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..........