An evening seassion on the Ribble - Talk Angling fishing chat and tackle advice

polepot · 24th September 2008, 11:16 PM

Barbelqueen decided it was time I had another lesson at catching barbel from running water

, so we decided to meet up after she had finished work and have a ride down to the Ribble for a late afternoon session and stay until it went dark

. Unfortunately, she had to go to her other job at 9.30 so that meant we could only fish til about 7.30. We started fishing about 3.15pm both on the maggot feeder. We could not have asked for better conditions, the sun was shining and the river was running very steady, although the fish would probably have prefered a bit more cloud, but wtf I needed a tan

. Wendy decided to try something different from her usual plan of attack and set another rod up with straight lead and a big halibut pellet hair rigged, while she was setting up rod number 2, rod number 1 bounced and she dove at it, pushing me out of the way. 3 minutes later, a hard fighting brownie was in the net

Anyway

, the first chuck on the lead, an underhanded lob about 2 rod lengths out resulted in THIS

A WHOPPING GREAT 12lb BARBEL

She just cranked it in, she wouldn't give it 1 inch of line

, I was stood there with the landing net but when she got it under the rod and it nearly pulled her into the river I thought " this aint coming in" and turned away waiting for the hook to pull out and the lead to come flying towards me

. She kept the pressure on though and I sank the net infront of it, "it wont fit in" I screamed (like a big girl

). She skillfully drew it over the submerged net, I lifted it up but only had its rear end in

, I dropped the net and made a lunge for its massive head. "it's in" I shouted, get it up the banking away from the water, and we scrambled up the incline to a flat part where we could have a good look at it. To be perfectly honest, I don't trust Wendy's scales, if that fish was a pound, it was 15 of em, it's head was MASSIVE, and it had a thick, strong back. At one point when it was thrashig about in the margins, it's tail came up and we both thought it was a big mirror carp. She turned it on it's back to remove the hook and I said it looked like a sea fish, I was sure it was a cod! It's big fat rubber lips did not belong to any course fish I had seen. Here are another couple of pics, what weight would you say it was? I'm sure those scales were wrong!

The same fish, the same angler, but aint they just stunning

Anyway, in the meantime, I missed a bite

The evening passed so quickly, too quickly, and before we knew it, it was almost time to pack up

. Then SHE shouted "I've just had a touch

(it wasn't me, honest!). Then her rod bent double and she was in again

, this time it was ONLY a 5lb 2oz chub :'(

god does she know how to rub it in

Anyway, back to the fishing

At 7.30 she called 'last cast'

, and as I reeled in I felt a bit of resistance

, I thik I've got a twig on here

............. no, worse than that, it was a bootlace, and there was no sign of my hook

. So it was a cut line and wrapping up time for me

Wendy's last chucks (2 rods

), resulted in a lost big fish, and a snig 3 times the size of mine

, she couldn't even let me catch the biggest eel !!!!!!!!!!!!

All in all, an excellent, but short, session on the ribble, I was well pleased at being able to witness Wendy's personal best barbel, and her personal best chub

, in one session ! but I'm sure it was a lot heavier than the scales said ! I will be investing in a new set for our next venture