freeline-101 - Flipbook - Page 72
EXCLUSIVE
t h e most unbelievable ve n u e
w i th owners so lovely t h e y
a l most made me forget I ’d
v o luntarily chosen to fre e z e
f o r a week.
Jurassica is a proper big f i s h
w ater. The sort of place wh e r e
e v ery swim feels like it co u l d
p r oduce something spec i a l .
A f ter a walk around th e l a k e,
worked its way into everything,
i n c l u d i n g m y m i n d se t .
I w o n ’t l i e, m y c o n f i d e n c e
dipped.
We r e
my
spots
w o r k i n g ? Wa s m y r i g r i g h t ?
Yo u j u s t s t a r t t o q u es t i o n
everything and it gets to you.
I even had the chance to move
t o a n o t h e r l ak e w i t h sm a l l e r
m o r e a c ti v e fi sh , a p r o p e r r u n s
t h e Island Swim kept p ul l i n g
m e back. It looked right . It
f e l t right. It just scream ed b i g
c a rp. And let’s be ho nes t, i t
w as an absolute picture to o .
I t had features, depth chan g e s
a n d the channel ru nn i n g
b e tween the islands l oo k e d
l i k e a classic patrol route.
I got set up, spent t i m e
f i n ding my spots, and got t h e
r o ds out. Then the wai t i n g
s t arted.
The first four days we r e
p a infully quiet. Not a b le e p .
N ot a liner. Not even a ro g u e
t u fted duck to ke ep th i n g s
i n teresting. I kept watch i n g
t h e water. No signs, I thou g h t
I was going mad. Th e c o l d
w a te r. B u t I h a d n ’t c o m e a l l
t h e w a y t o F r a n c e f o r “ e a s y.” I
wanted one of the big ones, I
wanted something special.
S o , I re e l e d i n a n d s w i t c h e d i t
u p . s tr i p p e d e v e r y t h i n g b a c k .
O u t we n t t h e s p i n n e r r i g s w i t h
a pop up and I tied a simple
h a i r ri g w i t h d o u b l e m a i z e
o n a s i z e 6 c h o d h o o k s u b t l e,
b a l a n c e d, a n d s o m e t h i n g i u s e
a l o t i n m y f i s h i n g. T h e r o d s
went back out, and I had my
fingers crossed for another
night.
A t a ro u n d 1 0 p m , t h e s i l e n c e
was smashed apart.
my
left
rod
su d d e n l y
screamed off like it had
s o m e wh e r e m o r e i m p o r t a n t
BigCarp 70
