freeline-97 - Flipbook - Page 180
LEE GRIFFIN
trying to snare one of the 40-plus commons that live there,
catching plenty of my fair share of 30-pluses until now but never
managing to get a 40. That all changed at 11:30pm on August 4 th .
I was supposed to be at te n di n g a B B Q at o n e o f t h e w i fe ’ s
f r i ends’, b ut I was itchi ng to g e t dow n th e d e e p p i t a f te r a
c o uple of weeks away, as s o m et h i n g ju s t fe lt ri gh t , a fe e l i n g we
c a rp anglers get from time to t i m e li ke we m ay m i s s a ch a n c e
even though the condition s we re n’ t g re at w i t h i t b ei n g b a k i n g
h o t . Thankfully the wife gave m e t he g o - ah e a d , a n d w i t h t h a t
I dropped off our little girl w i t h h e r a t he r f ri e n d s a t 5p m a n d
t h en made my way to the l a ke . I a rr ive d a t a ro u n d 5. 3 0 a n d
fo und that no other anglers we re o n ! Pe rfe ct ! I h a d n o re a s o n
to rush, and grabbin g a bu cke t , I s e t o u t fo r a s l ow wa l k ro u n d
to try and find some car p . T h e a lga e wa s s t i l l b a d , m a k i n g
s p otting them swimming ab o ut m o re o r l es s i mp o s s i b le u n l e s s
t h ey are right on top. I co ul d n’ t eve n se e i f t h ey we re h e l d u p
i n the snags.
W i t h a l a p o f t h e l a ke c o m p l e t e a n d n o c a r p s e e n b o s h i n g
o r c r u i s i n g a b o u t , I wa s p u z z l e d a s t o t h e i r w h e re a b o u t s . I
wa s ex p e c t i n g t o a t l e a s t f i n d s o m e o n t o p w i t h t h e we a t h e r
b e i n g h o t , b u t t h e s e d e e p p i t c a r p d o n’ t p l ay by t h e r u l e s
s o m e t i m e s . T h e w i n d wa s s l o w ly t r i c k l i n g i n t o o n e o f t h e
s h a l l o we r a re a s … we l l , s h a l l o w fo r t h i s l a ke i s 1 5 f t w i t h t h e
ave ra g e b e i n g 3 0 - p l u s a l l t h e way d o w n t o 6 1 f t . A s I s t o o d
t h e re fo r 1 0 - 1 5 m i n u t e s , eve n t u a l ly I s aw w h a t I wa n t e d –
a g o o d g ro u p o f c a r p s wa m n o m o re t h a n a c o u p l e o f ro d
l e n g t h s o u t . A s I wa t c h e d , I s aw a fe w m o re , a n d s o m e l o o ke d
t o b e t h e b i g g i r l s , s o I d ro p p e d my b u c ke t i n t o t h e s w i m
a n d h e a d e d b a c k t o g ra b t h e g e a r. O n c e b a c k i n t h e s w i m , I
wa t c h e d fo r a n o t h e r c o u p l e o f m i n u t e s j u s t i n c a s e t h e y we re
FREELINE 6 8
