A River Tees double, and pb smashed!

Back on the Tees last night, turned up at 9pm ish and intended to fish until late. A little extra water had entered, not much but enough to get the whiskers twitching.

Double pellet was used to avoid the constant attentions of the chub (as in just ignore the pulls) and be patient. A big moon rose over the horizon about 11pm ish, and then the rod absolutely hoofed round. I struck into a solid fish, and knew straight away what was on the end. Unfortunately I just couldn't get its head up off the deck, and for 10 mins it was a tug of war that the barbel was completely dominating. I decided to try give it some proper welly, as I was using 15lb synchro, and this just annoyed the fish which went on a long and determined run.

I managed to pump the fish back towards me, and eventually and suddenly it appeared and was ready for netting, which fortunately happened first time.

At that point, I let the fish settle whilst I calmed down, knowing I had my first double in the net by some margin. Weighed in at 12lb 1oz, I couldn't believe the size and bulk of the fish I was holding up for the camera. Absolutely over the moon!