freeline-96 - Flipbook - Page 122
EXCLUSIVE
With the heat pushing i n t o
t h e high twenties, and pr e t t y
m uch no breeze or mo vem e n t
o n the water at al l, I wa s
s h ocked when the rece i v e r
s u ddenly went into o verd ri v e.
I n fact, I was so sho cked, t h a t
i n my excitement, my l ung e f o r
t h e rod resulted in a ne arl y f u l l
c a n of ice cold Cruz Cam p o ,
I se e A n g l e r s j u s t o p e n t h e i r
s l i n g s a n d t i p t h e f i sh b a c k
in [which to me is very hard
t o u n d e r s ta n d, e s p e c i a l l y i n
the warmer months]. I like to
h o l d t h e S l i n g / R e t a i n e r, i n t h e
edge for 5 - 10 minutes where
p o s si b l e, t o a l l o w t h e C a r p t o
regroup and get some energy
b a c k f r o m t h e b a t t l e. 9 o u t
e mptying its contents al l o v e r
t h e swim. On the bright s i d e,
I was in and as the ba t t l e
c o mmenced I was gratefu l t o
b e out doing what I lo ve o n c e
m ore.
After a spirited battl e, I
f i nally slid the net un d e r
a beautiful 21lb Co mm o n ,
c a ught on a Atlantic Heat H a r d
H ooker Bottom bait , wrap p e d
i n matching Frozen Paste.
With the pics done, but m o r e
i m portantly a sma ll wo u n d
f r om spawning treated , I g o t
t h e fish ba ck into the wate r, t o
r e cover as quickly as po ssi b l e.
N ow when I say back i n t h e
w ater, I don’t mean relea s e d .
I mean to recover. S o of t e n ,
o f 1 0 t i m e s t h e Ca r p w i l l l e t
y o u k n o w w he n i t ’s r e a d y, a n d
r i g h tl y so , i n m y o p i n i o n . I ’ m
from a generation, where we
w o u l d h o l d a f i s h i n t h e w a t e r,
in our hands, until it gave a
kick of its tail, which was
letting us know it was ready to
b e r e l e a s e d, n o r m a l l y g e t t i n g
a f a c e f u l l o f l a k e w a t e r, a s a
p a r t i n g g i f t. T h e s e c r e a t u r e s
a r e m a g i c a l , r e g a r d l e s s o f s i z e,
so should be handled with the
c a r e, l o v e a n d r e s p e c t t h a t
t h e y d e s e r v e.
A n y w a y, b a c k t o t h e s e s s i o n
[before I start on the unhooking
mats in the sun and water in
buckets, as hot as a bath, lol].
Wi t h t h e r o d n o w b a c k o n t h e
BigCarp 120
