freeline-96 - Flipbook - Page 211
BOBBY COOTE
The first time I actually had the pleasure of landing her she
was only 19lb, and I had known of a friend catching her only
a few months before at 26lb, so I thought it was a little odd
that she had lost so much weight , and this was not around
spawning times. I then caught her about seven months later
full of spawn at 24lb and thought she looked a lot bigger
than she actually weighed. Then over the years she has been
caught quite a few times at loads of different weights, and
I’ve also heard stories of this fish being over the magical
3 0 l b b a r r i e r, b u t I m y s e l f h a v e o n l y e v e r c a u g h t h e r u p t o
2 8 l b , w h i c h b y t o d a y ’ s s t a n d a r d s i s n o t a m a s s iv e f i s h , b u t
any fish caught from these docks are very special to me and
all have their own stories to tell.
That’s why fishing these docks is so special to me and holds
a p l a c e c l o s e t o m y h e a r t . I d o n’ t k n o w w h a t b r i n g s m e b a c k
here all the time, but something does, and there are months
t h r o u g h o u t t h e y e a r s w h e n I c a n’ t s t a y a w a y o r l e t a c o u p l e
of hours go by without thinking about the docks carp.
I absolutely love fishing there, and mainly I’m only ever
using one fishing rod, so for months of the year that I pay
a license to fish with three rods, I end up only using one.
C r a z y, I k n o w, b u t I j u s t l o v e b e i n g t h e r e . I t ’ s g o t s o m e t h i n g
t h a t l u r e s m e b a c k f o r m a n y y e a r s , a n d I j u s t d o n’ t k n o w
what it is. Maybe it’s the challenge of sometimes months
without a bite?
Now when I wrote about this fish being around the block,
d o c k a n d c l o c k , I w a s n’ t j o k i n g . I t w a s l i k e p i n p o i n t c l o c k w o r k
on timing with when and where I could find this fish. This
happened for quite a few years and still kind of does to this
d a y. I c o u l d b e t m o n e y w i t h f r i e n d s t o s a y t h a t t h e F r i e n d l y
FR E ELINE 6 7
