Fly Carp-the return

Last week I was happy to have hooked (and lost) a Carp on a fly. This week I wanted to go one stage better. The weather gods were kind again, warm temperatures and not a jot of wind. Less cloud would have been good but two out of three ain't bad.
This week I had Stubbs pool to myself. I chose a spot where the fish had been taking the mixers last time as there was a few to be seen cruising the upper layers. Out came the new fly rod, 10lb leader and I tied on a deer hair imitation dog biscuit.

There is something about the feel and casting of a fly rod that is special. I cannot find the words to describe it but I am really get into this way of fishing. Maybe it is just because it is novel and new to me but at the moment I am loving it.
The 'experts' tell us when floater fishing to steadily feed the fish and build up their confidence for ages before casting out. I sat down and started to fire out some mixers. Within seconds the Carp were on to them. My patience lasted less than a minute. I cast out into the middle of the freebies.
The beauty of fly fishing is the soft landing of the bait. No splash of a controller to make the fish wary. You don't have to cast beyond and slowly drag the lot into place spooking all the fish in the area as the float makes bow waves across the lake. No just land the bait gently in the middle as if it were any other mixer.
Within seconds I had a take. I struck, felt the fish, the rod curved right over, one kick of the tail and the rod sprang back straight. An annoying start. I recast and fed some more freebies. The fish were still hungry and not spooked. Before long I had another chance and missed it completely. A hazard of floater fishing but still pretty frustrating.
The fish were still really having it and the third chance that came along I hooked into the fish and it set off like a train. The rod is pretty powerful as far as fly rods go but I was powerless to stop this initial run, It sounded good the reel screaching until the fish found weed to it's liking and everything locked up. I gave it steady pressure for a bit but nothing happened. I lowered the rod to let the line go slack. If the fish moved I would know because the end of the floating fly line would move also. It looked like nothing was happening so I decided to give it some more steady pressure. I felt a kick and it started to come free. I managed to slowly get the fish back into open water and then I thoroughly enjoyed the fight as I had enough power in the rod to exert as much pressure as I liked. Within a few minutes I had my first ever 'fly caught' coarse fish in the net.

Normally I would just put a fish of this size straight back but as I felt it was a monumental occasion I wanted a weight to go with it, I am sad, I know.
9lb 12oz of lovely 'Golden Bonefish'.

There was little more action so eventually I went to the pub to help me decide what species to target next on the fly!