freeline-95 - Flipbook - Page 196
BOBBY COOTE
when I say melted, the clu tc h wa s l i ke a n o l d s c h o ol c h i m n ey,
s moking and smoking. I gra b b ed t he ro d , a n d s t ra i ght away I
l o oked at him and he said to me , “ T h at ’ s t ha t f i s h .” I wa s l i ke ,
“ You’re absolutely jo king ; I c an’ t b e l i eve t h i s ,” a n d s t ra i gh t
away I was like, ”What fish wa s i t? ”
Was it a common; was i t a mi r ro r? He sa i d t h a t i t wa s a d a rk ,
s c aly mirror. Anyway, this f i s h t h en s u r fa ce d t h e o t h e r s id e o f
t h e floating jetty, an d the li ne wa s ru b b i n g on t h e c h a i n s t h a t
h o ld them together. I had to l ay d ow n o n my s to m a c h w i th t h e
ro d tip as far into the wate r as I c o u l d g e t i t , a s yo u ’ re a l re a dy
a b out 6 to 7ft above the wa te r o n t he d o c k. I s l owly b a t t l e d w i t h
t h is fish, trying not to app ly to o m uc h p re ss u re b u t e n o u gh to
s top it going into any of the s n ag s , a n d eve n t u a l ly I g o t i t t h i s
s i de of the jetties, and then i t wa n te d to g o a ga i n. N ow, i f t h e
f i s h goes out to the left , it’s s i lly d e ep o ut t he re l i ke 4 0 m ayb e
5 0 ft deep, so if the f ish eve r g o e s o u t t h ere , I k n ow I h ave a n
8 5 or 90% chance I will la n d i t , a s i t’ s re la t ive ly s n a g f re e ,
s o I let the fish go far out a b o u t 5 0 / 6 0 ya rd s a n d t h en s l owly
t u rned it around and coas te d i t b ac k towa rds u s .
As it got really close, my m a te sa i d , “ T h at ’ s t h e fi s h ! ” a n d
a s we slid the net under h er, th e me mo r y w i l l s t i c k fo reve r. I
c l i mbed down one of the d o c k ’s l a d de rs to p u t th e f i s h i n to a
f l oating sack. We sacked th e f i s h fo r a b o u t 2 0 mi n u te s wh i l e I
c a lled another friend to c o m e ove r a nd s e e s u ch a n i m m e n s e,
l ovely old English warrior o f a c ar p . We we i gh e d h er, a n d s h e
went just under the magi ca l 3 0 l b m ark , l i te ra l ly by o un c e s ,
b u t none of the weights ma t te r o f a ny o f th e s e f i s h c a u gh t o u t
o f these docks, as they are a ll c ha ra cte r s .
This brings me now o nto a no th e r ca p t u re o f a n o t h e r d o cks
s t unner. It all started on a n i gh t I ’d go ne lo o k i n g fo r a fe w f i s h
FREELINE 60
