Winter 2025/26

 Introduction

Hello to Hugo, a young angler that recently reached out to me to tell me of his fishing exploits in Lincolnshire. I actually met Hugo on the riverbank by chance recently, a fine young man. If you want to get in touch you can do so here....

shukphil@gmail.com

River Witham

We left off last time on the river Witham and it was our venue of choice for most of the winter. At the start of the colder months the perch were quite obliging. With the river still running clear and a full tank of petrol in the boat, Nick and I went exploring far far upstream. We fished a few likely looking spots and caught several small perch and pike. Sadly the best areas were busy with other anglers so we motored back towards our moorings. 

Sure enough the fish were still there and we caught a few better perch.... 

3lb 3oz

A week or so later Nick kindly let me take the boat out with our old friend Andy Wilson. The winter rains still hadn't arrived in force so the river was in fine condition and we didn't have to travel far to find a few fish. Andy was first in on the action mainly due to my excellent guiding with a mid two pounder......

Andy in action

I hadn't realised until just now that the first good fish I had was probably a recapture....

3lb 3oz

Andy then had a three pounder of his own, at exactly three pounds. We retained them in the net for around twenty minutes until the bites dried up. It was a hectic start and we had caught some lovely perch...

We had a quiet period before I had a savage bite on my dropshotted worm. For a while I thought I was into the mother of all perch. I played it carefully and slowly but surely it came into view. A bloody tench. Only the second one I had caught on that method. I unhooked it in the net and slipped it back. A few casts later the same happened again. Surely this time I'd cracked it I thought as the fish tore off all around the boat. Nope, another tench.....

While catching tench was fun it wasn't what we had in mind so we moved to another spot. Now boat fishing can be frustrating, as you'll hear about later on. Sometimes you can fish in the same way as the person sitting four feet away and watch your partner catch one after another while you remain biteless. From memory the most extreme example of this was when Martin caught seven three pound perch and I think I had one on the Welland. That was a smaller boat too so we were even closer together, just how he likes it.

Anyway this particular afternoon I caught five or six perch while Andy struggled. I'll be honest the very biggest was a bit of a fluke. I was fishing about ten yards from the boat and it is one of the deepest parts of the river so I had quite a bit of line between me and the hook. I had a take and struck into it. Almost immediately the braid tangled around the tip of the rod. I had little choice but to try and untangle it. Braid tangles can be unfathomably difficult to rectify and it took a couple of minutes to free it. Luckily the fish was still on. and it turned about to be the biggest I would catch all winter....

3lb 10oz

Finally it was Andy's turn to get one but sadly he lost before that spot too went dead. It had been a great day and we headed back to the first area for the last hour. I was the only one to get a bite, again another heavy feeling fish but this time I knew fairly early on it wasn't a perch as it loped about in the flow....

. 

Turned into a species hunt

The session with Andy turned out to be the last time all winter we encountered the perch in any numbers. The rain came and pretty much didn't stop for months. The main river was high and dirty for weeks on end. Most weekends Nick and I were out though. The boat gives a huge advantage over bank fishing and looking at local catch reports our results were once again, fairly spectacular. On a slow day we'd still get ten or so pike between us. On a good day, twenty to thirty wasn't unusual. 

We're both a competition with our fishing group- SHUK where you get points for various species over certain weights. The qualifying weight for pike is fifteen pounds. Almost every trip we'd get two or three doubles, mostly low ones. Anything approaching fifteen and we would weigh them. I think Nick had a couple of big fourteens and I came close a few times.....

Lots of low doubles like this

My biggest of the winter wasn't huge but the sheer numbers of pike we were catching meant we were bound to get a bigger one eventually....

17lb 14oz

Back to one of the frustrations of boat fishing. Now usually I'm made up when Nick or anyone for that matter gets a big fish but I have to admit the green eyed monster made an appearance on the following trip. Nick and I both fish in the same way, same areas, same rigs, same baits. Even though he's a rank amateur and as crude as you like I still learn lots from him in certain situations. There was no justification in him catching another twenty in front of me though. His third since we've been fishing on his boat together and I've been sat next to him on each and every occasion. The jammy git....

 

21lb 5oz

In all of the following trips I made sure I fished as well as possible but we didn't come across any of the other bigger fish. Still great fun though and I'm remarkably thankful for the boat. Nick pays for all the upkeep, licences etc while I chip in by keeping it clean and hauling one of the world's heaviest anchors at his often unreasonably frequent requests.  

I did have a couple of trips to the tidal Trent in the hope of a barbel but had no luck. They were spur of the moment forays and looking back just turning up for a few hours isn't the most productive way on such a big waterway. 

I also had a couple of trips to the river Bain but save for a rogue trout that too wasn't kind to me either......

End of season campaign

For as long as I can remember I've had the last few weeks off work to have a bit of a fish and this year I was keen to make the most of it. I was keen to go to Scotland to fish for grayling with Nick but he was insistent on only going when conditions came just right so we'd have to go at the drop of a hat. While Nick was faffing about with river levels and weather apps our friend Richie Martin invited me down south instead. Even he only gave me 24hrs notice, it was a one off chance.   

We are both standing in this photo, Richie is on a bench, like Tom Cruise.

I set my alarm for 4am the next day and sure enough by 3.30 I was wide awake with anticipation. Even so I didn't meet Richie until 9am, such was the distance I travelled. Another half hour I'd have been in France. Such was the speed of which we'd arranged the trip Richie had very kindly brought all the bait and coffee we'd need for the day. We set up our float rods by a fishing hut on the banks of the main river and Richie led me around the stretch, pointing out likely holding spots. 

Now I had only caught grayling once before, on the river Test as a guest of Will Barnard, to just over a pound so I was keen to beat that. It turned out to be a glorious day and one of the most pleasurable I can remember and it was all down to Richie. After a slow start and a few rogue trout I did catch a new PB grayling of 1lb 7oz. 

 With a new, albeit modest PB in the bag Richie wandered off to have a fish of his own. Half an hour later he came back and kindly invited me to fish his swim as he thought he had found a decent shoal of grayling. Sure enough he was right and I caught a great fish of 1lb 15oz.....

I was only here once and fished hard for the rest of the afternoon. Richie had a lovely fish of 2lb 2oz and upped my Pb to 2lb, braced with another of 1lb 14oz...

Beautiful surroundings

I also had about ten trout and a lovely chub around 4lb. It was a brilliant day. despite losing a big grayling towards the end. How big we'll never know but my host has had them recently to 3lb 5oz.....

Thanks again Richie, much appreciated.

Fluff flinging

I was shattered by the time we got back to the cars and was keen to find some accommodation. Both the nearest Travelodges were full and I ended up in The Stonehenge Inn which was ok (apart from the world's coldest shower) as it was near my planned venue for the next day, a nearby trout fishery.

I was at the gate of the trout venue before it opened at 8am. There were already a couple of anglers waiting to get in. The gate opened and I paid for a six fish ticket and headed down the lake to a spot where I was assured it would hold some big browns. Sure enough I saw a couple of big fish in the early morning sun. I wasted about six hours trying to catch them. When I eventually hooked the very biggest one my hook snapped at the bend. I gave up and moved around the lake chatting to the other anglers. The one who had caught the most had taken them on a green montana. This proved invaluable information as I had five fish in the last two hours, all on a green montana....

3lb 4oz to 4lb 4oz

River Trent

At the end of the week Nick rang, the Scotland trip was on. I was so close to going but I bailed at the last minute. A very big barbel had been caught on a stretch of the Trent I knew well and was keen to have a try for it as well as partake in some chub fishing. In fact Nick and I usually fish the area for chub and here's where amazingly I've learned something from him. I usually fish for the chub on the tip and after some initial success he pretty much always outfishes me by using the float. 

I was there fairly early on the first day and actually bumped into the chap that had caught the massive barbel a few days before. With a bit of information gleaned from him I wandered off upstream to try for chub on the float. I fed a few balls of liquidised bread and trotted a piece of flake down on a size ten. On the third run down a had a bite. I'm not exaggerating, whatever I'd hooked took me sixty yards downstream. I got up and followed it three pegs down until a bush stopped my progress. I had no choice but to get down the bank and just hold on and gradually try and bring it back. I was on five pound line so could apply a bit of pressure but if I had lost that fish I could have attributed any weight to it I wanted. In the end it was a barbel of 8lb 8oz.....

Not wanting to go through that ordeal again I set my barbel rods up. I had another fairly quickly although it was slightly smaller. The swim went dead and I decided to head downstream nearer to where the big barbel had been caught. Sure enough something soon took an interest in my boilie offering....

5lb 4oz chub

Things weren't exactly going to plan although a five pound chub was most welcome. I added another small barbel before the light started fading and I fished for chub again to no avail. I gave up and introduced about fifty boilies before heading to the local Travelodge. It was £26 to stay there, cheaper than going home although if anyone stops at the Newark branch they don't have any parking. Something to note. No wonder it was cheap. The bath was warm though.

The next day started off well as I had a barbel by design in the first hour, about 7lb....

The rest of the morning was quiet but I was still fairly confident of a bite or two. The river was in good condition for the first time in months and it was reasonably mild. Sure enough around lunchtime the downstream rod hooped over and I connected with a better fish. It wasn't giving up easily and after a spirited battle it was in the net. The last few decent barbel I have caught have all been in the dark so I was surprised just how big it looked in the daylight. Not massive but it absolutely made my day....

12lb 7oz

I added another small barbel before getting bored of being so static and headed off in search of chub again with my float rod. Probably why I'll never be a serious barbel angler. Catching them is thrilling, fishing for them is not so. 

Anyway I had three chub to just under 4lb 11oz on the float.....

It was another great day and I did go back a couple of times that same week. Sadly the river started rising again and I blanked both times. Bloody weather.

Last day

With my new found eagerness for float fishing I bought myself a new rod and reel. A Drennan Vertex 14ft and little Shimano Aernos reel. Keen to try it out and with most venues out of sorts I went over to the river Bain for the last day. It was a jolly affair as I met our friend Jez for the first time in a long while while I was down there. I had a great afternoon catching small chub, dace and some lovely roach......

 The best roach went 1lb 8oz....

Final word

My plans for the spring are the usual fly fishing and maybe a bit of carping. I do have a bream trip coming up too so I'm looking forward to that. Beating my PB of 11lb 12oz is the target. I'm trying to convince Nick to put his boat on the Trent for the start of the season but I have a feeling he's going elsewhere. We'll see. 

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

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..........