While taking a short cut through the lily pads I spotted a couple of carp swimming along near the surface. Tossed out my plastic worm and watched as the carp slowly rolled over and followed the worm under the water. I waited a bit but didn't feel any strike or anything. But I thought may he's got it in his mouth and is getting ready to spit it out. So I gave my rod a big pull up and WHOA hooked a big one!!

That sucker ran for a good 50 feet through the lily pads. The line was stripping off my open reel so fast that I was afraid it would damage my reel so I opened the bail and with no drag he really took off!!

Son-of-a-gun fought hard running all over the place, finally stopped to rest on the bottom and wrapped the line around the lily pads. By the time I got it untangled, he was fresh again and took off through the lily pads again.

When I finally got him near the boat I had to run him around in circles to tire him out some more before trying to net him. But when I put the net down I realized he was way bigger than my little net. Got most of him in the net and hoisted him aboard and couldn't believe how big he was. I ended up fighting that carp for 25 minutes.

I have no idea how much he weighted but heres a picture. The next time I'm gonna have to use some stronger gear cuz my reel broke down later that day. Biggest fresh water fish I've ever seen.

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