Burbot Sighted On The Ribble?

[ben88]

Saw the following on a gamefishing forum just now - a Burbot may or may not have been sighted on the River Ribble (source: the "Hook, Line and Sinker" magazine for members of the Prince Albert Angling Society). Someone pass this intelligence on to Chris Yates, please.

 

 

i may or may not have sighted a burbot on my desk last night.

[trent.barbeler]

Dear All,

 

Ask any late night had far too much too drink reveller in Nottingham's city centre and they'll all tell you they have Burbot and chips after the pubs close. Sometimes two Burbot and chips if theres a hill to walk up on the way home. Trent's full of em.

 

Regards,

 

Lee.

[Newt]

I suppose a Burbot does resemble a Wels to some extent.

 

[Peter Waller]

The idea is to buy a frozen one from Norway and to let it defrost in a UK river. What some people will do in the name of humour?!

[Alan Stubbs]

The idea is to buy a frozen one from Norway and to let it defrost in a UK river. What some people will do in the name of humour?!

 

 

Where did you get that idea from, Peter?

Could it have been from the guys at the Anglers Mail looking for a sequel to their 'I was walking along the Thames during my lunchbreak when a sturgeon jumped out on to the bank and died in front of me' story?

[Peter Waller]

Ooooooooooohh, you cynic Alan! The idea actually came from the same stable as the Commemorative Mary Lure (upside down floating carp plug), Carp Cutlet deadbaits and other merry April 1st wind-ups and heartless japes.

[Alan Stubbs]

Ooooooooooohh, you cynic Alan!

 

Oh Dear, Peter that's about the fourth time today I have been called a cynic.

 

With reference to the sturgeon comment I put myself in the sceptic school.

 

As my dear old Dad used to say often times 'A cynic doesn't expect anything, whilst a sceptic is rarely disappointed'. One day, I'll work out exactly what he meant.

 

I must admit that I did smile at the Commemorative Mary plug and associated witticisms.

[Peter Sharpe]

I planted a rockling in margins of the Folly River that runs into the Welland many years ago - even sacrificed one of my favourite floats when I attached a length of line to it to make it look as if somebody had hooked and lost it. I eagerly awaited the headlines in Angling Times, but I suppose a pike probably grabbed it.

[Paul Boote]

I planted a rockling in margins of the Folly River that runs into the Welland many years ago - even sacrificed one of my favourite floats when I attached a length of line to it to make it look as if somebody had hooked and lost it. I eagerly awaited the headlines in Angling Times, but I suppose a pike probably grabbed it.

 

 

Then there was the angling personality and author, back in the 1970s, who was relatively (and briefly, as it turned out) famous for catching big (stillwater) trout. No content with this, he then appeared in the Dangling Times one week, brandishing that creature of myth and legend, a double-figure Thames Trout. Only problem was, though, the thing turned out to be a salmon with something of a post-mortal paintjob. The man sank without trace after that.

[Jim Gibbinson]

Paul, I remember the salmon-with-spots-painted-on-it story. The guy who claimed to have caught it - someone named Pearson, I believe - said he'd done it for a joke after the deception had been revealed by AT. Mmmmmmm, could be....

 

Burbot in the Ribble (or anywhere else in the UK for that matter)? Not a chance. It's one of those stories that gets resurrected from time to time (the Bedfordshire Ouse was a regular source of such stories back in the sixties and seventies). Being charitable, I suppose incorrect identification is a possible explanation (like the ruffe that are periodically identified as baby zander, and loach that are baby barbel). Hard to imagine what might be mistaken for a burbot, though. Catfish? Possible, I suppose. In tidal water, eel-pout would be likely candidates, but I can't imagine them getting up into freshwater proper.