Save the best till last - Red Letter Monday

 Well I've only bloody gone and done it! It wasn't until late yesterday evening that I knew that I could get a final session, of the Pike season, down on the RMC. So it was a 04.00 hrs alarm call which set the morning off. Coffee drunk and the van loaded, I was on my way some thirty minutes later and had two baits in position by 06.25 hrs. It was a still, overcast but very mild, dawn and I had to remove a couple of layers because they weren't required. Just before 07.40 hrs, the left hand alarm sounded and the fun began. As soon as I set the hooks, I knew it was a decent fish, yet the fight was rather sluggish, although when it decided to pull, the ABU Carbon Specimen certainly took on an impressive curve. In under five minutes, probably closer to three?, I drew my prize over the net chord and that's when I started to shake. It was a proper unit and, straight away, I thought that it might be of a weight that I had targeted at the beginning of this year's campaign. Only one way to find out, so with unhooking mat, retainer and weigh sling all soaked in canal water, I lifted the Pike up onto the bank where it was quickly unhooked before being hoisted up on the scales. The needle span round to 25 lbs 7 oz and I was an emotional mess. I quickly got the fish into the retaining sling and back into the water before just starting to shake uncontrollably. I'm pretty sure that there was tear in my eye at some point, such was the intensity of the moment. 

I managed to get myself together and place a fresh bait in the swim before ringing Benno with my news. I just needed to speak with someone as I was in such a mess. Some minutes later, having calmed down (a bit) I could have happily packed up there and then but, knowing it would be my last session, of the 2024/25 season,  decided to stay put and see what else the day had in store? It was little more than an hour later when the right hand alarm rattled into action and, once again, I found myself attached to another feisty opponent.  This one had the right hump and actually "tail-walked" on a couple of occasions. Although not in the same class as my first fish, at 17 lbs 4 oz it was certainly a very welcome visitor to the unhooking mat.

So that was it, I hung on until 11.00 hrs, before deciding to call it a day. It's the Canterbury/Thanet PAC meeting tonight and I'll actually have something worth mentioning during the "Round Robin" for a change. A Red Letter Monday indeed!