FL02 PDF (212pp) - Page 112



In Search Of Monster Carp
because I was so sick of it. I mean
normally you might get one run a season, not half a dozen in a day. Anyway, I know that I went to the end of
Douglas Lane to the phone box and
ordered three Sportex carbon carp
rods from the Carp Cellar that weekend. It’s funny because a guy came
along, what was his name, Keith
Roberts, and he spent a whole year at
Wraysbury after a big fish that he
thought was over Walker’s Record. I
think it had done him in the end,
because he packed up fishing. Anyway, he came along, as it happens
while we were having a big of action,
and he couldn’t believe it. We decided
to give him a rod and a reel, and said
to him that the next weekend if he
wanted to come down, he was more
than welcome to join us and we’d get
some gear together for him. So we did
that, and he did come along. In the
long run, I hooked and landed one
fish, which Richie had to go out in
this plastic boat to get out of the
weed for me, and which turned out to
be a 24-25lb common, and immaculate fish, and Richie had a 28lb’er. So
we had one each out of all of those
23lb 12oz Redmire 1982.
112 FREE LINE
runs – we couldn’t believe it. Because
Richie wasn’t happy with this plastic
boat, we went and got ourselves a
proper boat, but we never had
another chance after that, so that was
that for the season.
Then he wanted to go somewhere
else, and he said, “What about Yateley?” I said, “Yeah, we can go to Yateley if you like. We’ll go onto the Car
Park Lake.” So I took him to Yateley,
and we met up in the car park. We
decided to fish the top end in
between the North Lake and the Car
Park Lake. We set up, and I think by
the Sunday morning, Richie wanted
to go. He’d had enough; he was
pissed off with the amount of people
walking round. Funnily enough that
weekend I caught Heather the
Leather at 27lbs or so, and Richie took
a couple of photos for me. He didn’t
like Yateley at the time, but then he
went back and caught all the fish
there.
Then we went to a lake in Kent, the
Alders; it was wintertime, and we had
arranged to meet down there, but
Richie got there the day before me. I
had driven down there; I pulled up in
the car park, and Richie was on the
Road Bank. He obviously saw me
pulling in, so he came round to see
me. I was just starting to get my gear
out of the car, and bear in mind we
had no wheelbarrows or anything like
that. I had a rucksack that was higher
than my head to put on my back, and
he said, “Give us that, I’ll take that,”
and he got it on his back before I
could do anything. So he had that on
his back, and I got my brolly and my
rods and all that, and he went walking
off in front of me. There a little stream
running in with a plank of wood
across it, and he went over it. There
was a willow at a 45-degree angle
over that, and of course the top of the
rucksack hit it, and he went down,
straight into the stream. I thought, “I
hope my gear isn’t getting wet,” as it
was freezing cold. So anyway, I
helped him out of there, and he said,
“bloody hell, fancy having a rucksack,” you know the way he goes on.
I said, “You alright, Rich?” “I’m alright,
don’t worry about me”.
We got half way round the lake and
I said, “I tell you what Rich, I quite
fancy it here.” “Alright then”, he said,

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