freeline-97 - Flipbook - Page 79
EXCLUSIVE
The rods had been o ut f o r
a b out three hours when a l l
o f a sudden, my rig ht-h a n d
r o d was away. The alarm h a d
g o ne into melt down. I h a v e
m y alarm remote turned d o wn
s o as not to bother the o th e r
a n glers. No one heard it b u t
m e. As I went to the g uilty r o d
t h e line was peeling off a t a
r a te of knots. I clam ped m y
h a nd around the reel spoo l a n d
s t opped w hatever it was i n i t s
t r acks. The rod bent o ver a n d
I now had contact with th e
f i s h. The clutch was set a n d
t h e battle began. Th e c a r p
t o ok some line via the clu t c h
b ut I managed to keep co n t r o l
o f the situation. Whate v e r
w as on the end of my li ne w a s
p ulling very hard a nd at o n e
p o int it tried to go behind t h e
i s l and. I lowered the rod a n d
p ulled back which seeme d t o
s t op the carp and turn i t b a c k
t h us preventing it fro m g o i n g
a r ound the island. By t h i s
t i me Ben had seen that I wa s
p l aying a fish and came ro u n d
t o n e t i t f o r m e. T h e r o d s t i l l
had a healthy bend in it and
I sl o w l y m a na g e d t o g a i n l i n e
and gradually bring it to the
net. Ben did the honours with
the net. As the net engulfed
the carp Ben said it was a
goodun, one of the A team.
At first glance we thought it
was Little Mo, but on closer
i n s p e c ti o n B e n s a i d i t w a s
Big Mo. This carp usually
goes around forty two to forty
three pounds. On the scales
it went forty two pounds
a n d e i g h t o u n c e s. S p o t o n .
A f t e r t a k i n g se v e r a l p h o t o s
a n d f i l m i n g i t , B i g Mo w a s
returned to the water safely
a n d wi t h o u t a n y h a r m c o m i n g
to him. It had put up a very
g o o d a c c o u nt o f i t se l f. I w a s
over the moon about it. What
a lump! I actually said to Ben
“ we c a n g o h o m e n o w I ’ m
not going to beat that on this
s e s si o n . A l t h o u g h i t c e r t a i n l y
w a s p o s s i b l e o n t h i s l a k e.
T h i s wa s t h e f i r s t f o r t y I h a d
caught not only from Meadow
BigCarp 77
