Worse to come

What with all the time spent looking for work and looking after kids with chicken pox, it's not all lazing around when you're on the dole! Monday would be another job interview so with the 2 litte 'uns in bed and wife and eldest watching harry potter I met Graham down Straits on sunday evening.

He had fished well, taking 3 low doubles from the clear patches up the car park end while the rest of the lake was rammed with 12 other weekend anglers! As it quietened down in the evening he moved to the previously occupied compass swim and nicked an ancient 19lb common from a close in patch that I arrived just in time to witness.

He was leaving at 8.30pm and I had seen some more fish when I passed the clear patches so plumped for the 'gap' swim.

About 15 minutes after Graham had left I had a slow take and hooked a carp, somehow drawing it from the clear patch to the clear margins in front of me. I had just got the net out when it rushed to the left of me and transferred the hook to a marginal snag.

I was in a foul mood and was contemplating packing up when the other rod was away! It surged towards the snags to the right of the gap and I clamped down hard and suddenly it turned back toward the weedbed. I steered it round this and soon had it under the rod tip, there was a thump and the lead shot out of the water! The bloody hook had pulled. I bit off the rigs and went home rather than fish the last half hour.