Done the double....

[J Darcy 5,871]

Being the sort of fool that likes to make things as hard as i can for myself i decided a long time ago to try for a double figure barbel. Not so hard some may think, the angling press is full of such leviathans each week. But not out of the yorkshire rivers they aren't.

Yorkshire rivers are where barbel originated from, to me , they are pure, right from the source.

I purposely targetted stretches of river that held decent barbel and endured many, many blanks. Indeed, last season i was going through a bad time, having only caught two barbel all year! God knows how many vigils i undertook, but it was alot! Not the sort of fishing that gets your pulse racing, but if things are tough, you have just got to get mentally tougher.

This season, however, has been like a breath of fresh air. two sevens and a five and i was floating on air. Friday afternon i fished up til nearly midnight but not a bite, then saturday with the same result. But tonight my enthusiasm was undiminished and i again sallied forth with barbel rod and bait to attack another swim.

It started a bit of a disaster, the 3 droppers of hemp and strawberry corn was deposited in the edge where i wanted to fish, but i realised it was a back eddy and there for impossible to fish without the fish being disturbed by the line as the river waas effectively going backwards.

So i had to use the remainder of the hemp and bodge a patch of feed, getting three grains of corn on a hair in a nice place, albiet a little shallow.

The other rod was cast into a slight flow with a pellet on and a PVA bag of 4ml feed pellets. A while later it whapped round and i was in contact with a piscine freight train. There was little i could do save hang on for dear life as the rod took on an alarming curve and i slackened the clutch a little. I could feel obsturction now and thought that the unseen fish had found a snag, or was trying to rub me on a tree root. I was in a dilemma, should i pile the pressure on and risk a break or play the fish with kid gloves?? It took a mere nannosecond to make up my mind and I buckled down and some how pulled the unseen lump out of the danger area and into clear water. I still had not seen a fish but i knew from the first unstoppable run what i was attatched to.

For a while i just played the fish in the open water in front of me, no hassle and i just let her run a little if she wanted to. In the back of my mind all i could think about was the line grating on the underwater snag and wondered where, if at all, the weakness was. After a long time i got her head up and knew it was something special. On the scales she went 11lb 7oz. Suddenly all the blanks had been forgotten.

At the start of summer i had two wishes, the first being to take the apparition-like roebuck that was outwitting me at every move, the second being to catch a double figure barbel.I never imagined that both wishes would come true. Its true what they say about perserverance....

Below are a couple of pics. Note the hooklength that had been rubbed and was down to the inner core only...

 

And me?, well, i dont know if i will be able to sleep after all this....

tight lines folks... JD

[Guest bullterrier]

well done j d that's a fine barbel you have there mate bet your buzzing mate.. ..john

[poacher3161 1,766]

Well done its nice to hear of a yorkshire river produceing good fish like that been told the river rother nr me has some decent barbel in as well.atb dell

[dogs-n-natives 1,181]

Thats a beauty, well done! I had a good'un from the [bANNED TEXT] in wensleydale, few years back, didnt weigh it but it was a hell of a lump and il always have a soft spot for those rivers... dont get fish like that where I live, not that im complaining like but its just game fishing here, had a few really nice chub as well.

I remember watching an absolute monster barbel feeding from the kilgram lane bridge, near jervaulx thought it was a carp at first must have been well into double figures!

[J Darcy 5,871]

Cheers fella's, you would not believe how many blanks i have gone through, like, alot. I know its only pounds and ounces, but its a big thrill for me. It was from the river Swale.

[steveS.Yorks 161]

A Yorks double is some acheivment really,not enough of them for even a nut like me to put the time in,well done JD.

[mudd dog 128]

good going it makes all the blanks well worth while though....

if it was too easy to do we would'nt be doing it

ATB....mudd dog....

[mexlad 189]

nice one mate just got back from the trent only a chub and an eel today though

[dazbo 15]

nice fish jd well done

[WILF 44,335]

Not a bad little fish.....for a messer!

[pointer 543]

well done JD.

[MOO 730]

coarse fishing is for english messers ....

[snap 15]

cracking fish that from any river jd

you dont mind getting your cheque book and pen (blankety blank )on a few outings when your fishing for wild fish like that.

[bobcullen79 1,495]

Nice one mate,well deserved. Still aint caught one yet.

[theferreter 311]

nice fish mate