He thought it was a new world record . She fought hard for at least 90 minutes . She would simply not come to the surface and dragged Martin around on the dam for at least 500 meters , he has never been so tired from fighting a fish . Eventually Martin ' s experience won the day .
despondent and had almost packed to go back home . Then it started to rain and the water level got closer to the grass . Martin knew that when the grass reaches this far up , the Carp will spawn , and that will be the end of those heavy females . The next day the water drew back quite quickly by at least 12 meters . The water depth fell by at least 1.5m and they had to identify new target areas again . The dam ' s floodgates were opened to provide the lower dam water for the town and the surrounding crop fields . They were happy because they knew now they can still stay longer and catch more trophy Carp .
There were some great times . There was a period in those first two weeks when they caught 11 fish in a row above 40 pounds . Four of the eleven were 50 pounders . That was when Martin realized this session is turning into something extraordinary . His prediction was correct - the opportunity to make history was there . The big fish were on the bite . The females were exceptionally fat and heavy , and carried a huge amount of eggs .
In that first week , Martin caught a huge female . He had never seen such a thick and fat female Carp . He thought the 59 pounder was a big one , but the female was extraordinary . It was the biggest fight with a female Carp in his fishing career . She was very
strong and one of the broadest Carp that Martin had ever seen . Martin ' s arms were numb , he trembled and thought he was going to have a heart attack .
“
He thought it was a new world record . She fought hard for at least 90 minutes . She would simply not come to the surface and dragged Martin around on the dam for at least 500 meters , he has never been so tired from fighting a fish . Eventually Martin ' s experience won the day .
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She weighed in at 61 pounds - the first 60 pounder of the session . Not a world record , but one of those memories of a lifetime . It ' s quite unheard of female Carp full of eggs to
Angling Times Weekly SA
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