Tony Peet had a rewarding session on the Ribble just as this spate river was fining down after heavy rain. An excellent net of redfins was his reward, as he explains:

“On my previous outing for roach on this swim I had found the small fish very difficult to avoid, even on caster or tares. With this in mind, I took some corn and also a couple of pints of pinkies, along with the normal caster, hemp and tares. I mixed some groundbait and added some samples of hook bait. The pinkies are a good attractor and I hoped would keep the small stuff busy.

“After putting four good cricket-sized balls laced with bait in I tackled up. I imagined my first run down would get a bite, but nothing. The next half hour was spent searching the swim and changing baits. The depth was changed, shot was changed but after an hour I only had half a dozen chublets and small dace. Then, the float buried and I had the gentle nod nod of a nice roach. I changed to corn and had another good fish, followed by a few more decent ones.”

Tony used an Acolyte Ultra 13ft matched with an Abu 506 closed face reel, loaded with Float Fish line to a size 20 hook and 0.08mm hooklength.