Snowberry Lakes Ltd
Wow - what a Trip!
I hadn't been down to the lake for a few weeks this was due in part by the premature arrival of my grandson, Oliver who arrived some seven weeks premature! (But doing very well now).
I guess it was with no real surprise that upon my arrival at Snowberry on Saturday I was greeted with, “Hi Granddad from Kev fishing from the snag swim!
It was good to see Peter fishing from Rhododendron and after a chat with him and Gary who was just passing though I had to turn to the job of catching some fish. I decided to try my luck in Cat Corner and if there was a plan it was only that I would spod out some of the mix that I had made from all of the half bags of pellet ground bait and half empty bottles of dips and glugs I found in the shed! So I was ready to cast the spod and guess what?.straight up and over a branch!
Of course the sight of this inspired Kevin to send the first of many texts; something about carp up trees.! Anyway, all is well as I retrieved my spod with one small tug of the line.
Time now to sit back with coffee in one hand and take in all that surrounds me as the dusk falls.
I am taken by the changing colours and sunlight flickering against the tree as the sun descends and sets from behind Cat Corner and day turns to night binging with it all the sounds from the nocturnal world in and around Snowberry.
It’s 2:30 am and were off! Left hand buzzer pipes out its continuous tone as the hanger rises and falls with increasing regularity and its not long before I am weighing in my new pb cat of 27lb 12oz. Fantastic!
It’s now 7:30 am and I feeling pretty good, sitting outside my bivvy and drinking the first cup of coffee of the day. I’m still re-living my new pb and wonderful (even if ugly) cat from the nights work. I’m thinking, “that's it for me I’ll take that any time, write it up in the book and be on my way!”
But boy oh boy what was to come next will stay with me for the rest of my life and poor Oliver my Grandson will no doubt have to endure endless repeats of the whole event but hey that's what Granddads do isn't it?!!
So as I’m happily sitting there planning my early trip home and my big grin, the action returns to the left hand rod. But this take was more subdued than before and it seemed that the light leads had been picked up and were of no consequence to what lay under the surface! Rod in hand I set the hook and bang! - off she went like a steam train, running on full throttle, taking line at will and heading straight towards the island. In my panic I remember shouting over to Kev, “I think its the big cat!”. Kev of course replied in his usual excited way, “Yeah, right!”.
By now the cat had slowed and I was able to retrieve some line and managed to turn it away from the direction of the island. Slowly but shurely I managed to direct it over the waiting landing net (I must remember to get a bigger one) and I had landed the monster all by myself! It was exhausted and so honestly was I - my arms now reduced to rubber!
Yep - the big cats mine - all 42 lbs of it!
So - I had a brand new personal best at 27 lb 12 oz and now its gone but you know I don’t mind under the circumstance!!
Enjoy your next trip to snowberry I know I will.
Back