Free Line 108 — September 2026 - Flipbook - Page 64
EXCLUSIVE
t i me I thought I was gai n i n g
s o me line, it seemed to f i n d
a n other patch of weed . I
w as nervous but al so re a l l y
e x cited. More than anyth i n g,
I wanted to land it beca u se
M um was there. She’d h e a r d
a b out all the fish I’d cau g h t
t h is year, but now sh e wa s
a c tually there watching m e
e x h a u s t e d . I ’d h a d e n o u g h f o r
o n e n i g h t a nd w e n t s t r a i g h t
back to bed!
I t Wa s L u m py ! : T h e f o l l ow i n g
morning things got even
b e t t e r. We m a n a g e d t o c o n f i r m
t h e i d e n t i t y o f t h e f i s h . I ’d
c a u g h t L u m p y, o n e o f t he o l d
Ya t e l e y o ri g i n a l s . I c o u l d n ’t
b e l i e v e i t. We l e a r n e d t h a t
b a ttle what felt lik e a re a l l y
big
carp.
Eventuall y
we
m anaged to get it m ov i n g
t o wards us. Then it ro l l e d,
D a d got the net und erne a t h
i t and we looked do wn. Bo s h !
I t was an absolute chu n k . I
k n ew straight away this w a s
t h e fish we’d been wai t i n g
f o r. When we weighed it, t h e
s c ales settled at... 35.8l b ! A
N EW PB!
I couldn’t believe it. Ano t h e r
3 0 lb-plus carp and ano th e r
i n credible old Yateley f i s h .
We took our pho to gra p h s
a n d videos before caref u l l y
r e turning her to the l a k e.
T his time I didn’t even b o t h e r
putting the rods back out. I was
Lumpy is one of the oldest carp
in the lake and can normally
r e a c h a r o u n d 4 2 l b, a l t ho u g h
she was down in weight after
spawning. And then we learned
s o m e th i n g e l s e. . . L u m p y i s
k n o wn f o r s o m e t i m e s g e t t i n g
caught around the same time
as Benny the bream! Dad
c o u l d n ’t b e l i e v e i t . So a f t e r
a l l h i s j o k e s t h e n i g h t be f o r e
a b o u t m e c a t c h i n g L u m p y ’s
b e s t m a te B e n n y, I ’d a c t u a l l y
gone and caught Lumpy as
well. I’m never going to hear
t h e e n d o f t h a t o n e. M o r e
i m p o r t a n t l y, L u m p y a t 3 5 . 8 l b
b e c a m e m y n e w p e r so n a l b e s t
and my fourth carp over 30lb
o f th e y e a r.
BigCarp 62
