Pineapple Scopex Pink Pop Up Dumbbells

My wife is a reluctant carp fishing person. She tags along to provide moral support and take pictures a lot. She's been there through rain, sleet, light snow, wind, and freezing temps. A few months ago I twisted her arm and suggested that she also fish a little.

Today, I headed out early and fished a few hours before Linda arrived. Upon her arrival she asked me to bait up a rod with her favorite bait -- High Visual Neon pineapple scopex pink pop-up dumbbell. Within 30 minutes she had her first fish on the bank -- a small mouth buffalo.

Here I am posing with Linda's fish. (She doesn't like to hold them.)

I caught a fish that got away before I could get him in the net, but netted this little guy a little later on.

My first fish today weighing in at 8 - 9 pounds.

It didn't take long for Linda to hook another one, but that one got away. Then shortly after that she netted this one.

Linda's third fish in 45 minutes with me posing it for her, since she doesn't like to hold them.

She decided to leave shortly after that, saying that she needed to let me catch some. Ha. Ha.

It took a while, but I did hook a nice fish, but goofed up and tightened the drag too far when fighting the fish and pulled the hook.

With some dark looking rain clouds in the distance, I decided to start packing up just in case the forecasted 40% chance of rain decided to invade our fishing session.Luckily the rain skirted around us to the south.

I fished another 45 minutes and had just about decided to pack it in and head for the house. I was walking to my right rod to retrieve it and load up when I saw the line tighten. It was a windy day so I figured it was just a gust of wind tightening and contracting the line. Just as I bent over to pick up the rod, I got a screaming run!

I knew it felt big, but approaching the net I found a nice surprise on the line. I had actually packed up the scales already, but had to dig them out to weigh this very nice fish. It turned out to be the 2nd heaviest fish I've ever caught weighing in at 23 pounds 10 ounces.

23 pounds, 10 ounces of common carp goodness

Special thanks for Chuck for netting the fish for me and taking the picture.