A tail of two mirrors

I recently decided to get a few hours in on the Island Lake, and got down at the crack of dawn - long time since I've done that! Usually, I fish sessions of a couple of nights or more, but recently I've been unable to fish nights and I'm slowly learning how to get back to the "quick-hit" angling required in day-only sessions.
Anyway, a few anglers were already on, and I had a good wander around, looking for signs. As is usually the case on the Island Lake, it wasn't hard to find some fish, and I saw a few fish around the back, in the swims by the flats. Walking on a bit, there were signs of a few more fish further around by the big beach swims, backing onto the river, and all the fish seemed to be mooching about and stopping for the odd munch on various spots. I couldn't make up my mind where to plot up, so decided to rove around and have a few casts in several swims.
Initially I set up to the left hand edge of the beach swims, and flicked a bait along the margin under the bushes, where I'd seen a couple of carp slowly cruising. I hadn't even got the rod settled in the rests before it ripped off and stole about twenty yards of line from me. Unfortunately, as soon as I tightened down to the fish, the hook pulled. Ho-hum! The fish had made such a commotion that I decided to give the spot a rest, and moved to the other side of the beach, fishing towards the dead tree. Again, I flicked a couple of single baits out there, and poured the first coffee of the day.
Half an hour of nothing, and then the left rod is away, and a short battle later, a 14.11 mirror is in the net. One of the fish moved in from Frogmore in December/January, and looking very healthy. To say I was pleased was an understatement. An hour of angling, one banked and one lost. Not too shabby!
I moved again, further round to the swims by the flats, but this looked like dead water now, and so I moved back to the first swim on the left of the beaches. I slowly crept through the trees to drop in a small handful of hemp, and right below me in the margin were two big mirrors. One was a lovely pale yellow fish without a mark on her, and the other was a real dark old warrior - both Island lake originals. I decided to forego the hemp and crept back to grab a rod. The fish were right in front of me, so I switched over to a half-ounce led for minimum disturbance, and gently dropped a single tiger nut in front of the two fish. I could see them watch it drift into place. All hugely exciting. Both were nice fish, but one was a good 5lbs bigger - the pale yellow fish was the one I was after.
A minute or two of no action was followed by the dark fish slowly edging forwards towards the bait. Decision time. Did I want the dark fish, or could I risk edging the bait away, and having a go for the bigger of the two? They didn't seem in any hurry, so I pulled the bait away from the dark fish and watched their reaction. They didn't seem too bothered, and the dark fish simply reversed back into line with the yellow warrior and sat there without a care in the world.
I waited a couple of minutes, and flicked the tiger nut in front of them again. A bit too close this time, and they both spooked ever so slighly, backing up a couple of feet and sinking a bit lower in the water. I could have kicked myself - poor cast! Still, no harm done, as the fish quickly moved back to their original position, and the dark mirror came forward again. So frustrating. In normal circumstanes, she would be a lovely fish to catch, but she was sitting there shoulder to shoulder with a much greater prize!
Once again, I edged the bait away from the dark fish and it really didn't seem to be too worried about this. I was racking my brains though. How could I get the yellow mirror to come forward first? Was she waiting for the dark fish to sample the bait so she knew it was safe? I chanced it and flicked out a couple of free offerings, just in front of the two fish. The dark mirror moved forward straight away, and held station above the freebies, then slowly tilted and picked one up. This was only in about three feet of water, and I could see every movement. The dark fish picked another tiger nut up, and then the yellow fished moved forward to join her. The dark fish continued to mooch about in the silt, searching out the bait, but the yellow fish completely ignored it, letting the dark fish feed. Only at the very end did she drop down and pick up a single tiger nut, but it was a moral victory - I had got her to take one!
I sat and watched for a few minutes after the freebies had been snaffled, and the two fish were quite happy to drift back to their original position, a couple of feet from where they had fed. I could see why they liked the spot - a nice big bush effectively covered them, and they were quite happy sitting there undisturbed. I honestly don't belive they even knew I was there.
As they seemed to be a bit more confident, I was happy to flick another rig out onto the spot. I was intending to keep edging the bait away from the dark fish, but unfortunately, the sun had got a lot brighter, and it now made viewing the spot a lot harder. I could see that the fish were still there, but they were now indistinct shapes, rather than the clear viewings I had minutes earlier. All I could do was leave the bait in place, and keep my fingers crossed!
It didn't take long. I saw the shapes of the fish move out from their cover, one behind the other, and I saw them both drop down over the spot, but then the sun glare on the water made the spot completely invisible for me. I was sitting six feet away from them, holding my breath and watching my line where it entered the water. A twitch. And another. Bubbles coming off the patch. It's going to happen any second, I thought, and then WHAM - the line went tight, a huge swirl erupted from the spot, and a fish fizzed off up the margin. I was fishing locked-up with no baitrunner on, and the fish couldn't go far, so it turned almost instantly, and after five minutes of charging up and down the margin on a short line, it was in the net.......the dark mirror.
A gorgeous fish, and weighed in at 26.02lbs. I was delighted, but at the same time disappointed. It's a funny old game, isn't it? On any other day, I would have been chuffed with that result, but as ever, it's all about the one that got away........