Free Line 109 — October 2026 - Flipbook - Page 198
ALEX
GRAHAN
PAUL HANSON
STEVE
BENNETT
BRIGGS
STEVENS
clear water and come back. I quickly went and grabbed a rod from the boat
and walked back up. I waited until they left the cloud, then lowered the rig
in and walked the rod back to the boat.
A few minutes passed until temptation got the better of me, and I went
for a look. I saw the common go down, come straight back up spooked, and
swim off. The rod I picked up had a chod rig on, and it was obvious by the
carp’s reaction that a pop-up was the wrong rig for the situation. I reeled
it in straight away and got one of the other rods, which had a snowman rig
on with a Wraysbury Baits Red Hot Squid hardened hookbait and a bright
pop-up. As the fish were still in the clear water, I dropped it straight out in
the cloud and walked back to my boat and put the rod down. I reached into
my pocket and pulled out the bits I needed to construct a rollup, when the
rod tip pulled over, and I was in! Sweet, I thought… not! I knew there was
something wrong immediately.
The line was going into the same spot in the water, yet the fish was going up
and down under the other moored boats, obviously stuck round something
on the bottom. I had no control, and soon the inevitable happened and the
hook pulled. I was not happy to say the least! When all the disturbance had
settled, the common and the tiny mirror were still in the area, but the big
mirror was gone. Guess which one I lost? As this was the only bite I’d had
from a carp, I was starting to get a bit frustrated by the section as winter
came, so I sought some advice and local knowledge.
I was put in touch with two proper anglers that had fished the section in
the past and had moved on, so they didn’t mind giving me some info. What
both said was eerily similar – that there weren’t a lot of carp in the section
full stop. Both said, “I bet you’ve been fishing all the main features, haven’t
you?” “Yes,” I said. It turned out that they had actually caught from some
of the featureless parts. It also turned out that there were a few ‘garden’
anglers who either worked for, or owned bait firms. Fair play to them – if I
had a house that backed onto the river and access to ‘free’ bait then I’d be
FREELINE 84
