Free Line 109 — October 2026 - Flipbook - Page 108
EXCLUSIVE
t h e camp aign real ly be g a n
t o gather momentum . W h a t
s t r uck me more than anyth i n g
w as the u nbelievable qu a l i t y
o f the fis h. I was catc h i n g
u n named mirrors that wo u l d
e a sily be A-Team fish on t h e
m ajority o f waters across t h e
c o untry.
The firs t truly memora b l e
c a pture was The Snake. A
l o ng, dark, ancient mi r r o r
c a rrying well over fo rty ye a rs
o f history. It was one of th o s e
c a rp that instantly leaves a n
i m pression. For many ang l e r s
i t would have been the fi s h o f
a lifetime. For me, it sim p l y
f u elled the desire to k e e p
p u shing.One fish, h owe v e r,
d o minated my thoughts ab o v e
a l l others.The long Sut t o n .
I n my opinion it is the f i n e s t
m i rror in the Colne Vall ey a n d
a r guably one of the best c a r p
i n the cou ntry . In m ore t h a n
f o r ty years of carp fish i n g,
I had nev er singled ou t o n e
i n dividual fish to target. T h i s
w as the first time. I warn e d
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my wife that I was about to
dedicate as much time as
p o s si b l e to t h e c h a l l e n g e, a n d
thankfully she understood
e x a c tl y wh a t i t m e a n t t o m e.
As
the
weeks
p as s e d,
one particular area of the
lake continued to draw my
attention. I had seen The
L o n g S u tt o n t h e r e o n s ev e r a l
o c c a si o n s , o f t e n a l o n g s i d e
M i k e ’s P e t a n d S i n g l e S c a l e.
Everything pointed towards
that area being the place to
b e. T h e n e x t s e s s i o n c o i n c i d e d
perfectly with the full moon.
Arriving before first light, my
p l a n s i m m e d i a t e l y c h an g e d
w h e n I d i sc o v e r e d a n o t h e r
angler had already bucketed
t h e s wi m I i n t e n d e d t o f i s h .
Rather than letting it knock my
c o n f i d e n c e, I q u i c k l y a d a p t e d
and moved into another swim
o v e rl o o k i n g t h e s a m e a r e a .
Tw o c l e a n s po t s w e r e l o c a t e d
in a deep channel only forty
yards from the bank. From
the moment the lead hit
t h e l a k e b e d, e v e r y t h i n g f e l t
