Cross Channel Carping

TALE OF TWO SEVENTIES!!

It started with my Son Conor drawing ball 12 of 12 on the draw, that was greeted with a few sniggers and some sighs of relief(just proves we do not rig the draw anyway!!!)the wait for everyone to choose there swims was a long one, but when the double in the woods was left i was pleasantly suprised as it was in my top 3 i wanted to fish, i was after a big swim so my son Con could learn to cast and play fish on his own rods. ( which he did)
After a couple of hours i was set up and ready to rock and roll, i was well up for this week.
The 1st night was a quiet one but as the sun started to come up i was away and my first carp a 42lb Common nice start, i had another 2 before breakfast up to 38lb mirrors so a good start, i got back from breakfast and made up a bucket of my mix i like seed, hemp pellet and pellet with ccc special splosh which i highly recommend ( dont mix it with your hands looked like i had pair of red gloves on for two days)which will be on sale soon.
In the next two days i had 7 fish,including a 52lb mirror which was a pb for me, Con had 2x30 mirrors up to 36lb.
Tuesady night was a bit special UTD spanked the Arsenal and i had 4 fish.
Wednesday morning i was woken up by a ripping take and after a arm wrenching battle landed the Nogent Mirror what a sight to see it in the net.
I even had to use two hands to lift her up to the mat! Tony the Talk was soon by my side and he was speechless and that takes some doing!
Myself and Wayne (Bov) another huge northern lad weighed the beast and it went 75lb unreal what a creature,a few more lads turned up, we done the pics and returned the fish and it swam away strongly.
I had another 3 fish that morning a 38m, 25c and a 29m plus Con had a 28m i must say he played his fish very well.
I spent the rest of the day with a big smile on my face, the swim went dead for about 36hrs so i left the baits on the money and played the waiting game.
Opposite in the Crescent was the Italian Stallion Corrado, who had fished nicely and had banked another 70 Common (jurys out on what fish it was)the big Common went 71lb 5oz and he finished up with 13 Carp for the week nice one Carrado.
Thursday was a nice day we had a drink in the Talks swim(-hithouse bay)after he had bagged a couple of nice ones, a few of the lads joined us Big Gav, Kelvin the Cat, Monks, No Bubsy No, Lozzy and Mooney, it was nice to relax but I was on the fact that the fish were showing again and was looking forward to setting the traps after dinner.
After another top dinner from Jake I was full and back at the rods, out with the markers on my spots, my plan was to fish tight with a tight baiting as well, the hookbaits were single 20mm cross channel specials on two rods and snow man rigs made up with ccc pop ups on the other two.
I was cast in about 30 mins when I was away and after a good battle The Talk slipped the net under another 50 mirror it went 51lb pics taken, it was back on the mark then it was Con's turn he was in and played a nice 31lb linear to the net.
Another 30 mins passed and I was away again on the same rod and after another terrific battle I slid the net under a big Common once in the net I chuckled I new it was a biggie then turned it over in the net to reveal the tell tale lump it was The Generals Mate and i let everyone know, (what a week)
again two hands required to get it to the mat and
with a bit of help and the tripod we got it weighed "79lb" mental, most of the lads came round and we had some pics, what a lump i had to have wayne help me up with it, once the fish was returned i was left with an even bigger smile on my face.
Jake and I celebrated with a few glasses of wine and i reminisced on the battle with the huge creature and the rest of my catch.
That was the last fish i caught but i didn't care i'd had a catch of a lifetime ( not bad from just another commercial fishery in france)and was over the moon with my result: 2x70's 2x50's 1x40 6x30's
4x20's 2xdoubles Con 3x30's 2x20
So dont get worried about drawing the last ball.
"He who laughs last laugh the longest" WEBB!!
"YOU KNOW IT MAKES SENSE"
Si Haldane