At last!

At last, some time on the bank. I deliberated for ages over where to go as I'd heard of a few Carpy tales which I've been meaning to chase up but not had a chance to and I was pretty desperate to wet a line, Barry was off on his annual (crazy) walk around the Coventry way so there was no 'Duck' pressure and in the end I settled on a session at Ryton, the monster hunting can wait a bit!

 

The usual spots were taken so I headed off to one of the quieter corners to try a swim that's been good for me in the past, traps were set but after an uneventful hour I noticed some fishy activity to my right, too far right to get a cast to so the gear was packed up and I made a quick move. It wasn't until I moved for a second time that I felt happy with where my cast was landing and the lay of the line leading to it, it was a bit of a tricky one because I've found that if your cast wasn't bang on this particular spot you didn't get any takes. It took a few chucks to get everything spot on and it didn't take too long to get the first take, it was only a Tench but at least I knew that everything was working.

 

A good couple of hours passed and I had a bit of a Jerky take that excelarated into the rod tip pulled round in the direction of the fleeing fish, I quickly leaned back into it but wasn't quick enough, all I could feel was a grating sensation with the odd thump in between. The line had gone round something and I could see the fish boiling below on the surface with the line running at right angles to it through a snag. The fish shook the hook loose and I ended up losing the hook in the snag, it felt like a fairly good sized Carp.

 

The rig was back on the spot and it was one of those cast's that you know was going to go!

After an hour, I again had another slow 'jerky' take but this time I was on it straight away with the clutch locked down tight. The fish eventualy kited out of the swim and I was able to back off the clutch to give it a little false freedom. The fight was very satisfying and it's been a while since I had a nice Carp on the line.

Reel christened but I'm not happy with them!

 

The fish weighed in at sixteen and a half pounds and was the only Carp of the session.

 

My new reels, not happy with them so I may be parting with them soon.