freeline102 - Flipbook - Page 177
ASH GEDEN
c o ming up off the bottom a s t h i s wi ld c re at u re p ro pe rly t h re w
i t s weight about , charging aro u n d dow n i n th e d e p ths , tw i s t i n g
a n d turning on the line w i t h s tra n ds o f r i b b o n we e d f l o a t i n g
u p to the surface all in fro n t o f m e as t h e li n e s li c e d t h ro u gh
a n d I slowly teased it back i n .
I t surfac ed around 15 ya rd s o u t , a n d I c o u l d i n s t a nt ly s e e
i t was another one of the r ive r’ s g e ms , p o s s i b ly a n o t h er P B ,
b u t if not then it had to be c lo s e ! A f te r a c o u p l e m o re m i n u te s
g e tting properly beaten up as i t c ha rg e d o f f u p an d d ow n t h e
m argin a couple more time s , I f i n a lly h ad i t u n d e r c o n t ro l , a n d
a t the first opportunity o f n e tt i n g , I to o k i t . N u m b e r fo u r o f
t h e session! Have it! T hi s p ro p e r sc a ly, w i l d, r ive r b e a s t s p u n
t h e needle round to 35 lb 1 0 o z , n o t a s b i g a s i t l o o ke d , b u t t h a t
was irrelevant . This was t he ch e r ry o n to p a n d ro u nd e d u p a
n o t even once in a lifetim e ’s s e s si o n f i s hi n g t h e Th a m es b u t
a truly rare event . Things li ke th i s j us t d o n’ t h a pp e n h e re –
1 3 0lb of carp from the Rive r T h a me s i n a s e s s i o n i nc l u di n g a
n e w perso nal best – just l e t t h a t s i n k i n ! I t s t i l l h a s n’ t .
I had topped up the are a b e fo re le av i ng a n d wa s b a ck t wo
d ays later to hopefully see wh at o t he r su rp r i s e s may b e wa i t i n g
o u t there for me, but it wa sn’ t to be , a s j u s t l i ke th a t , t h ey
h a d vanished. I fished thre e s ep a ra te b l an k s es s i o ns ove r t h e
n ext week whilst sticking to my b ai t i n g ra t i o , b u t t h ere wa s
a b solutely no sign of the m i n t he a re a, s o I d e c i d e d to g e t
b a ck on the hunt for a co up l e o f days , f i sh i n g a c o u p l e o f o t h e r
d i fferent interesting areas o n t he s t re tc h, an d i t wa s i n o n e o f
t h ese areas that I was abl e to l o c ate a g ro u p o f s ix c a r p o n e
m orning o n the 25 th Sep te mb e r, 1 3 d ays o n f ro m t h e c a p t u re
o f the lin. There were at l ea s t th re e 2 0 s , o n e g o o d 3 0 a n d a
c o uple that looked to be we ll ove r 4 0 lb , f ro m wh a t I co u l d s ee
FR E ELINE 55
