Dave and I arrived on the banks of the Ribble at about 3.30pm, giving us just enough time to get settled in and comfortable in the hour or so of daylight that was left. We were surprised to find the river was quite coloured and up about a foot. Surprised because we hadn’t had any rain in our area but they obviously had up here in darkest Lancashire. I put three big cage feeders of bread into the swim to give it a kickstart and then swapped it for a small one to keep it topped up each cast. Hookbait was a chunk of flake on a 6’s hook. I was feeling very confident, the temperature had taken a good rise and there was enough colour in the water to give the fish some extra confidence. They should be having it tonight good style, I thought to myself. Within half and hour I had a jab on the tip of the FISHINGmagic rod, but nothing came of that. Then another one five minutes later, but this time the line tightened more across my fingertips as the fish got hold of the bait. I swept the rod back and landed a nice chub that I didn’t weigh, but would have pulled about 3lb. During this time Dave had moved his chair back twice as the river rose. Luckily I’d started with my chair well back from the river’s edge and was still okay. But the line was now collecting debris every cast and was pulling the little cage feeder out of position. I had to choose between changing to a bigger feeder or lead, or coming closer in where it was still fairly slack. I chose the latter, sticking to the small feeder and just swinging the end tackle out to no more than a rod’s length or so. I missed a decent bite straight away, while I was fiddling around with my flask, but nobbled it on the next cast when the rod tip was pulled over a good nine inches. A powerful fish shot some 10 yards across the river but soon yielded to the increasing bend in the rod and two minutes later a big chub lay in the landing net. Dave came along and weighed it at 5lb 13oz. A lovely Ribble chub in sparkling condition, but slightly hollow in the vent area of its stomach. A sure 6-pounder or bigger when it fills out. We never had another bite after that. The river continued to rise, more crap came down and we fished even closer in, but nothing came of it. Shame that, I think we would have had one of those really special sessions if the level had remained stable. |
Welcome!Log into your account
