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The heartache.

G

Gwyn Jeffs

No Longer a Member
I'm sure a lot of people can relate to this one.

Hooked my unicorn earlier as light was fading. I'd already had a barb between 7.5/8lb on the float which I played and landed no problems, even took the liberty of a quick distance snap after she'd been rested given the good pace of water and how lively she was in the net ( out of water less than 5 seconds ).
And then as light was fading I hooked the barbel of my dreams, again on the float.

Deep, slow, heavy, plodding. Oh yes. Moves upstream, moves downstream, Free Spirit 15 footer handling it fine. Weeds me up, bum starts twitching, out she comes back up to in front of me.
My God, she's massive, is my 36 inch net big enough?
She's a rod length out holding deep, I'm aware that only a size 12 hook is keeping us connected. I completely ignore the fact there's a slack below the croy I'm fishing off and the sensible thing to do would be to steer her into there for the netting.
No, donkey here decides it's time to get her head up.

The inevitable ensued. Ping! Hook pull.

Nearly 3am now and I'm sat drinking beer knowing I won't sleep and knowing she wasn't a scraper Wye double, she was a 'proper' Wye double. Totally different fight to the earlier fish, and the length was unbelievable.

The sad part is, after over 20 years of fishing the Wye I still haven't had a double in my hundreds or thousands of barbel caught. Actually, I had one once and my digital scales had packed in, went back to weighmasters after that incident! So I don't count that fish.
The guys I fish with have had doubles, it just does not seem destined for me. And tonight seems to reaffirm that.

As my Facebook status says for the non-anglers on my friends list - " I can only equate it to winning 5 grand on a scratchcard, and then losing said card on your way to the shop to claim the prize ".

Anyone got some rope I can borrow? Around 6 feet long with a noose on the end would be ideal..
 
Not the first unicorn I've lost over the various species, but the one I really, really wanted.

My time will come I'm sure. After I've had 6 numbers on Eurolottery and made a financial success of my dragon farm!

4-30am and I'm still sat here wide awake having seen the length and depth of it.
I usually shrug lost fish off with a mild curse - it's fishing and it happens - but now hindsight is killing me.

For those who don't fish the Wye, doubles are rare. 11lb+ are even rarer. And I swear this was no scraper.

Totally gutted. Was only after a few chub to test the Cralusso surf floats and the rod, hence the small hook.

Here's the one I did land, was bigger than I thought but I didn't weigh it. Long snap from my old man 30 feet away after she's been in the net for a minute or two.
IMG_20180705_194134.jpg
 
Sickener that pal.:mad: . How did you go on with the float, I bought one a couple of years but never got round to trying it. Might have a bash next week
 
Hi Gwyn,
I think we all know that sinking feeling when a big fish is lost. Keep fishing and your day will come. The losses make that moment even more special when you land the fish of your dreams.
Regards,
G.T.
 
I guess you are fishing close to Hereford or above.

As you aware you probably need to move dstream to enhance your double chances. Thats if you want to of course.

There are also swims and Swims.

Within a half mile there is a swim where you could catch 500 with maybe one double.

Another swim it would be every 50.

Shame about the lost biggie.
 
Andrew Richardson said:
Sickener that pal.:mad: . How did you go on with the float, I bought one a couple of years but never got round to trying it. Might have a bash next week
Click to expand...

I think the floats have real potential Andrew. It'll be a while before I have them fully sussed out I'm sure, but the fact you can present a bait in a fast flow without 4 ounces of lead attached has to count for something.
Being able to move them around the swim opens up all sorts of possibilities to get a bait to areas normally unavailable.
You can simply stop the float during a trot, even in a strong flow, and they won't dive like a normal float does. I can think of several swims where overhanging branches preclude the possibility of getting a bait to certain areas/features - not anymore.

The presentation was effective enough to get me 2 pickups while my old man in the next swim didn't have a knock on feeders, so I can see me using these floats a lot more.
I'm thinking the larger sizes also have winter pike potential.

Thanks to all for the comments. I normally just shrug lost fish off and don't let it bother me, but this one hurt a lot.
That's fishing ;-)
 
That has happened to me twice on the Ribble , witnessed once , and caught om video once , so at least I can watch myself being taken to task. I feel your pain. For me on both occasions it was a truly large fish getting behind one of the large river bed rocks .
The photo you put up is great , really like the sunlight coming through those big red fins . Magnificent !

Dave.
 
Luckily for myself I don't think I have lost a big one, I have always got them in. However, we may all concur, that when you see a big one..... we all think the same.
Nice write up Gwyn. Thanks for sharing.
 
Ah Gwyn I lost my biggest fish for sure on a local lake recently so can kinda relate. I went back a week later to put things right (or so i thought!) Hooked a fish again same bait and off the corner of the island. Stopped it getting into the tree this time then the hedge, alas it them got me into the Lilly pads and shed the hook! I couldn't stop thinking about it. Those Floats look interesting although id be equate gutted if i lost one a that price! Get back out there and try again ;) cheers Jon
 
I have a talent for losing big fish.
I have lost:
The biggest pike I've ever seen, assisted with them to 33-10 on the bank - the one I lost on Candle Dyke was bigger
The biggest perch I've ever seen, closer to 4 than 3.
The biggest wild brown trout I've ever seen, 5lb+.
The biggest chub I've ever landed flipped back in before I could weigh it, most likely 6+.

And now Barbus.

It's become a running joke about how I simply cannot get a double from the Wye after all these years and God knows how many barbel. Fished from Hay to Bigsweir and have no problems locating and catching them. But that Wye double? It just isn't destined to be mine lol.

Ah well, that's fishing.
 
Yeap I guess it is, a bit like marmite! Its what keeps us going and trying. My mate and myself on the recent Wye trip came away scratching our heads continually as we tried to work things out or make sense of things but there are no rules in fishing a seemingly we came back to the same conclusion of "we just don't know". None of the "it's best at dawn and dusk worked in the slightest" in our experience in those days.
 
Hitting a different stretch Sunday, one I haven't fished for 18 years. And that was only for pike.
Hoping an 8+ can ease my pain.
I've never stayed awake all night over a lost fish before - it's fishing and it happens - but that was a once in a lifetime Wye barbel. I saw the thing less than a rod length away.

I've often said I'm coming back in my next life as a toilet brush...
 
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