Bruce McCarlie manages a crafty session whilst on his hols' with the Mrs. Every year the wife says "Where are we going on our holiday this year" and me being devoted to Carp fishing replies "France my darling, I know a nice place called LeQueroy: "No chance you'll only want to take your fishing rods'" says the wife. So in a huff I said "You decide then". A few days later I find out that we're off to Gran Canaria.

On the way to our Hotel me of course being a fashion conscious guy wearing a Carpology T.Shirt which the Rep on the coach notices and says "We do Carp fishing trips with a bloke called Dave, who is apparently very good". All of a sudden I was getting excited, thinking 'YES some Carp fishing'. I get hold of Dave's phone number and make the call. After spending a long time on the phone and my wife nagging in my ear about how much this phone call was costing, I realised that Dave Beecham was an accomplished Carp Angler and knew what he was talking about. I then booked a trip, one that I never thought I'd be doing on this holiday.

It seemed forever for the Thursday morning to arrive but eventually it was here. I didn't sleep a wink that night and although Dave was not picking me up till 8am, I was up dressed and in Reception by 6am. Luckily he arrived earlier knowing how keen I was. We picked up a couple of other guys that had also booked on this trip. The drive to the lakes took 45 minutes, through some breathtaking scenery. I wished I had gone up in the helicopter which you can do but I was already in trouble with the cost of the phone bill!!!!!

When we arrive at the lake, we went straight to some spots that Dave had been baiting previously. For the other two lads it was a first time experience, so I took advantage of this and got into a swim that looked the best. Dave gave me the rods, reels and terminal tackle and left me to my own devices so he could go and help the other guys. Fifteen minutes later and Dave was back, I thought 'Great, he can walk my baits round the bank to a point and throw them in by hand as there were some fish already there and I didn't want to spook them too much'. Both rods are out and I've got myself settled nicely on my chair, Dave says "You won't see anything till 12 o'clock mate". At that time I was thinking 'Yeah, whatever, there's fish all over my bait'. True to his word at ten past twelve all hell let loose, the reel was screaming. I had my first Gran Canarian fish on the line, it went like a steam train. I knew it was a big fish as it felt heavy. I was thinking 'This could be a new PB'. 15 minutes later and the fish is in the net, in my eyes it was massive, I'd only ever seen fish like this not actually caught them myself.

It weighed in at 39.5lbs, a beautiful fully scaled mirror ladened with heavy spawn, I was gob smacked to say the least. We took some photos and put her back into the water. I was on a high and couldn't wait to get my rod back in the water. 1 o'clock came and off goes the reel again with a 23lb mirror, shortly followed by a 19lb mirror. It was forever getting closer to 4 o'clock, time to go back to the Hotel, then the rod screamed off again for the final time, unfortunately my last catch ended up a big mouth bass!

Still not a bad end to a day like that. To all you Carp Anglers out there who have the same problem with the wife as me, I suggest you holiday in Gran Canaria. She'll think its for the sunshine but really it's for the Carp!!!!!