River Ribble Double, That's A Wrap!!

 

 While taking a break up in the Lakes with the family I knew that could present an opportunity to take the gear up north in the car and seeing as we crossed the Ribble on the M6 heading north it would be rude not to give it a go at some point, the Ribble is one of my most northerly target rivers and to achieve the unthinkable would be immense.

 The only time I ventured on to the Ribble previously was back in March and the river was in a terrible state where 5oz leads didn't hold bottom in the margins. This time around things were very different. 

Slightly less benign.

What I was greeted by on Sunday evening.

 Sunday evening I made the 50-mile trip south with the gear and made my way up to an area where it was reputed to hold Barbel and somewhere that I felt I stood a chance. With such a big river it was a bit daunting as to where I should start exactly. So I leaded around briefly to try and find any gullies or drop-offs where Barbel might patrol and within 5mins I found a good gully in between two shallower banks, this was to be where I would set my traps.

 A single 12mm robin red pellet with a small PVA bag on one rod and a large lump of Spam on the other rod was my go-to, all I could do now was wait and hope that there was something moving around. As mentioned above, the conditions on my previous visit were not ideal. However, they weren't fantastic this time around either as the river was really sluggish and barely moving owing to very little rain where it matters. I just hoped it wouldn't hinder me and around thirty minutes later as I was staring at the shooting stars arcing across the skyline my pellet rod went into meltdown, nearly losing my rod in the process!

 Immediately I had to loosen the clutch as the fish really fought hard from the get-go and knew I was attached to a Barbel or a Carp, obviously, I was really hoping that a Barbel was pulling on the other end and once I finally got it out of the gully and over the rocks I saw what I was attached to and knew it was my target fish, all that was left was the small task of coaxing it into the net which it was not happy about, she stripped around 30yards of line off and was back in the middle of the river before I could blink, such was the power of this fish I was not in complete control for around a minute, once I finally got it under control she came in gently with no more than a plod for the bottom, the battle was over and even better still it was a double! The scales were readied along with the mat, but oddly not the camera...yes, I bloody well left it at home in the middle of the bedroom floor. I could not believe it, but thankfully for me my iPhone is pretty decent and the couple of images I got were sufficient.

 My first and last Ribble Barbel weighed a very pleasing 10lb 13ozs and represents the 20th different river across the U.K that I have managed a double figure Barbel from and the halfway stage of my epic journey.

Very happy man!! No: 20!

 That. Will. Do!!

 The mighty Ribble conquered in very quick fashion indeed, it was the fish I needed and the hard work was mainly done before I had even stepped foot on its banks. Once she had left the sanctuary of the net and back home I sat back thinking about the achievement that's just been made, that sense of success is so good when I calculate all those times that I fail, every day is a school day!

City lights with Mars shining as bright.

 The rest of the 3hr session passed by without more than chublet pecking at the Spam and a small chub falling off as it was coming to the bank on the pellet rod, Mission Complete, on to River Number 21!!!!!

End of Season Glut.

 

 For the final fews days I had many plans in my head but the weather made things very difficult to set plans in stone. In the end I did a session on the R.Loddon for a night and blanked, of course. Then the following day I set my stall out for Chub, that was when I got a bit giddy with excitement.

 I did think long and hard about where to go, the Dorset Stour was in the running until a couple days previous when we had loads of snow and then rain to follow which bought up the river into a swirling cauldron of brown freezing cold water, it was a no-go, so I had to fall back on plan B, as Plan B's go this was a wonderful session all told, but it didn't start off in the best of ways.

Chub conditions!

 Having waded through cold waters to get to the areas I wanted, ( nowhere escaped the floods ) I made my way to a couple of likely looking spots, marginal trees which looked ideal to hold some fish, as I made my way up I kicked an unseen rock and lost my balance, hence falling forward with the gear on my back and rod, landing net pole and keep-net bag in my hands, I got soaked and before I'd even setup my gear I was contemplating going home, that was not pleasant and found myself soaked and waders 6inch deep with cold water (8.7c).

 Needless to say I got myself together and mercifully the sun was warm and winds light so I did get to dry out a bit and the fishing once I got started was terrific. In my first hour I had banked four Chub with one settling on the digi's at 5lb 10oz and my best of the season ( in truth its been a lite season for the species ) a real big framed fish that just lacked length otherwise it would have been comfortably over 6lbs. 

Best of the day, should have been a "six" all day.

 The average stamp was great with mid 4's to mid 5's coming in at fairly regular intervals as bread flake was clearly the winning tipple. Fishing for the first time with my new Drennan Acolyte Plus 12 ft Feeder rod I was very impressed by its responsiveness to very shy bites and when connected to fish it performed so well, even when a little beauty of a carp decided to get in on the act!

 Not to be outdone another of the rivers inhabitants, one that I would never have expected to find, ( well it found me ) let or lone land on such fine balanced gear, not sure it was designed to tackle fish of this stamp but after a ten minute war of attrition I finally slipped the now very small looking landing net under what was surely a twenty pound plus river Carp! Bonkers right? 

21lb 1oz River Common Carp 😜

 A real turn up for the books on what was already turning out to be a great outing for Chub now had the added bonus of two Carp, one of which was a big fish. After that a few more Chub averaging 4.08 came to the net but a real big one was remaining elusive and as the day was starting to draw to a close the warmth of the sun was now wearing off and the adrenaline of the days sport done the cold set in fast and found myself scrambling back to the car to get stripped off and warm. 

A quartet of five pounders.

 Oh what a day. 17 Chub from four snags best five weighing over 5lbs ( 5.00, 5.04, 5.04, 5.06 and 5.10 ) with the remaining fish all over 4lbs bar one ( 3.07 ) plus 2 Carp and also lost one too! which I didn't mention above to keep it fairly short as I have so little time to do any blogging as you may have all noticed, as Spring starts to wake up the Bream and Eels I'll be back out and hopefully plenty more fishy goings on will be scribbled here.

Predator Season Looms.

 

 Given the tough conditions for Barbel over the back end of last week, Brian and I hatched a plan to come away from the Barbel and start our predator season. So Friday we headed back to the rivers and set about targeting Pike, given the mild conditions I had some reservations but it's late enough in the year and with water temps hovering around 7.5-8.5c it should be good enough to begin.

 We opted to float fish Sprats and rove around, trying to find the odd fish in amongst the tree-lines and deeper holes that litter the river, the sense of excitement was building as we rigged up our roving rods. The flavour had well and truly settled in before this trip, recently I purchased Mick Brown' new book and it is awe inspiring, the level of dedication he has shown and the results he has reaped has got me wanting to spend more time searching out the species and try to get a few more fish on the bank, one day I truly hope I become half as proficient as Mick, if I did it will be one hell of a ride!

A superb book!

 With the low sun we couldn't really see into the water and the clarity was pretty poor given the recent rains too so we relied upon our understanding of the fish, plus I had Pike-catcher-in-chief with me and I didn't have to wait long before I got bob on the float, a good solid run was met with a firm strike and with the hook set I was locked into battle with a good Pike that rolled on the surface thus showing itself, certainly around the mid-double range and as she approached the waiting net inexplicably the fish came off. I thought she gobbed me but it turned out my snap-link failed and the treble came loose.

 I know we all experience things like this over the years but it was a first for me and knew I wouldn't get many chances to catch a Pike as I don't think there are many around. I will certainly do a thorough check of tackle going forward and replace any of those components should I not be happy with them.

 About an hour later Brian was away with a decent fish, which I shall leave for him to publish on his blog.

 I was chuffed to see Brian get his winter season under way but there is always the shadow of doubt cast over your head when it hasn't happened yet, so I worked a few spots and fished all the likely looking areas where I thought something may happen and fortunately for me I got another shot at glory.

 A swift take followed by a strong but short battle where the fish hung under the rod-tip, before "just" squeezing into the net. At first she looked a decent fish of 15-16lbs, however when I lifted her up on to the mat it felt a bit more weighty, the scales confirmed that as they settled on 17lb 8ozs and my winter predator season was up and running! 

Chuffed with that!

 I stood back as she briefly lye on the mat and just marvelled at the markings and colours, don't think they come much prettier!

 

 Once the photos were done she slipped off back to the shadows, no doubt to continue her pursuit of optimum weight with spawning due in 2 months.

 

 We continued on downstream as we both felt 20mins in each area was probably the best plan of action and although we both felt that we were fishing well it turned out those two Pike would be the last of the action as the final 6 hours of fishing slipped by without another touch, maybe we just caught the back end of a morning feed? It'll be interesting to find out whether that rings true. 

 A seventeen to open my account for the season is a great start, hopefully I can find a big girl somewhere in the lead up to Christmas.