freeline-99 - Flipbook - Page 76
EXCLUSIVE
a n y action and jumped o u t o f
m y skin w hen one of th e r o d s
s c reamed off, it took me ab o u t
3 0 seconds to get to the r o d,
s i t ting in the bog in the ch e s t
w aders froze to death, I f e l t
I was in slow motio n. W h e n
I pulled into it the fi sh I sa w
t h e Big u n’s tail th rash t h e
s u rface, he had wrap ped m e
on again !
Mid-April weather was hot,
I ’d s t a r te d t o s p o t t h e m u p t h e
v e r y n a r r o w e n d o f a l a k e, a n d
made sure I was camouflaged
and concealed myself behind
the bushes as these fish knew
when you were there. I watched
them going to one particular
s p o t i n a c r at e r i n t h e b o t t o m
r o und a submerged snag a n d
t h e hook length parted!
I had been waiti ng f o r
m onths for this chance a n d
h a d let myself down by n o t
b e ing disciplined and be i n g
n e xt to my rods, I on ly h a d
m yself to blame it was b a d
a n gling and I knew it, I f e l t
t e rrible because I had l eft t h e
t a ckle in his mouth... bac k t o
s q uare one again! For the n e x t
w eek I walked the lake a n d
b a ited it but not one sigh t i n g
o f the Big un at all bu t I sa w
a l l the others, I felt si ck! A f t e r
t w o weeks I started to see t h e
B i g un ag ain thank Go d a n d
h e was swimming sl owly i n a
c a tchable mood, it was g a m e
t o s c ra t c h t h e m s e l v e s o n a
tree stump protruding from
the bottom, flanking up to a
d o ze n t i m e s w i t h e a c h f i s h
t a k i n g tu rn s .
One particular trip had my
h e a r t p u m p i ng, t h e B i g u n w a s
in this area picking up a few
b a i t s . I n th e c o r n e r o f m y e y e
I s a w a b i r d i n a p i n k t r a ck s u i t
at the other end of the lake
w h o s t a rt e d t o w a l k r o u n d b u t
t u r n e d b a c k w h e n sh e r e a l i se d
i t w a s a b o g. I t h o u g h t no , n o
d o n ’t wa l k o v e r h e r e a n d f u c k
i t u p f o r m e, I l o s t s i g h t o f h e r
but 5 minutes later the bird in
t h e p i n k t ra c k s u i t t u r n e d o u t
to be a bloke who appeared
right opposite me in an open
BigCarp 74
