First FORTY!

Today I got the fish I have been chasing for a long time in my dreams. MY FIRST FORTY POUND CARP!  I have come close in the last three years, landing nine fish in the thirties so I knew this beast was just a matter of time with a little luck mixed in. I knew I had a forty as the fish came into sight close to the net after a tug of war battle in which the monster stayed right along the bottom the whole time.  Once on shore, the huge mirror pulled my Rueben Heaton scale to 40 lbs. 8 oz., making this a PB mirror for me and the largest carp I have ever caught.  The fish measured 40 inches long and had a gut that looked like it swallowed a beer barrel.  I suspect it was also full of eggs.  It was landed in MA waters so it will not qualify as a RI CAG record.

The fish was taken on my 12 ft. D.A.M. CrossPower 12 ft. carp rod (2.75 test curve) along with a Shimano 4000 baitrunner that was spooled with 20 lb. test Berkley Big Game mono.  It was hooked on a hair rigged #6 Kamassan Carp Maxx hook.  The bait was two kernels of sweet corn along with a kernel of pineapple Pescaviva sweet corn.  It was fished ahead of a method ball.

Prior to catching this huge one I landed a 25 lb. carp about an hour before.  The 25 lber. looked like a baby compared to this monster.