t o f a l a ke i n Ke n t
a s nothing more than larg e f i n g e rl i n gs . Eve n i n t h ei r i n fa n c y
s o me stunning scale patter n s c o u ld b e s ee n . T h e l a s t f i s h o f t h e
s e ason was to be one of th e a b ove p o nd f i s h . P i c t u re s p ai n t a
t h ousand words, so they say a n d t h at ’s exa ct ly wh a t t h i s p h o to
d o es. For the record, the l a rg e st f i s h s to c ke d ap p rox i ma te ly
1 8 months ago was a stunn i n g 1 4 l b f u l ly s c ale d , a n d wh e n t h i s
f i s h reaches her potentia l , yo u w i l l b e l o o k i n g a t s o m e th i n g
ve ry special.
The second season’s carp f i s h i n g h a d d raw n to a c l os e , an d I
FREELINE 56
