A pig of a carp

I was on my way just before 02.30 hrs and fishing two rods by 03.45 hrs. A little more than thirty minutes in and I have a quick two inch lift on the maize rig. I gave it a few minutes before winding it in to discover that the hair had twisted around the hook shank. Had I been done over or was it small fish picking at the bait? Quickly sorted out, I recast and scattered a couple more handfuls of munga over my two spots. I had signs of activity in the general area but it wasn't until 05.30 hrs that I had a lovely slow pull on the maize rod and found myself connected to a solid weight. It was a very dour battle, over within a couple of minutes. What I initially thought might be a tench turned out to be a short, and extremely fat, mirror carp of 23 lbs 10 oz - result. I stayed until 07.00 hrs, but with the weather taking a turn for the worse, I made tracks back to the car and home - job done!