freeline-107 - Flipbook - Page 96
EXCLUSIVE
b e tter (sorry, mate). Howe v e r,
i n his time of despair, he w a s
s t i ll more than happy to c o m e
d o wn, lend a hand and witn e s s
t h e reveal.
With my adrenaline start i n g
t o subside and havi ng a
f e w moments to gather m y
t h oughts, I took a clo ser l o o k
a t the fish in the sli ng. It
few anglers made their way
t o th e s wi m t o b o t h h e l p o u t
and also, I suspect, just get a
g o o d l o o k a t h e r.
O n t h e sc a l e s , t h e n e e d l e
s e t t l e d a t 5 6l b 8 o z , a w e i g h t
that
few
had
probably
s u s p e c t e d, bu t i n i t s a b se n c e,
t h e f i s h h a d n ’t j u s t s u r v i v e d,
i t h a d th r i v e d, a n d w a s i n
w as clear to me that this f i s h
w as definitely s omewh e r e
r o und the 50lb mark, s o I
t o ok ment al note of a cou p l e
o f the distinctive scales a n d
t h en start ed a quick Go o g l e
s e arch for pics of the two b i g
l i n s. It was quite obvio us t h a t
t h e shape of the fish wa s n ’t
c o nsistent with Jo hn’s, i t
w as simpl y too long, so a f t e r
p i cking out the two smal l c u ts
i n the tail and a smal l c lu s t e r
o f scales on it’s flan k ab o v e
t h e main line of scales, I k n e w
i m mediately what I had . It
w as indeed Darren’s, she wa s
a l i ve! After almost fo ur y e a r s
w i thout capture, it was v e r y
m uch aliv e and well , an d a
immaculate condition, with
n o o t h e r si g n s o f a n y p r e v i o u s
hook-holds or such, other
t h a n m i n e. S u r p r i s i n g l y, a f t e r
s h e h a d b e e n s o a g g r e ss i v e
i n t h e n e t a n d s l i n g, o n c e
o n th e b a n k s h e w a s c t u a l l y
v e r y we l l - b e h a v e d . We t o o k a
f e w l o v e l y sh o t s o n t h e b a n k ,
before returning her to the
w a te r f o r a f ew m o r e. I t w a s n ’t
until I placed her back in the
w a te r f o r t h e r e l e a s e t h at s h e
f i n a l l y st a r t e d t o t e n se a n d
b r i s t l e a g a i n , a si g n sh e w a s
ready and kicked off back into
h e r w a te r y h o m e, t o h o p e f u l l y
m a k e a n o th e r a n g l e r v e r y
happy in the hopefully near
f u t u r e.
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