First Yarrow Brown Trout and a River Ribble session

A Surprise catch! Brown Trout from the River Yarrow Croston Brown Trout around 10oz

Ben's absolutely stunning Barbel of 9lb 5oz

Safely returned back to the water

I decided to head to my local River, The Yarrow today. The water was very clear but the weather looked threatening. Armed once again with my Feeder rod and a pint of maggots, my target was to be Chub, or anything that was passing really. My first fish was a perfect little Dace another soon followed. Soon after the bites dried up. Gord came down for a nosey, as he's never fished The Yarrow before. Tooled up with his lure rod, the temptation for a cast of two was too hard for him to resist. He headed to the Weir Pool "Watch this mate I'll go and catch my first Yarrow Pike" Remarkably he had a follow after only a few casts, a Pike of around 5lb followed his lure but backed off at the last second, seemingly spooked by something, it sensed something wasn't quite right. A quick lure change and a couple of casts later, he was into a Jack Pike of around 3lb. True to his word, Gord did catch his first Yarrow Pike and it took him around 5 minutes to do so. My highlight of the session was a stunning little Brown Trout. I was quite shocked to catch a Brownie, as I didn't know they were in the river.

More Fishing..........

A innocent conversation with Ben about the days fishing events soon led to another session. The word Barble was mentioned. That was it! The seed was well and truly sewn. I picked him up at around 21.30 and we made our way to a fabulous part of the River Ribble. This was the first time that I'd fished this river. Ben talked me through the set up and what to expect from a Barbel session. We were rods in by about 22.00 and the anticipation was brilliant. Within the first hour I had a strong pull on my rod, I was later to learn that perhaps a fish had moved my bait and I'd become snagged. Within about 2 minutes of my pull, Bens rod bent round and his line was stripping off his reel. He was in! And it look like a good fish too. And what a fish, after a good scrap he was soon cradeling a Barbel of an impressive 9lb 5oz. A cracking fish mate, well done! There was no more action for either of us, even though we stayed until almost first light, finally calling the session to an end at 3.30 in the morning. Lets just say I'll be giving Barbel fishing another go sometime soon