freeline-98 - Flipbook - Page 174
LEE GRIFFIN
BILL
DICK
PHILLIPS
GAYNER
n o t a favourite of Mike Ha rr i s , a s h e ex p l a i n e d i n t h e b o o k
“ Carp County ”.
As with all things histori c , wh en i n d o ub t , c o n s u l t t h e o ra c l e :
Ch ris Ball. Chris was as gus h i n g as eve r i n h i s exci te m en t wh e n
h e handled the rods last ye ar. Wh i l st we ca n n o t b e ce r t ai n ,
we felt that given the time t hey we b u i lt , Vi c c o u l d we l l h ave
t a med his 37lb fish, know n a s ‘ L u ck y ’, f ro m A s h l e a Po o l o n
o n e of these three. Howeve r, a re ce n t c o nve rs a t i o n w i t h B o b
B urchett , revealed that Vic , wh o ca u gh t t h e f i s h t w i c e ( ! ) , o n ce
a t 32lb, had possibly been u s i n g t he eve n l i gh te r ye l l ow ro d s !
M any of you may have see n t h e v i d eo a nd i n te rv i e w of Vi c by
Kevin Maddocks telling the s to r y o f th e ca p t u re . W h a teve r t h e
c a se, and knowing how we edy th a t wa te r wa s a t t h e t i m e , i t
was quite an achievement o n a ny ro d o f th a t p owe r.
So this left one issue unre so lve d – to ta ke t h e ro d s o u t an d to
p u t a bend in them for old ti m e ’s s ake . A fe w t i m e s I t h o u gh t
a b out going somewhere l o c al a n d c a tc h a ‘ p a s t i e ’ o n o n e o f
t h em, but somehow it didn’ t s ee m ri gh t . T h en i n M ay t h i s ye a r
I h ad the o pportunity to fi s h a wa te r a t t h e i nv i t a t i o n o f an o l d
f r i end. Along with far too mu c h t a ck le , I to o k t wo o f t h e s e t h re e
ro ds along and a pair of AB U Ca rd i n al 5 5 s , f re s h ly s e r vi c e d by
M artin Stone. Vic certainly u se d 5 5 s , a n d t h a t’ s a s to r y i n i t s
own right , but for brevi ty, we ’l l s k i m ove r i t h e re . M y t ri p wa s
m ostly uneventful, just a p l ea s an t o p p o r tu n i ty to re l a x a n d
c h ew things over with old f r i e n d s d ur i ng a ve ry wa r m s p e l l
o f weather. The fish, for th e m o s t p a r t , we re u n i m p re s s ed a n d
m ore concerned with proc re at i o n .
After a second, uneventfu l n i gh t , I fo u n d a s m a l l gro u p o f f i s h
l o oking like they might be mo re i n te re ste d i n fe e d i n g. N ow wa s
t h e opportunity to use the A sh bys , as t he ra n g e a n d l o c a t i o n
FREELINE 52
