Last Saturday I was invited to go fishing with my father's friend near Whitby. He picked me up at 7:00am and we headed to a local spot he knew that was filled with carp. He told me the spot, but it generic so I forgot it... If anyone is interested I can get it. Anywho, I through out a worm on a small size 8 hook with 2 split shots above it at some schooling carp I could see. The second my bait hit the bottom I felt the tug and set the hook. Little did I know I would be in for the fight of my life! It took wild runs to the depths, then to the right and to the left. I actually had my drag set too tight and was scared my medium action 7 foot rod would break, but after the first few frantic seconds, of realizing I had hooked possible the biggest fish of my life, I changed my drag so it was perfect. It's amazing how much control I gained of the fish, once my drag was set right. I found that if your drag is too tight or too lose you lose control, before I thought it was only when your drag was too lose. After about a 4 or 5 minute fight with lots of runs and one particularly scary run towards a sunken bush, I landed this beast. My father's friend hooked up the same time and was using the net, I had to try to beach this fish. It was too wide to be pulled all the way up the bank, so I had to go into 4 inches of water to land it. Nothing too bad, but I'm used to dinky panfish or bass, where you can just flip em in. Once landed, I laid it in on the bank for a quick hook removal, the hook set was perfect on the edge of the mouth, but truthfully I thinks that's from the carp blowing my bait out once he felt the line... Who knows. After a quick removal of the hook and a photo she was released. It was by far the greatest fight I've ever had with a fresh water fish. I needed my father's friend to help me hold it because I was totally inexperienced in handling a fish of this size, although it looks like a baby compared to some of Hammercarp's catches. At the end of the day, my father's friend was my friend and I had caught the biggest fresh water fish of my life.
The guy I was with said around 10 pounds but I have no idea.
Now you will be on an eternal quest for ever bigger fish and more fun on the bank.
