14.02.2017 Views

THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

7DoHoXxkA

7DoHoXxkA

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

BARBEL Barbus barbus<br />

Bucket List status – result<br />

Sheer size alone should separate the barbel from any other species even remotely similar to it in<br />

appearance. But just in case it doesn't, this is a long powerful streamlined fish designed to do well in<br />

fast moving shallow water, with a strongly serrated first spine to its dorsal fin, which as anglers will<br />

know only too well can be a pain when it gets stuck in the mesh of the landing net.<br />

There are four barbels present around the mouth. One in each corner, and a further one either side of<br />

the snout. Colouration is typically greenish brown on the back becoming lighter on the flanks, with<br />

hints of a golden sheen. The base of the pectoral, pelvic and anal fins is red. The eye of the barbel has<br />

a gold coloured iris.<br />

Ten minutes up the road from where I live runs the River Ribble, which in my adult life-time had been<br />

devoid of barbel and is now one of the best barbel rivers in the country.<br />

To qualify that remark, last season, the man who coached me on the how, where, and when of Ribble<br />

barbel fishing, Mike Winrow, had fifty seven out in a single session typically averaging between six<br />

and seven pounds apiece.<br />

There have been quite a few doubles too, though top weights do seem to have dropped away slightly,<br />

having levelled out in recent times.<br />

The reason why the Ribble is now a barbel producing river at all is solely down to illegal introductions<br />

by anglers, particularly during the late 1960's and early 1970's, when some of them were actually caught<br />

in the act and later prosecuted by the then North West Water Authority fishery bailiffs for releasing<br />

them at the M6 bridge close to the Tickled Trout at Preston.<br />

317

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!