28/06/2013 - What A Great Fish-Beats Trout Fishing

When trout fishing on the River Ribble, I noticed a good fish sipping down caddis alongside a big rock on the far side of the river. I couldn't make out if it was a trout or chub, I thought the latter by its shape. I went off and got my binoculars (the old man's sight isn't so good these days) I could then see it was a good chub. Staying well downstream I pulled off some line, I would need to shoot about 50 feet. My leader was 14 feet attached was a size 16 Klinkhammer. Knowing how spooky chub are it was one cast and one cast only.   

Making a cast up and across I put a wiggle in the rod so the line would end up with a wiggle as it landed lightly on the surface allowing a longer drag free drift. As the fly drifted downstream towards the chub I held my breath,  reaching the front end of the rock I caught sight of a slight dimple, then set the hook. immediately the Thomas & Thomas 4 weight rod took on an alarming curve as the reel gave line. This was one angry fish that didn't like his lunch being disturbed. I must say the fight lasted longer than I would have thought but eventually I managed to get the fish in the net. On the scales I got a reading of 5lb 9oz's certainly my best fly caught chub.

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