The '56'

I am blessed with the amount of quality angling nearby and am lucky enough to bailiff a couple of those "special" waters...
There's a lake nearby that I hold dear,now a public park it was once host to some of anglings finest.This lake produced a Carp of 31 lb in 1960 putting it in the same bracket as Redmire and Billing Aquadrome.I've heard tales from the captor of how he allowed a certain Jack Hilton to fish his pre-baited swim.Jack,apparently hooked and lost a massive Carp,and was unhappy that the fellow hadn't warned him of a submerged snag!!..Many other great anglers have graced the lakes banks and some years ago I was fortunate to share them with the late,great Fred J Taylor.
All these years later,there are still a few old Leney fish to be caught and there's even a Redmire-esque wooden railing above one of its banks.
Well the angler is spoilt for choice with very large fish of all species including Carp over 40 lb and it's now famed Catfish population which grow to over 60lb in weight.
It was Summer,one of those lazy,balmy evenings when one eats,drinks and fishes in that dreamy time of year when the smell of barbecues and citronella dominate the air.We had cast our lines,myself for Carp,my friend John for those hardest fighting of freshwater fish the Wels Catfish.
At about 10.30pm after chatting in the warm air and admiring the acrobatics of the local bat colony we heard a single bleep from Johns alarm.We strolled to his rods to see the bobbin twitching.."It's a Cat,he's mouthing the bait and can feel the resistance..he'll leave it a while then come back for it".Nothing happened for a few minutes then a few bleeps,"he's still interested" said John.Another Catfish angler arrived in the swim,"When I had my 40lber it did just that,then ripped off a few minutes later"he said....we waited....About 30 seconds later the bobbin rose and the alarm sounded just enough for him to strike."He's coming towards me"said John,I looked up at his rod tip waiting for the fish to turn,It didn't,it just kept coming,no titanic struggle ensued and after a couple of seconds,there,sitting in the margins in the glow of our headtorches was not a monster Cat,but a Bream...yes,a Bream of about 2 lb with two 28mm Halibut pellets hanging outside its mouth and a size 2 hook in its bottom lip.The look on John's face was classic.I wish we'd taken a photo..56mm of pellet that little fella tried to scoff and he's now the stuff of folklore and legend on this lake..the '56' Bream...how I laughed.