HEATHER – A TRIBUTE - 12/07/2010

By Terry Hearn

Terry Hearn is just one high-profile angler who cut his teeth on the Yateley complex. Here are his thoughts on this unique carp. “I was fortunate enough to catch Heather the Leather on a couple of occasions during my time on the Car Park Lake, but like with any big carp it’s the first capture that really sticks in my mind. Not so much the take, mind, because it was one of those strange ones where I just woke up holding the rod, so I really couldn’t tell you whether it was a flyer or a few bleeps! Odds-on that it was a flyer, though; Heather was always one for making the buzzer one-note.

“Although the take might not be such a clear memory, the fight is and I still remember kneeling down out on the end of the Bars Swim jetty, doing battle with the most prized leather in the country. Something that’s always stuck in my mind was a robin singing loudly right behind me while I was playing her, like they sometimes do after dark. But other than that the night was silent and the roads were quiet. It was the wee hours of the morning and the rest of Yateley was sleeping. “Eventually I was gazing into a net full of carp, and I still remember the buzz I felt when I shone my torch into the mesh and realised that it was Heather. The rest of Yateley was sleeping no longer!

“Catching her meant the world to me, just as it did to plenty of lucky anglers before me and plenty more after. RIP Heather the Leather, the queen of the Car Park Lake. Long live the queen.”