The recent rain as put a temporary stop on the rivers , so while posting a message on a forum ;passing away the hours till my next outing; I mentioned white water Chub so I visited the blog and discovered Phil had posted a write up . He describes the day very well .......................
The fishing I did on my local Irwell had always been to find a fairly slow section of river to trot a stick float through.With my limited knowledge about river fishing it seemed reasonable that this is where the fish would be as opposed to the fast stretches where the fish would have to hold against a strong current.
Anyway me and Tony had started to fish the Ribble together and one of our early trips found us on a busy Ribble with lots of Barbel anglers on the river with the usual two rods & heavy ledgering approach.
We have no interest in this type of fishing preferring to use the stick float and a centrepin.
A long walk was needed to escape the barbel brigade but this meant having to fish a stretch that would have suited white water rafting.
Tony was not put off by this one bit.Had I been on my own I would probably have gone home and what an experience I would have missed.
Tony waded up to a point where the current was strongest and he was physically pushing against the force of the current to get to a position he obviously had his eye on.I thought he must be mad.After a short while he was into a big fish and after a mamoth fight he landed a 4 1/2 lb chub.
After releasing the fish he immediately said'right,it's your turn'.
Not wishing to offend this generous offer I waded up to the white water and every step was a huge effort against the mass of water being forced through a gully between the rock plates.If I had slipped I think I would have ended up hundred yards down stream but still I battled on against the tirade of water as now the noise of the rushing water was becoming ever louder.
Tony was behind me the whole time egging me forward to the 'spot'.
The 'spot' was in fact an area of slow water at the edge of the fast water and the technique was to cast accross the fast water to an area of a couple of metres of slow water whist allowing the wind to get behind the line to lift it high behind the float and in the air so that the current couldn't drag the float into the fast current.
This was no easy task whilst trying to stay stood upright and feed the swim with maggots.
After 10minutes the float buried and I struck and the rod arched in an alarming curve as the fish gave its tremendous first run away from me reaching for the far bank.
Maintaining a tight line I began walking backwards in an effort to get out of the raging current back to my own bank.I nearly lost my footing on the slippery pebbles under foot but slowly crept back still maintaining contact with the fish and holding it in its position on the far side.
Once on firmer ground I felt a surge of relief to be in the slack shallow water of the near back and in the relative quiet I could now think about gaining line on this fish.
The best was yet to come though as when gaining line the fish came into the fast water between me and it and I felt the centrepin whizz round under my thumb as the fish ran downstream in the white water.
Time again I managed to get it into the nearside slacks and time again it would get back into the strong current and I would feel the pin whizzing round under my thumb.
After a while it began to tire and Tony told me to change the angle of the rod.This appeared to confuse the fish and it was soon in the net.What an awesome scrap and a lovely fish.
Cheers Phil