freeline-99 - Flipbook - Page 68
EXCLUSIVE
f r om my house which to b e
h o nest I h ad no idea exi st e d,
s u rrounded by woods beh i n d
a very busy road. It’s a n
i n timate, pretty lake cove r e d
i n American pondweed w i t h
r e eds and marsh grass o n
o n e side and very bogg y a n d
w ooded with willows gro wi n g
o u t of the water.
rubbish everywhere!
To b e h o n e st , I t h o u g h t i t
w o u l d b e e a s y, b u t a f t e r t h r e e
weeks of fishing virtually
every day after work it was
a p p a r e n t t h at t h e f i s h w e r e
v e r y w a ry a n d n o c h a n c e s
w e re f o r t h c o m i n g.
T h e l a k e w a s l e s s t ha n 3
foot deep everywhere and
We were lucky to se e a
f e w small carp but a m u c h
b i gger fish caught my eye. . . a
s c aly mirror drifted under th e
m arginal branches an d as t h e
s u n light hit its flanks I co u l d
s e e it’s big linear scales. W h a t
a fish it was it looked lik e a
‘ L eney Strain!’
These d ays I don ’t f is h a
l o t as I am busy wit h the b a i t
b u siness but if som eth i n g
e x citing comes alo ng, I c a n
b e tempted out of retirem e n t .
I t was only 20 minutes f r o m
m y house so I couldn’t re s i st
h a ving a go. Officially th e r e
i s ‘No Fishing’ but it does g e t
f i s hed by locals and teenag e r s
w ho leave loads of cans a n d
b a d l y s i l t e d, t h e b o t t o m s o
s o f t y o u d a r e n ’t w a d e a l o n g
the margin, as I found out
with a life and death struggle
clawing my way up the bank!
Jamie living a few minutes
u p th e r o a d w a s p u t t i n g s o m e
serious effort in and doing
nights but the fish never
seemed to feed just swim over
t h e b a i t s . We w e r e b o t h u s i n g
m y p u n g e n t s q u i d f r e e ze r
b a i t s a n d sc a t t e r i n g i t a r o u n d
t h e l a k e w h e n w e l e f t . Tr o u b l e
was with it being so shallow
t h e d u c k s we r e h a v i n g a f i e l d
d a y, t h e y w e r e a b i g p r o b l e m
continually diving on the spots
a n d I d o n ’t t hi n k t h e f i s h w e r e
getting any bait at all!
BigCarp 66
