You'll never believe it, but its true!

Nothing to do with boats or canals, but I have to tell you of the bizzare event that happened to me today.

I was fishing at my usual place, an old manor house pond with real wild fish - not the farm bred ones that most commercial fisheries provide these days. The carp in this pond often reside right under the rhododendron bushes at the bank side so you have to sit well back from the edge and fish almost under the rod tip at times. The photo you see here was taken from my seat, so you can see I'm well back from the water.
During the morning I caught a carp of just under ten pounds, so I wasn't too upset when it all went quiet in the afternoon and there was no sign of fish biting. I just sat enjoying the sunshine and the view with my rod and reel at my elbow.

Then as I idly reached down to pack up some bits there was a clatter, and quick as a flash, before I could react, the rod and reel leapt from their rest and just like a javelin dived six feet forward and into the water - right from my elbow! The rod sank immediately (the reel being quite heavy) , and in a state of shock I thought first of the loss of my rod and reel, and then of the fish attached to it, although no doubt the fish wouldn't be long in freeing itself as I use barbless hooks.

All I could do was stare at the water for a minute, thinking there was nothing I could do. A friend fishing nearby came along to commiserate, then more in hope than expectation I grabbed the landing net and fished about on the pond bed (only three feet deep) in the faint hope of finding the rod. Amazingly I did manage to find it and with some difficulty managed to snare the reel and hoist rod and reel to the surface. Grabbing the rod handle I stood up, and lo and behold the fish, still attached, took off again. Well I eventually landed it, to find that it wasn't particularly big - probably about six or seven pounds (the carp record is nearly seventy pounds). The fish seemed none the worse for its adventure and it swam off happily once returned to the water.

And here it is, photographed by my friend. Not the biggest carp in the pond, but one I won't forget in a hurry!