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Personally, I am delighted to once again have the opportunity to visit and fish for carp in the magnificently majestic Madine. Yet, as you may have deduced from the title of this piece, in my consideration the great lady has, thus far, denied me that most desirable and intimate meeting with her, that fleetingly uplifting moment of success that we all crave.
‘‘ Enticed by her obvious charms, I first feasted
my eyes upon her most glorious majesty in 2000 and I have continued to lay bare my chest, unconditionally, offering my heart to her ever since. On that initial occasion, when I had travelled over with a small party of anglers headed by Rob Hughes, Lady Madine revealed to me the cruellest side of her nature and set in motion the pattern that will be revealed here. At that time, with two World Carp Classic events
having already taken place there (in 1998 and 1999) the resulting publicity had served as a formal introduction to Madine for the carp angling world and it reached a huge audience. It didn’t take a genius, therefore, to work out that before the hordes descended en masse, it was, perhaps, the prime time to enjoy her delights? I was soon treated to my first ever experience of
big water carping that summer and, just like that magical first love affair, it was something that despite the outcome, I’ll never forget. After driving all night and arriving at Madine amid monsoon conditions, I was the only angler in the party to set up and begin fishing while everyone else slept for several hours. I had put in the effort, and felt that I deserved some reward. As it transpired, though, my best efforts were to be cruelly thwarted. My only run of the entire week came in the form
of a full-blooded screamer on the 4th day. Long after others in the party had been successful and had landed carp, I was finally called to react instantly to a rod-flattening run that was vicious in the extreme. We had set up along the north bank, affectionately
known back then as the English bank, and with a 5 foot ‘cliff-face’ drop to the water confronting me and attached to an extremely agitated Madine carp pulling against a tight clutch for all it was worth, I was fearful that I would be pulled headlong onto the rocks beneath me. It was exhilarating stuff beforehand but, then,
out in my boat and being towed around Madine with my mind running riot on how big this leviathan might be, I felt that awful, sickening vibration up the line that indicated all was not well. About midway between the bank and the spot where I had hooked the fish, my line had encountered a large tree stump as the fish kited. Patiently, I tried every trick I knew to free the line, and I even considered diving down to free it. Discretion being the better part of valour, I
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decided against such drastic action because I am often the voice of reason and the first to remind people that personal safety is crucial. Beside that, and truth be told, I never had an anchor in the boat, another lesson learned! Obviously, exiting the boat with a stiff breeze blowing that would cause the boat to drift quickly, plus a rod, and potentially a large carp to deal with at around 250 yards from shore, it
wasn’t really an option anyway, was it? To my brief delight, I eventually managed to
As the line dropped slack, so too did my jaw. I stood there in anguish and awe, watching this very big fish barrel across the lake for quite some distance
coax the fish to swim out and clear of the snag, but no sooner had my line cleared and I could feel the fish swimming freely, the hook pulled! Well, at least I could now feel happy that the carp was safe and it would not be tethered, but I have to admit that the loss was a painful, bittersweet moment. Fishing at extreme ranges = extreme challenges. Thanks to Madine for that harsh, but well learned lesson! After that experience, my newfound love of big
water carping ate into my very fibre and took over my thoughts. Thanks to Madine, I now had no hesitation in venturing, with a reasonable degree of success, to other big water venues. However, I was yet to learn that The World Carp Classic draw at Madine was not going to be one to display any form of kindness toward me. Having fished the venue on only one other
occasion outside of the event, where I caught my only Madine carp, even that experience was tainted by a degree of misfortune. This was a planned practise session, where I had designated a few days
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