Big Barbel - Attempt No 2 (River Ribble)

Shocking day today. 

Arranged a few weeks back to tackle the Ribble again with my mate Andy on a section where he's had some good hauls and is confident a double figure Barbel is a real possibility.  The weather forecast was truly shocking but Andy is made of hardy stuff and reckoned that the weather fronts "Quickly" blow over Preston...

Mindful of the forecast of storms and 40-50 mph winds I decide on a light roving approach using the biggest pieces of ledgered crust and meat I can cram on to a Kamasan Size 6 light wire hook and short (20-40 mins) stops in each likely looking swim.  I opt for a swan shot paternoster link with plasticine added to just hold bottom and pull off if snagged up.

The wind is horrendous and though I'm confident that the first 2 hrs produced no bites we wouldn't have known anyway with the tips bouncing all over the place!  The barometer is crashing through the floor and for some reason salmon are leaping about everywhere, maybe in expectation of rain to get going again up the river.

And then the rain came - serious rain - squalls I think is the technical terms or more accurately squalls x10.  I have never seen rain like it.

I quickly run through 4 swims while wondering how I managed to leave my waterproof pants in the car and be persuaded to fish today at all.  Somehow I nick a 3lb chub on ledgered crust to save my blushes before hiding under a bush while a storm of biblical proportions sits over is for 45 mins...

It's a full strip in the car to finish the day, where thankfully I have a spare set of clothes - never again....

Mr Fish

Big Barbel - Attempt No 1 (River Ribble)

Less said about today the better. A 2pm - 10pm session on the River Ribble at Preston with the river looking absolutely spot on yet not one bite all day. My river fishing mate Andy fished immediately above me (to create a combined large peg) and shared the same fate but actually fished from 9am - a 13 hour blank...

Rigs were a 3oz feeder and a 3 oz bomb with pellet, source boilies and maize all tried. A marine halibut pellet/groundbait stick with tuna and hemp added to each bomb as an attractant. Andy tried caster; smaller pellet and maggot so all the bases were basically covered.

To add insult to injury, some bright spark sat a cheeky 10 yards below me from 6pm and winkled out 3 barbel which looked to be up to 5lb. A much better fish also came out about 1/2 mile further up the stretch to make any excuses look as hollow as a Barrack Obama election promise.

This is down as my first barbel attempt but in reality it's No 3 having picked up a great Dace and a good chub on previous sessions.

The only two things I can think of are that I either overfed (unlikely on a warm summer day) or we are just fishing too heavy with 10lb mainline and 10lb fluorocarbon bottom. Going lighter is a risk with the abrasive bedrock bottom but that's about 7 Ribble trips with no barbel and it really is time to try something else...

Blank No 10 in the bag then - magic!

Interesting that I have never caught a fish when using the water from boiling up hemp to mix my groundbait....

Cheers

Mr Fish

Big Barbel Practice (River Dane)

The baby has arrived and she's a real cutie.

I've snuck out for a few hours though and thought I'd have a look at the Dane on the Lymm Card, where I did quite well on the chub at the back end of last season. It's not really an attempt at anything because I know the river is going to be lower than a snake's belly and as clear as a clear thing. However, I've been wanting to have a crack at fishing with hair rigged casters over hemp in clear water to see if it gets the barbel going like Jordan on an Ibiza trip.

The river is lower than I thought, so results aren't going to do any method justice. I tried a new deeper swim opposite a tree on a right angle bend, which was probably a mistake, as it was at the back end of a large pool with limited water to draw from - school boy error really. Anyhow, I gave it a good go for a couple of hours, with superglued casters on the hair.

A nice surprise Grayling of about a pound and a small chub were the only fish landed. Plenty of shelled casters suggested that the fish were perfectly happy to pick up four glued together, but the old barbel rod let me down a bit on nailing the bites. I'll be giving it another go though. Now, back to feed the midget hungry hippo at home and plot my next trip...

Mr Fish