freeline-104 - Flipbook - Page 214
PETER LUCK
w i th him for the rest o f hi s li fe .
He just lay back on the dry l e af y b an k , h e ad re s te d o n h a n d s ,
t a king in the splendour of h i s s u rro u n d i n gs wh e n s u d d e n ly h e
h e ard, beep, beep, b eep! Ye s, t h e o t he r ro d wa s away – h e h ad
fo rgotten all about the o th e r ta c kl e . Eve n so , h e wa s o n t he ro d
l i ke a shot . The monkey h a d sto p p ed h al f way u p t h e n e ed l e .
B i ll’s hand hovered over t h e ro d fo r wh at s e em e d a n ag e . T h e
p i ckup had been engaged th e m o m en t B i ll h ad re a c h e d t h e
ro d, ready for an instant s t ri ke . M i n u te s p a s s ed , a n d B i l l wa s
s t i ll hovering expectantly ove r t h e b ut t o f th e re mai n i n g ro d ,
a n d still the indicator wa s at h a lf m a st . B i l l c o u l d s e n s e a
t a ke about to happen, so s tu c k a t h i s p o s t w i t h h a n d h ove ri n g
over the butt , when as if it we re w i ll e d to m ove , th e i n d i c a to r
s l owly crept the rest o f the way to t h e to p o f th e n ee d l e .
Whoosh went the rod wit h B i l l ex p e ct i n g th e ro d to c o m e ove r
h i s should er once again, b ut n o , th i s t i m e th e ro d d i d n’ t eve n
re ach forty five degrees befo re i t s l am m ed ove r i n a n al mi gh t y
b a ttle curve. Again a great f i s h to re up t h e l a ke , s p re a d i n g a
m assive bow wave in its wa ke . T h i s t i m e i t wa s a n ho u r b e fo re
B i ll had the fish on a shor t li ne c i rc li n g u n d e r h is ro d t i p a n d
a n hour and ten min utes b e fo re t h e gre at f i sh ro l l ed ove r i n to
t h e confines of Bill’s net . A s t he f i s h ro l le d i n to t h e n e t , B i l l
n o ticed it was a bloody gre at co mm o n w i t h s ca l es l i ke g o l d e n
s overeigns. It was a long fi s h , a l mo s t a s l o n g a s th e m i rro r, b u t
i t didn’t have the belly of t he f i r s t f i s h – s ti l l a b i g f i s h , m i n d ,
l i ke a gold en torpedo.
After carefully unhookin g i t , t he b e a ut i f u l f i s h was g e n tly
s l i d into the dampened we i gh i n g sl i n g . T h e sc a l e s we re h o o ke d
o n and slowly Bill lifted h er o f f t h e g ro u n d . A ro u nd we n t t h e
n e edle and settled on th i rt y- f ive p o u n d s t we lve . “ Ma g i c ! ”
FREELINE 84
