The alarm sounded at 7am and i turned over and turned it off. Next thing i realise that Carl is due to be here in ten minutes and I'm not even out of bed let alone got my gear together! One rushed motion saw me fully clothed and down stairs.There was no time for breakfast but the gear was assembled and i only kept him waiting a couple of minutes. Today we were heading down the lostock for the first time this year so are not completely confident but this little river is a gem! A ten minute walk from my house saw us setting upat the first pool of the day. first cast bang a chublet then it went dead, i Lent over in the branches off a willow to see a barbel! Icaught one of these from the very same swim four years ago but not having seen a sniff of them since assumed that it was a lost fish come up river from the Ribble. With my very best Bob James impression i let out a childish high pitch shrill of excitement speaking to Carl like i had a razor stuck in my Adams apple! In a flash i had a size 8 hook and a couple of pieces of cat meat positioned inches in front of Barbus Maximus the hardest fighting freshwater fish in the kingdom!
In went the bait and a violent shake of the head prompted me to strike. The tiny pool
erupted as all hell broke loose, with a short but thrilling fight i had her in the net, my 3lb line held good on me.She obliged with a photo for the album too!
You may be thinking that a fish of this size is nothing special but when you consider the size of the river, 10 feet wide and only a foot deep in most places even at an estimated 4lb its huge.
Then the rest of the day passed without anything special, catching dace and
chublet from every pool or run this is a typical example
Carl even managed to get in on the action with a couple of bootlace eels, as you can see from the facial expression he
wasn't best pleased!
on the way home we called in at the pool where the barb had visited the net earlier in the day, as i leaned out over the willow i almost went in as there were another three barbel there all lined up on a slight patch of gravel! as Carl had already packed his rod down naturally i dropped another chunk of cat meat in front of them with the promise that as soon as i hooked one i would give Carl the rod. The best days fishing are always when everyone catches a great fish so i wanted Carl too get one too. well as I'm sure you have already guessed the meat was snaffled in a matter of seconds and Carl was into another barbel! Unfortunately the fish boiled on the surface and Carl didn't loosen the drag and as a result the split shot followed by the hook came hurling back over our heads. I don't know who was more gutted me or Carl but never mind there is always next time. The best part is that it shows there is a small population of these beautiful fish in the lostock !
tight lines
nige
3 comments:
If it's not a closely guarded secret were you on the Yarrow?
no mate, but i believe the yarrow runs into the douglas? so does the lostock, the yarrow is a river i have never fished yet
The Yarrow runs in at the tidal stretch of the douglas in tarleton at the Sollom. The Yarrow is on my list of places to fish. It looks a nice river.
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