Winter/Spring /Summer 2025

Introduction

If you're here for the first time, welcome. Based in Lincolnshire on the east coast I'm Phil. This is blog entry 102 so if you want to know what my friends and I have been catching both locally and a bit further afield then feel free to have look back at previous posts. Mainly coarse fishing with a smattering of fly and sea activities. 

River Bain 

Our friend Dave Owen has been making the not inconsiderable journey over to Lincolnshire from his midlands home for a number of years in search of one of the river Bain's elusive big roach. At a loose end (the golf course was probably closed) he phoned me the night before saying he was coming over for another try. Sadly I was too busy at work to join him. 

Prospects for a few bites were reasonable as Nick had been catching a few in the weeks prior to Dave's visit. Sure enough while I was knee deep in concrete somewhere the phone went, it was Dave- "I've only gone and done it", he exclaimed. A roach of exactly 2lb caught on the float from the venue he'd tried so many times previously.........

I was very pleased for Dave, Nick was incandescent with rage*. Nick only lives around the corner and had been trying for nearly as long as Dave, more determinedly in the last couple of seasons. He visited many times after Dave's trip, thrashing the water to a foam. He probably caught most of the others in the stretch but this particular fish avoided him. Worse than that all the local still waters froze over and hungry cormorants descended onto the river. It was either eaten or in hiding. There'll be others, maybe, I reassured him.

*mildly perturbed

Winter 2025

I fished the river Witham many many times in the winter, mainly with Nick on his boat. We caught an inordinate amount of pike, nearly all below 15lb. We also caught a lot of perch. Again nothing massive. On one particular day Nick and another friend had over 50 pike between them. Unbelievable sport but honestly, it got a bit predictable. I did have a few nostagic visits to the Great Eau with much the same results. Lots of fish but nothing spectacular. 

I needed a break from the local stuff so travelled over to the middle Trent. again with Nick. After a reasonable walk to the river he put me in the right area for barbel and wandered off to float fish for chub. As I expected he'd sold me a dud, never had a touch. As the day passed I decided to have a wander and moved into another peg of my own choice. I proved to be both good and bad. I caught three barbel fairly quickly including two doubles but the bank was horrific and I spent most of the evening scrambling about in the mud.

10lb 4oz

11lb 6oz

A week or so later I returned to the Trent, this time on a bit I had a ticket for. I arrived to find a few other anglers fishing and tried to garner as much information as possible. Everyone was super friendly and there didn't really seem to be any favoured areas, a chance could come anywhere. I settled right in the middle of the length and fished trusty source boilies combined with mesh bags of finely crumbled offerings. It was cold and I was just fishing for a bite. 

The light had long faded and I still hadn't had any indications, not even a chub rattle. A family of Otters passed through and decided to have a party in the margin to my left. Noisy buggers I thought as I slowly packed away and they chattered away to each other. I always feel like I should justify my favourable stance on Otters whenever I mention them but lets face it, you're just here to look at the fish so there's not much point in going into it. 

With my furry friends still nearby and most of my gear in the car my rod hooped over and the baitrunner started to sing its happy song. After a typically spirited fight I netted my biggest barbel of my short campaign........

12lb 10oz

Next up was now annual trip to the middle Trent again with our friend Alfie Naylor. There has been a fair amount of furore with boat anglers on the non tidal river but rest assured we had all the correct permissions in place. 

We tried all our usual spots to no avail. The whole area seemed lifeless which was a bit disconcerting. We plugged away though and eventually found a few fish. Alfie was first off the mark with a few modest perch. The river bed was weed free and solid, ideal for trds. I'm always a little too impatient when fishing neds and sometimes too keen to impart some action. On the occasion I did actually leave it static for a while after casting, as soon as I moved it something grabbed it. It fought well and in the net it looked enormous. Regulars will understand I'm not unfamiliar with big perch but this was something else. I weighed it three times because i simply couldn't believe it wasn't heavier. It was only when I quickly measured it that it may have had the girth but was lacking in length to be really big. Impressive looking creature nonetheless.....

Could have told you anything but it was 3lb 3oz

Remember earlier when I said Nick and I had struggled to find any big pike on the Witham? We did apart from this one Nick caught towards the end of the season......

23lb 8oz

I was fortunate enough to land a spot on The Lincoln PACs talk schedule late in the season. In fact I volunteered myself when one of their speakers dropped out. That was entirely necessary because the lovely organiser Clive had never heard of me before. I was lucky enough to have a decent audience  though so thank you very much to everyone that attended. It really meant a lot to have the support and interest. Another of life's little achievements ticked off.....

Got a Tom Pedan drawing too, very cool. Check him out.

Close season

Some non anglers read this, I don't know why but am very grateful. Anyway this edition they get a double-whammy of boredom. The only thing more boring than fishing is hearing about someones ailments, in particular bad backs. I did mine properly, spinal board/back of an ambulance properly. Three discs decided to go on holiday. I couldn't sit down for a month. I still can't walk 100% six months on. 

After a month or so I went back to work on light duties and was keen to get back on the bank. Social media put a local venue I used to frequent back on my radar. Woodlands fishery in Spilsby had new owners and a bit of a revamp. Some new fish had been stocked, the biggest of which nudged nearly 30lb. Sounds crazy now but I couldn't fly fish and had no problem with strength, it was moving around I had trouble with. 

I could park either directly behind or a very short distance from some pegs I fancied so did a few sessions. After most of the new residents had been out on standard carp tactics they wised up a bit so it took a while for me to work it out. I used to fish matches there and always did well on method feeder tactics so elected to use them which proved fruitful.....

23lb 10oz

19lb 2oz

19lb 8oz

22lb

I had plenty of smaller ones along the way but I really wanted to catch 'The Duke' the lakes biggest resident. Always out between 27-29lb and a few ounces. One evening I had a screaming take and after a short battle I had my target fish in the folds of the sling. Sods law dictated it was at a post spawning low weight. Satisfying anyway.........

24lb 4oz

 

Linear trip

In July I went to Linear fisheries, one of the most lauded carp venues in the country. I imagine they were very pleased to have me wandering about in a sea of khaki and camouflage.....

We had a three day lake exclusive on Manor farm so a draw would be made for pegs. I have to be honest, I wasn't looking forward to it. A couple of years before I really struggled and maybe got the wrong impression of the place. If you want to wave some kryptonite at my already limited angling ability put me on a weedy gravel pit. I'd hinged all my hopes on a good draw. Luckily I came out second. I chose peg 16, a historically good swim and most importantly the shortest walk. 

I knew what to do, it isn't rocket surgery. Find a clear spot, wang out some munga and put some rigs on the dancefloor. Easy. Ahem. After approximately one million casts with the marker lead I threw my rod at my exceptionally kind neighbour Martin who found probably the biggest clear spot in the lake after 5 minutes of not really trying. 

I made hard going of it while everyone else started catching all around the lake. I did manage a couple of tench on the first afternoon though which was nice.....

5lb

6lb 4oz

It wasn't until the next day that I decided to ditch the traditional carp tactics and stick to what I knew best and more importantly had most confidence in- method feeders. It transformed my fortunes or was maybe just coincidence, we'll never know......

21lb 2oz

16lb 8oz

17lb

26lb 6oz

The rest of the gang had also been doing well and on the last night James had moved into Martins swim who'd had to leave early the day before. James had two fish on the final morning while my alarms remained silent. I begrudgingly started to pack away my gear. 

Soon enough an angler appeared behind my swim, ready to take over at 10am. I'd got everything put away save for my rods, pod and net. James then called over just as I was about to wind in. His peg was right next to mine and he needed help with a fish. That killed another 10 minutes and I still had enough time to wind in without imposing on the following angler. I lifted my rods off the pods and placed them upside down. With the pod and alarms stowed my left hand rod tore off. 

Talk about last chance saloon.

30lb 12oz and new PB

The best of the rest....

Matt Lindsay 34lb 2oz

Martin Barnatt 34lb 2oz

Nick Coulthurst 37lb 7oz

Nick Coulthurst 32lb 11oz

Dave Owen 40lb 4oz

Dave Owen 35lb 4oz

Dai Gribble 30lb 2oz

Nate Green 29lb

James Hunt 24lb

Many more fish were caught and only one person didn't catch all weekend. The only thing that could have made it better if our friend David Frame could have made it. Maybe next year David.....

Fenland Fisheries

After the Linear trip I didn't fish for 3 months. Life and work got in the way. I didn't miss much, the rivers were all out of sorts. Zero rainfall, crazy heatwaves and severe weed problems on most of Lincolnshires waterways. I did manage to secure a few swims on Fenland Fisheries Willow lake in late September though. I actually thought I had a lake exclusive but a lone angler had booked before me in the hope of his friends being able to join him. I didn't know much about the place before arriving but knew it held big cats and carp. YouTube didn't help, just endless hours of blokes talking to themselves in their bivvys. I'm not knocking it, different strokes for different folks and all that. 

Dai and I were first on the scene. The owners suggested a peg that had been producing. Now Dai is a touch older than me and a lot smaller so I'm sure we could have found a fairer way to decide who had that peg than guessing which hand he had a stone in. An arm wrestle? A proper wrestle? I've not been beaten at scrabble or backgammon for about 30 years, how about one of those? Anything but the stone in hand of a wily old operator. 

I lost.

As I wandered around looking for somewhere else to fish I couldn't work out why his peg would be more productive than others. The lake had a fairly uniform shape and depth. In hindsight I should have just gone in the next peg. I ended up in a sort of open corner not to far away. 

The first afternoon was uneventful as we both set about introducing a bit of bait. Early evening time Dai called across to say he was into a fish. I wound in and went over to help. It was obviously a cat because it was giving him the right old runaround, taking 30lb line at will. Eventually I expertly netted it for him and we set about the task of safely removing it for weighing and photos..... 

84lb 13oz

it was a brilliant start but strangely save for a few liners each that was the last of the action on the first night. The cats and carp were active, I could hear them. 

With the rest of the group arriving later that morning I decided to move. I wasn't feeling it where I was. I went to where I heard most activity the night before. As the others arrived we all set our stalls out. Mostly for cats with the chance of a carp or two in daylight. Leo, James, Nick and Oz all spread around the lake, someone should get one surely? It turned out to be Dai again who fluked a mid twenty carp. I'm not showing the picture, pub chucking a stringer doesn't count. 

Oh, go on then...

26lb 5oz

In my new spot I carefully measured out both rods and fed an area about 45 yards out. I was confident and eagerly told the others of the previous nights activity. As it went dark the lake was eerily quiet. I stayed up for as long as I was able but still nothing, no tail slaps, no crashing just silence.  Ultimately I fell asleep at around 1am.

At 5 in the morning I had a savage take, I exited my bivvy still in my sleeping bag and picked up the rod while still in it. I slowly worked my way out of it while quietly trying to wake James up in the next peg for some assistance. I worked, sort of, I ended up waking Nick up on the other side of the lake!

About 5 minites into the fight I looked down at my reel to see how much line I had gained on my unseen foe. None, probably lost some ground if anything. I kept the pressure on and eventually started to make an impression on it. It fought all the way the net. With it safely resting I went and kindly woke James up for some help.

62lb, that'll do.

Despite a chilly North Easterly wind the weather was rather good, especially behind Dai's peg and we enjoyed a couple of mid afternoon BBQ's......

On the last night I was super confident. I really hoped the others would get something too and with the amount of fish I'd heard on the first evening it didn't seem out of the question. Sure enough just after dark someone was calling for help. It was Dai again. After taking an unseemly amount of line on its first run whatever he was attached to decided to show him some mercy and begrudgingly came a bit closer to him bit by bit. With the fish safely netted Nick was on hand to help who also has a bad back. I was next closest so I was summoned too. It was worth it......

115lb 8oz

That proved to be the end of any action. A few blanks among us but we all vowed to return to even the scores. Well done Dai.

With the rest of the week off work I went to the Witham and Trent for a couple of short sessions. 

Witham 3lb 1oz

Tidal Trent 10lb 7oz

I've saved the best till last. When I was preparing for my PAC talk I tallied the amount of 3lb+ perch I had caught. It was 100 there or thereabouts, I may have missed 1 or 2. I have probably seen half that again when I've been fishing with other people, maybe more. The only 4lb perch I had seen was one caught by Carl Arcus some years ago at Pitsford. A couple of weeks ago I witnessed another, bang on 4lb and this time from the Witham....

Nick, 4lb

Till next time..........

Spring/Summer/Autumn 2024

How did we get here? 

I hadn't been to the river Bain for nearly a year and a half. Anywhere I frequented with my dogs I initially avoided as a kind of protection mechanism. When I eventually returned I had my emotions prodded in an entirely different way. I bumped into one of you, chances of that? Paul looks late fifties, Nick says he's actually about ninety. Paul is always unfailingly nice to me. He isn't on Facebook and after a long chat he said that he always checks to see if I've done a new blog post and has been highly disappointed with the radio silence. So here we are, post 101, the entry that I was never going to write. Nick won't know I've dropped him in it, he only looks at the pictures.

Close Season.

Withern Mill trout fishery was amazingly accommodating of my dogs and I, it was a favourite place of theirs. That was that off the list. Skegness Water Leisure park was my other usual option. There are some really quite ugly carp in there but also some beauties and they're a good average size. Easy to catch too. Sadly the old bailiff retired and we got a shiny new one. One of my failings as a human is a lack of forgiveness. If you treat me in a way I don't think I deserve you won't get a second chance. He was an absolute helmet. I never went back.

With my options limited Leo threw me a lifeline. He'd found a place near to Grantham almost equidistant from us both that contained some nice catfish. On arrival it was quite a small lake, with two other anglers already present. With lots of overhanging trees and a couple of islands there was plenty still to go at though. Leo and I chose our spots, I was furthest away from everyone in a corner while Leo had a chap to his right whilst still having a big margin and point of an island to go at. By lunchtime we were all set up and fishing. 

That afternoon the chap to Leo's right caught steadily. I think he'd caught six catfish by the time the light started to fade. It was quite frustrating sitting there watching a masterclass but he was a venue regular and knew the place like the back of his hand. Leo was far more proactive than me, befriending the chap and 'borrowing' some of his bait (big flavoured pellets). I stuck steadfastly to my squid approach which I had ultimate confidence in. Strangely when it got fully dark Leo's friend wound in, preferring uninterrupted sleep over more catfish.

About an hour into dark I started to get the odd liner which pricked my senses. It was bloody cold for a spring night and I didn't expect much but knew I was in with a chance. Sure enough I had a steady take and struck into a very angry cat. It gave me the runaround, snagging me twice but my stiff rods and 30lb mono eventually tamed it. Leo came over to help.

43lb

Half an hour later I got to return the favour as Leo had a slightly smaller example.

Sadly that was the last of the action. On speaking to Leo's new friend in the morning it was highly likely that I'd managed to catch the biggest cat in the lake. I couldn't have asked for better than that on our first visit. 

Next up was another catfish trip, this time a few of us had booked Oakwood Park predator lake in Norfolk. 

Marin Barnatt, Rob Thompson, Dave Owen, Mrs P (my wife), Nate Green, Me and the wonderful David Frame. Mike Lyddon and Andy Shaw were there too.

It was a fabulous trip, although sadly not everyone caught. I struggled and reckon I missed more chances than I actually converted. It was incredibly frustrating having braid pour off the reel and striking into nothing on multiple occasions. Luckily I did manage a couple of nice ones...... 

41lb

Mid thirty

Andy Shaw stole the show with a magnificent cat of 83lb

Andy Shaw 39lb

Dave Owen 75lb

Dave Owen 36lb

Rob Thompson 37lb

Mike Lyddon 31lb

As you can see Oakwood is a great place for catching cats. It's expensive but not prohibitively so for the occasional trip. Dai had missed the early summer trip due to his guiding schedule. We arranged for another session later that summer. The lake was relatively quiet and we settled in the swim I'd fished before.

Tonight Matthew I'm going to be a catfish angler

I was set up and had two cat baits out in a matter of minutes. Dai took considerably longer as he did lots of weird stuff proper specimen hunters do- plumbing, deepering, marking, spodding, generally faffing about. He's the british record roach holder and also caught the biggest tench ever by design I think but he wasn't immune from some barracking from the heckler next to him. As we were having what I believe the kids call 'bants' I noticed some bubbling in my swim. I watched intently for a few minutes and reckoned they were being caused by carp. I quickly set up a carp rod and cast a 20mm pop up over the bubbles. Sure enough about ten minutes later I had a screaming take and after a spirited battle I had a fine common in the net....

20lb 2oz

Now anyone that knows me will tell you I'm a big Superbowl fan, it's the razzmatazz you see. Unrivalled as a spectacle and the anthem is always particularly rousing. Less well known is my appreciation for a brass band. As I sat there that afternoon after catching a reasonable fish, having a laugh with my friend I sat on my chair and heard something in the distance. A nearby American airbase was having some sort of parade and the faint tones of a brass band drifted towards me. As the tune progressed they got louder, it was the star spangled banner.  Some moments in life are obvious to appreciate, others less so. Those little pieces of a jigsaw I didn't know I was doing combined to form a random magical moment that will never happen again.  

Anyway, we never did see a catfish for two days. The lake exclusive booking for three days after us never saw one either. Miserable bastards.

The rivers open up

I had a change of job this year. Combined with major surgery for my wife fishing opportunities were limited. One memorable trip I dropped Mrs P off at Nottingham hospital and made my way to one of the best areas of the Trent, sure I wouldn't get my favoured area while she went under the knife. Amazingly not only were the pegs free but I had the entire stretch to myself. I'd just set up and was ready to cast in when my phone went. Her surgery had been cancelled and could I pick her up again? 

A few weeks later I dropped her off for her new appointment and stayed closer this time, just in case. When serious life stuff happens fishing pales into insignificance. I wasn't really bothered, I was just killing time until she was ready to go home. I caught a barbel, about 8lb from memory.  Excuse the tash, it was a dare.

With Mrs P safely home I was happy to look after her. In fact I probably did less fishing last spring/summer than I had for years. When she was fully recovered I spent the night on a new to me stretch of tidal Trent with Nick. That was less productive than we expected but I did manage to catch one during the night. Probably the hardest fighting barbel I'd ever caught. It almost comically refused to give up.

11lb 2oz

Closer to home the rumour mill had been in overdrive for many months about a new carp lake very close to my home. 40's, maybe even a 50lber had been stocked into a small caravan park lake. Zak and I were going to be some of the first to try it out. I expected it to be far easier than it turned out to be. In an effort to keep the carp growing they were fed on a daily basis. Great for the carp, not so for those trying to catch them. I did catch a couple but sadly none of the big ones. The biggest one out that I know of at the time of writing is 38lb. 

Not 38lb

The Witham

Nick had moored his excellent Linder boat at one of the few marinas on the lower Witham. It gave us access to areas we knew well. Pike and Perch were to be the targets for the Autumn. On one of the first sessions on there I was on my own. After motoring some distance downstream I saw a paddleboarder coming towards me. I slowed right down to let them pass and had a speculative cast with a TRD. Unbelievably I had a take as soon as it hit the bottom. I've caught a lot of three pounders from the Witham's various tributaries, often yards from the main river. If memory serves me correct I think this latest fish was only my second three from the main river proper.

3lb 1oz

Of course I spent the next couple of hours in the area thrashing the water to a foam with only one modest perch to show for my efforts. It just highlighted what a fluke the first one was. 

Nick captained the next trip and as usual he was late. I had a little look around on my own and thought I may have found some perch. Eventually Nick arrived and we set about them. They were in residence and some good ones too....

3lb 7oz

Nick 3lb 5oz

Along with the three pounders we had several two's each before we exhausted the swim. 

The next few sessions weren't as productive. I lost a very big perch while Nick sat on the landing net one day. How big we'll never know. We caught plenty of perch but no really big ones. We also had plenty of Pike, again nothing spectacular. I did catch an errant 5lb Tench on the dropshot which was amusing. We also saw more people fishing from boats than ever before. "Your fault" proclaimed Nick. The increased pressure and weird weather has made things a little more challenging.

That just about concludes my highlights. Slim pickings compared to previous years. I've enjoyed being a bit more relaxed about my fishing though. I went through a period of being quite focused on upping all my PBs, then I found enjoyment in watching others catch theirs, now I like the social side of bigger gatherings. Where we go from here is a mystery, just how I like it.

Round up

I've never done a PB list so without further ado....

Lincolnshire only

Pike (lake) 23.8

Pike (river) 22.2

Carp 23.5

Chub 6.11

Roach (river) 3.4

Roach (lake) 2.8

Rudd 2.11

Perch 3.15

Bream (river) 8.11

Tench (river) 6.4

Dace 15oz

Eel 3.0

Catfish 43

Brown Trout 9.4

Rainbow 8.2

Smoothound 15.10

Bass 4.10

Thornback 5.0

Mackerel 2.2

Other stuff

My wife organised a surprise party for my 50th. I was humbled by the attendance of everyone, including my fishing friends from all over the country......

Typically I marked my 50th with a midlife crisis present to myself which reignites another passion from my youth.....

And finally we've just been on the most amazing holiday to Zanzibar thanks, in part, to getting lots of holiday vouchers for my birthday.....

Till next time.......