Today I was sitting quietly on a rock, fishing my favourite Erie trib, watching the bluegills and pumpkins seeds chase minnows in the river below me. I had a light action rod and 6# test line with a small hook on a dropshot, baited with a piece of nightcrawler. I was fishing the outside seam of a current and I knew there were spawning carp nearby, but I didn't have much interest in them. The sun was warm and had me a bit drowsy, I wasn't giving the fish my full attention. Suddenly, my rod bent double and my line peeled off and headed down river. I jumped off my rock as my drag started to squeal. Sure enough, I had a carp on. He had grabbed my bait and just kept on going!! I quickly loosened the drag and pulled back on the rod, slowing the fish down but not putting too much tension on the light line. I knew it would be tricky to land a hard fighting fish like a carp on pan fish gear, and I'd always lost such battles before. As soon as the fish came into view and I saw how big it was, I felt like there was little hope of landing it. It was HUGE. I figured my best bet was to let the rod handle as much of the strain as possible and just let the fish tire itself out. I had to keep it from running up stream into the current, and from going over the sharp rocks and under the boat house. This was a smart fish....it knew where to go to break off a line. After about 15 minutes of tug of war, I got the fish beached and a fellow angler pulled it ashore. I grabbed my scale and the beast weighed in at just over 18 pounds!! Not bad for a first timer!! I can certainly see whay carp fishing is becoming so popular. These fish put up a spectacular fight, and they aren't as dumb as they look. I was very impressed with this carp's apparent intelligence. These fish do make worthy foes and I won't be overlooking them in the future.
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