It is now 18 months since I last caught a Ribble barbel. The foremost reason for this is that I don't fish that often these days and probably the second is that most of my trips are early morning to lunchtime. However yesterday I fished 4 hours up to dusk in a swim that in years gone by would have been a banker for a barbel and/or a chub or two. Weather conditions and water level were both pretty good but pellets, boilies and pepperami sausage all failed to produce a bite.
I have posted before that I have enjoyed successful sessions floatfishing for Ribble silverfish. The dace in particular seem very prolific and indeed yesterday my maggot feeder rod tip was bouncing away all session producing 8 dace to 10oz plus a solitary gudgeon! However the biggest fish was the only time this tip moved more than a couple of inches. The one other angler on the stretch was also barbel fishing with zero success at least up to the time that I packed up. He commented that he and his regular barbel fishing buddy had been struggling all year.
So - is it just me picking the wrong options or has Ribble barbel fishing declined in recent years?
I have posted before that I have enjoyed successful sessions floatfishing for Ribble silverfish. The dace in particular seem very prolific and indeed yesterday my maggot feeder rod tip was bouncing away all session producing 8 dace to 10oz plus a solitary gudgeon! However the biggest fish was the only time this tip moved more than a couple of inches. The one other angler on the stretch was also barbel fishing with zero success at least up to the time that I packed up. He commented that he and his regular barbel fishing buddy had been struggling all year.
So - is it just me picking the wrong options or has Ribble barbel fishing declined in recent years?