freeline-107 - Flipbook - Page 94
EXCLUSIVE
w i th a little pressure I w a s
a b le to get everything m ov i n g
o n ce more.Slowly, everyth i n g
s t arted to head back tow a r d
m e, but this time wi th o u t
a n y movement, I cursed a s I
t h ought I had lost it. As the b a l l
o f weed drew closer, I co u l d
s e e there were actuall y t w o
v a st clumps, one had cle a r l y
knew at that point there were
probably only two fish it could
p o s si b l y b e, e i t h e r J o h n ’s
L i n e a r, o r t h e e v e n m o r e
e l u si v e, D a r r e n ’s . . .
T h e We i g h - I n :
T h e f i s h wa s n o t h a p p y a b o u t
being in the net, so I quickly
grabbed the weigh sling and
transferred it across. This
c a ught around the l ea d e r
k n ot, and the other, sti ll so m e
w ay off, was swaying ge n t l y
a r ound, above what co uld b e
t h e fish. I steered the wh o l e
t h ing as close as p oss i b l e,
b e fore propping my rod u p
a n d reaching out to clear t h e
offending weed from the leader
k n ot, as I did so, so meh o w
t h e furthest clump simpl y f e l l
a way, too, and a very la r g e
l i n ear was now floati ng on i t s
s i de in th e snag to m y l e f t !
Without hesitation I drop p e d
t h e rod in the water, grab b e d
t h e net a nd hand-lin ed t h e
f i s h into it . She was mine! M y
f i r st thought, imm ediat e l y,
w as that it looked huge, a n d I
w a s o n e a n g r y f i s h h o w e v e r,
and even in the sling it
appeared agitated
and continued to tear up the
s wi m .
I wa n te d t o k e e p i t c a p t i v e
f o r th e l e a s t a m o u n t o f t i m e
p o s si b l e a n d w i t h Ch a r l i e j u s t
a f e w s wi m s
d o wn , I s e t o f f i n se a r c h o f
some help. On arriving at his
s wi m , i t wa s a p p a r e n t h e h a d
clearly
already been in a battle
h i m s e l f, w h i c h i n t h i s c a s e, h e
h a d u n f o r t u n a t e l y l o st - s o m y
proceeding to explain how I
had one of the big linear mirrors
i n th e n e t , p r o b a b l y w a s n ’t
going to make him eel much
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