Big Barbel - Attempt No 2 (River Ribble)

My mate Andy from Yorkshire has been asking me to do a night session on the lower Ribble for a while, which we finally found the time to do last night. Although the Ribble is undoubtedly a top drawer coarse fishery, it's being going the way of the River Dee for me - loads of effort and precious little results of note...

It's low and clear so for once I've tried to learn from mistakes made in the past and I've scraped together 3-4 pints of casters to go with 100 dendrobenas and 3 pints of hemp. I'm on a known barbel swim and the bait dropper goes in continually to deliver about 1.5 pints of casters and 2 pints of hemp before leaving the swim for 1.5 hours to sweat in peace. Andy has gone for a different tactic with pellets and boilies dominating his approach.


I'm fishing two rods, one with a 1.5lb Daiwa Barbel Specialist and 10 lb Red Mist line to size 10 Korda super sharp carp hook with as many casters as possible crammed on to it; and a heavier 2.25 lb Pike Rod with 15lb Berkeley Big Game to a hair rigged glugged Source boilie. Both rigs are semi-fixed to help hooking up bites in the darkness.


Well it's only gone and worked!


First cast - chublet

9 pm - Flounder over 12ins on a worm. A definite PB but not weighed for some daft reason.






Midnight - Roach 1lb. PB is 1lb 2oz...

12.43 am - Roach 1lb 3 oz - a new PB by 1oz. Wahoo - "Only" 18 years since I caught my last PB roach of 1lbs 2oz (on pole fished caster at night...) from Moss Valley near Wrexham!

1.24 am - Eeel 0.5lb

1.35 am - Chub 3lbs 10 oz

1.55 am - Dace 5 oz

2.00 am - 9lb hooklength snapped when unable to stop a barbel

2.20 am - Barbel 5 lbs 15 oz on Source boilie.

5.40am - Barbel 7 lbs 6 oz on casters at first light.


Only one PB but not too far away on the chub and barbel and bites all night long. A switch to a lighter caster rig would probably have delivered a good run of quality roach but probably a nightmare with the barbel. Poor old Andy blanks the night just one swim down and to add insult to injury gets cleaned out at first light by a barbel - I know that feeling too well. Two PBs on the Ribble now - dace and roach - I'm going to hoover the maggots in next time to see if I can get the big chub going to get a hat trick.


Well, a great night's fishing and am I finally getting to grips with low clear river conditions...?


Mr Fish