My dad went fishing on the River Wharfe this afternoon at Addingham. He used a size 14 pheasant tail nymph. And he lost a REALLY BIG fish.

He and I don't know what it was. It took all his line off his reel. He said it felt like a barbel, but there aren't any there.

There are only trout, grayling and chub there, nothing else.

Any ideas what it could have been?

Arctic

could have been a chub,they give a long strong run when 1st hooked,and usually head for a snag,or it maywell have been a very large trout ,who can say

del

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err.... Nope,no Idea what it could have been! - but here's some info just to help confuse you more....
Your father and I have the same tale to tell of the one that got away,or rather,the one that decided from the word go that it wasn't 'avin any!
About 14-15 yrs ago,I used to fish the Wharfe alot - mostly on Bolton Abbey and mostly below the Abbey and down to Kex Beck, which if I remeber correctly is the lower limit on the Abbey water - next water being Addingham? Anyway, I was searching the pool on the first major bend below the Abbey with....a New Zealand PTN (the pool close to the cricket pitch with a huge escarpment aboove it - you prob know it) just as the nymph started to fish,my rod was almost snatched from my hand.Having minimal slack line out,I got him 'on the reel' sraight away and bent into what I immediately knew was a beast...or at least a fish that was gonna laugh his adipose fin off at the sight of my 4.4lb Bayer! A lightning fast run down the pool and then an even quicker one back up...and up...and up until there was no backing left...and all of a sudden my line went limper than Julian Clary's wrist.
So,what was it?...And what was your dads? In my humble opinion,and forgive me if I'm stating the obvious here,but there's 3 choices in order of probability.
1. A huge brownie.They are in there.My biggest from the Wharfe nudging 3.5 lbs.I've heard stories from reliable sources of much bigger ones in the 5 -7 lb bracket. Probably growing fat nosing around on the bottom munching and crunching the abundant crayfish population with the odd....nymph for light bites inbetween meals.
2.Barbel or Chubb.I'm no coarse expert but aren't they in abundance slightly further downstream? Do we start to hit coarse fish territory not that far away,say..around Otley? Never fished it below Addingham but Otley looks 'coarsey' to me.The odd stray? Unlikely maybe but not impossible.
3.Sea Trout or Salmon.Even less likely than the Barble or Chubb option,but again,not beyond the realms of possiblility.Cleaner rivers these days bla bla bla.

Sometimes though,the most memorable fish of our lives are the ones we never even see. I hooked something big and daft in Iceland four summers ago.I was alone on the river Grenlaekur,in a gorge,in the halflight of an Icelandic midnight in summer. I was foraging for Arctic Char with big heavy nymphs and had already bullied a 7lb fish into the net no problem on 10lb flouro....just when you think it's safe to go back in the water...wallop! ....rrrzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...end of backing,end of story! Still makes me wonder - what if? But more importantly,it still sends a shiver down my spine.

I was informed a few years ago that the Bradford No1 club was stocking its Addingham waters with trout up to 6lb whether this is still the case I'm not sure.
The Addingham club has had a reputation for also stocking large trout in the past, so the fish your father contacted may have been one of these large stockies. A trout of about a 1lb is a good fish for the Wharfe.

I emailed Bradford No1 about it...I have had no reply as of yet....if doesn't look like I'm going to receive one!!

Arctic

It might have been a salmon...

richard

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Who resides on the right bank of the Derbyshire Wye and is lulled to sleep each night by the mutterings of a weir, dreaming that "When the rivers and their inhabitants come first, we ALL win..."

I find this extraordinary. Is it me?

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Complete content, the day has brought it,
They fished for pleasure - and they caught it"

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taken from the catch record book at Llanthony Hotel, Honddu Valley, Aug 1942

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was his fly definitely in the water?
I once caught a cow on my back-cast, and they go a bit too...(size 12 Greenwells Glory if you're interested.

I'm sure there's a punchline in there struggling to get out somewhere...

Funny, yes of course the fly was in the water or I wouldn't be posting this message on the board!!!!

Arctic

Experienced a simmilar event myself some years ago, all the line and backing...it was an otter...have you considered this?