freeline-99 - Flipbook - Page 192
LEE GRIFFIN
BILL
DICK
BOBBY
PHILLIPS
GAYNER
COOTE
h a d family commitments d u r i n g t h e d ay, s o h e wa s g o i n g to
fo llow me down later. We ll , th e s p o t we n t o f f t h at m o rn i n g .
L u ckily Bo bby was on hand to h el p e ac h o th e r o u t , a s we we re
b o th on them big time in th e mo r n i n g . We h ad b e e n ge tt i n g
b i tes consistently; the com mo n s i n t h ere c a n b e s o d i f fe re n t .
B o b stopped me slipping o n e o f t he li t t le ’ un s b a c k , as h e s a i d
i t was too pretty not to ge t a p i c tu re , a n d he wa s ri gh t . B o b by
was getting his share, so we we re b ac k an d fo r th h e l p i n g e ac h
o t her. One of his fish was a n o t he r I d i d n’ t re c o g n i s e, wh i c h
was odd, as I had seen mos t o f th e s to c k i n th e wa te r o r o n th e
b a nk at some point over t h e ye ars . T hi s f i s h wa s an a n c i e n t
l o oking common with erra ti c s c al es , o n e I wo u l d l ove to c a tc h
o n e day. While all this was g o i ng o n , I wa s u rg i n g M a rk to h u rr y
u p and get back and cons ta n t ly se n d i n g h i m p i c s o f f i s h . He
h a d spent so much time p re p p i n g wi t h me , I d i d n’ t wa n t h i m
to miss out . His missus a ct u a lly s a i d to h i m , “ W h a t ’ s w ro n g
w i th your mate? Why do es h e ke ep ca l li n g ? ”
Bobby had his fill and lef t m i dm o rn i n g , b o t h o f u s b u z z i n g
f rom a red-letter start to t h e se a s o n . It q u i ete n e d o f f t h ro u gh
t h e day a bit , and Mark wa s n ow o n h i s way b a c k to t h e l a ke .
I can only imagine how b a dly h e wa n te d to g e t h i s ro d s o u t
a f ter the day we’d had a l re ady. M y ro d s s i g n a l l e d an o t h er
b i te, and after a hefty batt le w i t h a c la s s i c l oo k i n g , l o n g , d e ep
c o mmon with a big over-sl u n g m o u t h, I p o p p e d i t i n th e s a c k
fo r ten minutes to let the c rowd s m ove o n a n d give i t c h a n ce
to recover and let M ark give m e a h a n d . Wh i l e s o r t i n g t h e f i s h ,
t h e other rod was away, an d t h i s f i s h re al ly b e a t me u p . I t wa s
p owerful and dark, but it wo u ld n o t g ive u p .
By now the crowds had re fo rm ed , an d i n t he d i s t a n c e I c o u l d
s e e Mark pushing the bar row. He k n e w s o m e th i n g wa s u p s o
FREELINE 6 8
