Page #6

As I sat amongst the stillness my right hand rod give a twitch. This was different as all the action had been on the left hand rod. The right was cast out 'to the ozone' the previous evening with a single hookbait. No PVA or spodding. I sat transfixed in silence at the blue illuminated swinger, hanging in the morning light.

'Go on my son' I urged it........ Nothing. 

After what seemed like an eternity the same thing happened again. One knock and then nothing. The silence was killing me. I had the feeling this was the fish that I had come here for. Everything suddenly made sense and it was all for this one moment. Silence - I could feel things about to happen and sat staring at the rod. I was in 'The Zone' and I could do no wrong. I swear to you, I willed that alarm to start screaming and seconds later, scream it did.

The line tore off the real faster than I had ever seen before. The alarm screamed and my heart leapt into my chest as I jumped up out of the chair. This was it, even though I had caught the '20' this was the reason why I was here. I picked the rod up and gave a turn of the shimano and struck into what was definitely my biggest carp to date. The Rod bent double and the Shimano gave line as the fish lunged and headed off to my right. It was swimming towards the bank and taking line at the same time. I could see the line arcing through the water as the fish pulled like a train and eventually turned. I liked playing the fish in the light of the morning as I could not only feel, but see where she was heading. All of a sudden the line went slack as she turned towards me and started bolting over to the left. I wound down frantically and picked up the slack line. At this point she came to the surface with an almighty crash and then headed once again for the bottom of the lake. It is one of those moments where you prey to God that you have your clutch set correctly as the rod doubles and you hear the wind singing through the line before the clutch starts to give line. Again, a run that steadily takes line from the spool with a solid thumping at the end. I eventually got her 15 feet from the shore where she boiled just under the surface and I first caught a glimpse of her. The large tail powered away like a propeller kicking up the silt from the lake bed as she would have none of my efforts to get her to the net. I heard Karl on his way over as I drew the carp closer and she gave one last surge where the soft top action of the rods really did their job absorbing the full power of the lunging fish. I pulled her over the net to the spreader and lifted the net. I put the rod down and engaged the baitrunner once more so I could pull the line needed from the reel to take the fish to the bank. As I lifted the net I gave a big smile as Karl said:

"Time for the Cubans Sean?"

"Yes mate" I replied "This is the second, I already cracked the 20 earlier this morning"

"Really, you should have woke me and I would have gotten the camera" he offered.

"It's funny" I said to him "but I knew that wasn't the fish. This is the one for the camera."

"I had a great night, an 8,10,  two 15's a 21 and now this !!"

Karl helped me up the embankment, that was pretty steep to the waters edge, and took the Rod. By now everyone had come over and we unhooked the fish on the mat.

This was the fish I had been waiting for. We weighed her in the sling at 26 1/2lb give or take a few ounces. We took pictures and I returned her back to the water after a kiss on the head. 'Thank you' I said as she swam away. I turned around and grinned from ear to ear. This for me, is what it is all about. Everyone was really pleased for me to get the fish I had come for. At that moment there was no wrong with the world. I wound in after that as I knew that I had gotten the fish I had came for and began to slowly pack away my gear. We all talked about the last 2 days and made plans again for the New Year. Dave got a call on his cell phone from Nigel who asked how we did that evening. After recounting the fish caught Dave shouted over to me:

" Nigel says Well Done Hollywood "

" Well done who?" I asked.

"You, Hollywood - That's your new Nick - Name" said Dave.

'Great'  I laughed to myself '  I'll never hear the last of this !!'

Later that morning I sat with Karl and his wife with a cigar, amazed at what a beautiful day it was once again. December the 6th and the sun was warm on our faces.

Debbie and Dave had already left and we had said our Goodbyes. Karl and Carol were going to stay in the sun for a few more hours and I was ready to leave. I gave Karl his Cuban, took one last look at the lake and headed for the car.

This had been a rough year for me in other areas, but the fishing..........Oh but for the fishing. It had saved me from myself and been my therapy this year. 2002 was the year when I lost a company but caught ' Carp Fever. ' I had met a great bunch of people at the CAG fish in and I hope to fish with them all as often as possible.