My mind is racing and I am completely undecided as to what to choose. I feel in my heart that peg 1 has the propensity to catch fish yet how can I overlook my dog's fondness for peg 29? I mean he marked it for goodness sake! Peg 29 it is!
So after the usual setting up, bait making, double checking of everything we are ready to go. The alarm bell sounds and you can hear a collective splash, splash, splash as pack balls start hitting the water in all different directions from the pegs on our stretch of the river. Here it is the moment I have been waiting on, tournament time.
After a few hours had gone by and we still had no fish to be weighed I was beginning to wonder about Aldrich's premonition. After the very informative weigh master stopped in several times through out the morning AND afternoon to let me know we were still tied for last place I was pretty convinced I should have ready Aldrich's watering of the sign much differently. When midnight rolled around and we only had two fish to weigh all day I was ready to rip the peg sign from the ground and burn it.
Round 2.30 in the morning I decided to try something different than I had been doing. I had tried a few different avenues thus far to no avail so now it time to try something completely different. I decided to use a new concept product from K-1 Baits. An ultra buoyant pop-up. Just a single one, on a blow back rig. Bright yellow on one half and very dark purple, almost black on the other half. I rigged it up, checked it in the water to see that it looked appropriate and thought to myself "what self respecting carp would not eat this'? I gazed at Aldrich for a moment before casting out wondering once again if I read his premonition right.
An hour later I get a screaming run. I mean screaming. This run lacked the usual timid pre beeps you get before a screamer and went right into wailing beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep with no pauses. I picked up the rod and Mother of God, I knew this was going to be a good fish but I had no idea how good it was going to be. The fight, it was amazing. This fish ran me from one side of the river to the other. I would get it close, it would take off again. I went trough this for precisely 11 minutes before it begrudgingly came to the surface and allowed me to bring it in close enough for Tony to net it. I could not see the fish entirely but I COULD see Tony's face which was priceless. He stared lovingly down into the net, looked up at me with huge eyes and said "Honey, you just got a new P.B"
We get the fish into the carp cradle, unhooked and I am staring at it in disbelief. With all of the adrenaline going through my body I hadn't realized up until now that it is raining and not just a little its pouring and on top of that it's freezing outside. We decide to forgo weighing the beast and just put it in the sack until morning. It was at this point that Tony says "you know, the current big fish of the tournament is 34.08 lbs, I bet that one is bigger".
Could it be? Could it be bog fish of the tournament as well as new P.B. for me? Is THIS Aldrich's premonition? I can not go another minute without knowing. Back out into the cold I go, to set up a weigh station of my own. I heave the beast back out of the water, zero out the sling, put here in it and wait for what seemed like minutes but was only seconds for the scale to register the truth. YES!!! 34.14lbs, a new P.B. as well as big fish of the tournament! I ran over to Aldrich and hugged and kissed him and scratched his belly like I never had before. Aldrich looked at me like "I tried to tell you"!
"Aldrich looked at me like
When the weigh master came later that morning the fish had lost 4 oz but I was still the holder of the big fish title so far, now would it hold up for another 10 hours is the question. Hold up it did. That fish along with 5 others gave us a top six weight for the tournament that moved us from last place to a respectable 10th place finish with trophies for the "Big Common Carp" and $1000 payout. Can't shake a stick at that....or should I say cant water a stick at that?
I tried to tell you"!
Photo courtesy J snow phototgraphy