A bright and breezy final few days with a strong wind to finish and take the edge off the recent mild weather, which now looks set to continue as spring gets going in earnest. Surprisingly few turned out for the final match of the Kings Arms series on the River Witham on Saturday but results rounded off a superb week for the river. Starting with Tuesday and the RAF Coningsby match got things off to a good start. I have no accurate report, but our bailiff tells me that the winning catch was in excess of 30lbs with many good backing weights well into double figures.

Wednesday found 13 anglers in attendance and every one of those enjoyed a few pounds of mainly skimmers in the pound category, over 6lbs being the lowest recorded. Brian Harding exacted full revenge on team-mate Rick Tweddel and took the match with a few ounces to spare. Both anglers held on to their positions with ease as over 4lbs separated them from Malc Firmstone in third and Dave Edwards taking a comfortable fourth. Results: 1 Brian Harding, Bourne MG, 25lbs 2ozs; 2 Rick Tweddel, Bourne MG, 24lbs 11ozs; 3 Malc Firmstone, Lincoln, 20lbs 5ozs; 4 Dave Edwards, Holly Farm, 19lbs 4ozs; 5 Jeff Cupits, Lincoln, 15lbs 15ozs.

Dave Edwards stole the show at the last gasp on Saturday as a feeder, maggot and sometimes worm combination brought him a comfortable victory over his arch rivals, but it must be said that the Bourne MG raiders were not in attendance this time around. One pound skimmers were again the main quarry for all, but a couple of full blown bream, each in the 6lbs range, brought third place to Graham Worley ahead of Maurice Thacker but still a few ounces adrift of Roger Wakenshaw. Results: 1 Dave Edwards, Holly Farm, 29lbs 2ozs; 2 Roger Wakenshaw, Lincoln, 24lbs 12oxs; 3 Graham Worley, Lincoln, 24lbs; 4 Maurice Thacker, Lincoln, 23lbs 4ozs; 5 Les Smith, Lincoln, 17lbs 12ozs.

Over to the Sibsey Trader Drain and the Nags Head FC match I’m afraid suffered from too much publicity after the Bingham result the previous Sunday. Big tench still added spice to the proceedings, and top weights, particularly from the downstream side of Northlands Bridge, but those large bream had done a runner after taking a fair pounding earlier in that week. Consequently those leading weights were well down but the top two anglers needed double figures to achieve those places. Dave Dalton led them home and featured a couple of those 4lbs plus tench in a net of small skimmers, as did Gary Snape in second. Colin Hyde would be looking at victory if another similar sized fish had turned up but just the one helped him to third place ahead of Pete Beresford. Results: 1 Dave Dalton 11lbs 11ozs; 2 Gary Snape 10lbs 6ozs; 3 Colin Hydes 9lbs 6ozs; 4 Pete Beresford 6lbs 7ozs.

Leading weights were also down against recent weeks on the R. Steeping at Wainfleet and due mainly to a much smaller size of roach in much the same quantities. Both the normal Saturday sweep and that of Fishtoft AC produced double figures for the winning net but after that, weights fell back and Fishtoft’s even more so from schoolhouse bend. Ben Brighton emerged a clear winner of that and after taking a good number of small roach to pole, pinkie and breadpunch he finally switched to hemp to take a few better specimens. This left Simon Penson over 3lbs adrift in second but a similar amount ahead of Jerry Clifton and Mark Cook in third and fourth respectively. Results: 1 Ben Brighton 10lbs 13ozs; 2 Simon Penson 7lbs 10ozs; 3 Jerry Clifton 4lbs 10ozs; 4 Mark Cook 4lbs 7ozs. Next Sunday members are asked to meet 9am at Westwood Lakes.

Further upstream and Bob Smith again ran out an easy winner with another net of those small roach. He finished with a level 4lbs advantage over the others led by Kevin Wilson in second and followed closely by Alec Rawlings in third. Results: 1 Bob Smith 11lbs 8ozs; 2 Kevin Wilson 7lbs 8ozs; 3 Alec Rawlings 6lbs 14ozs; 4 Kevin Harrison 6lbs 10ozs.

Round six of the East Coast Junior league took place at Dents Farm Hilgay on what was a bright but cold, sunny morning, the 24 youngsters taking part finding sport slow on the Farm shop lake. With the roach shoaled up at one end of the lake it was the odd bream and skimmer which made up the other weights, and with most anglers managing between 4 and 5lbs, a good tight match was enjoyed by all. Top spot went to Lincoln’s Kyle Woodhouse who fished long pole against the far reed bed for a mixed bag, second falling to local Kings Lynn angler Damien Evans. He fished tight to the reeds for the only carp of the day at 9lbs which, added to a few other small roach, was just enough to beat Boston (Smurfs) angler Luke Morley into third with another good mixed bag of roach and skimmers. On the team front it was the Smurfs who took the top spot with 8pts, once again followed by Lincoln A on 10pts, Kings Lynn Gold 13pts and Holbeach 14pts.

Individuals: 1 Kyle Woodhouse, Lincoln A, 12lbs 2ozs; 2 Damien Evans, King’s Lynn Gold, 11lbs 9ozs; 3 Luke Morley, Smurfs, 11lbs 2ozs; 4 Nick Wright, Smurfs, 11lbs 6ozs. League to date: 1Smurfs 57pts; 2Holbeach 80pts; 3Kings Lynn 82pts; 4Lincoln A 87pts. Next match is April 19 at Rushfield Lakes, Potterhanworth.

Any youngsters wanting to give fishing a go should contact Dave Rance for information on the Boston Youth angling club on 01529 461415.

Well, that’s it boys and girls for another season and those that have the inclination will no doubt continue their activities on the many private lakes around the county. My season of reporting is also at an end and so until the glorious June 16, I bid you all farewell for now.

Review for March 8

Big haul of small fish decisive for Rick

A few night frosts to contend with during last week but nothing serious enough to have any great effect on angling activities as the regular midweek sweep on the River Witham shows. A smaller size of fish on this occasion and can be termed big skimmers rather than small bream. Those in the 1lb category were the mainstay of catches as Rick Tweddel landed around 30 fish up to that size to record back to back wins, team mate Brian Harding improving to second after a third place last week. Most anglers again opted for the swim-feeder and maggot approach, which was the case for Maurice Thacker who finished third and is almost always a contender on this water. Results: 1 Rick Tweddel, Bourne MG, 23lbs 5ozs; 2 Brian Harding, Bourne MG, 20lbs 4ozs; 3 Maurice Thacker, Lincoln, 19lbs 2ozs; 4 Graham Worley, Lincoln, 15lbs 2ozs; 5 Dave Edwards, Holly Farm, 10lbs 7ozs.

Rick repeated the trick on Saturday and even came up with a higher weight for a bigger margin of victory than mid-week. Those 1lb skimmers were again the target and with just under a 30lbs total he almost trebled the next best weight, that of Malc Green who held on to keep Maurice Thacker in third place once again. Results: 1 Rick Tweddel, Bourne MG, 29lbs 14ozs; 2 Malc Green, Lincoln, 11lbs 14ozs; 3 Maurice Thacker, Lincoln, 10lbs 3ozs; 4 Graham Worley, Lincoln, 8lbs 8ozs.

More in the way of sunshine as the weekend got underway but a very cold, strong and blustery wind took the edge of any enjoyment as Sunday progressed, to give one or two wintry showers come the afternoon. This seemed to put a damper on proceedings in some cases but a massive improvement in others, and I’ll return to that shortly.

Lincoln and District Angling Association fished their final match of the season for the Gary Thompson memorial trophy on the Upper Witham at Firth Road on Sunday. That blustery wind blew straight downstream and frequent rain and hail showers made conditions very unpleasant but once again it was the fancied pegs near Firth Rd Bridge that produced the winner. Most anglers opted for the breadpunch approach and John Small took roach on the pole at 10metres for a comfortable victory. Andy Dixon did similar from the next door peg to clinch a clear second spot and Dave Small heading a cluster of anglers in the 6lbs plus range with a level 7lbs for third. Results: 1 John Small, Spro/Lincoln Whisby, 11lbs 7ozs; 2 Andy Dixon, Garbolino Lincs County, 8lbs 2ozs; 3 Dave Small, Spro/Lincoln Whisby, 7lbs; 4 Andy Rodziewicz, Whisby AS, 6lbs 7ozs; 5 Malc Firmstone, Garbolino Lincs County, 6lbs 6ozs; 6 Mark Bond, Spro/Lincoln Whisby, 6lbs 4ozs.

The River Steeping at Wainfleet saw a big downturn in match weights and first of all the latest Fishtoft AC sweep at schoolhouse bend showed the way with nets of much smaller fish than has been the case in recent weeks. Ben Brighton used pole and pinkie and eased to a comfortable victory with over 3lbs to spare over second placed Mark Cook, who in turn held on to that position a little ahead of the likes of Janusz Kedzierski and Jerry Clifton. Results: 1 Ben Brighton 7lbs 5ozs; 2 Mark Cook 4lbs; 3 Janusz Kedzierski 3lbs 7ozs; 4 Jerry Clifton 3lbs 6ozs. Next Saturday, being the last day of this present season, sees members being asked to meet at McDonald’s 7.30am for their final outing.

The usual Sunday sweep took place further upstream above the Fishtoft AC match with very similar results. Alec Rawlings chose breadpunch this time around to record another win with a few better roach, whilst Andy Scott resorted to pole and squatt to land around 120 very tiny versions to make a little over 3lbs and second ahead of Pete Harker. Results: 1 Alec Rawlings 4lbs 7ozs; 2 Andy Scott 3lbs 4ozs; 3 Pete Harker 2lbs 8ozs.

Now to that massive improvement and if you, like me, could not see anything better coming after last week’s report from the Northlands Bridge section of the Sibsey Trader Drain then see how this grabs you. Instead of a mixture of small roach and skimmers the better fish, in the form of bream and tench, suddenly turned up out of the blue to astonish those that took part in the latest Bingham AA club match here. Many of those that took part could boast the odd tench to 4 ½ lbs as was the case for fifth placed Scott Wallington but it gets much better from then on. Dave Millington grabbed third place using chopped worm to tempt 3 or 4 smaller tench. Brian Matthews used like tactics to take larger bream and tench for second spot but that’s where the competition ended as Paul Gilbert who used pole and worm – and more worm – finished the proverbial country mile ahead of the rest. He complained, somewhat tongue in cheek, at a fruitless three hours in the middle of the match but was really happy with the outcome at the weigh in. He effectively had the match won after taking seven good bream in the first hour and counted twelve large specimens to 5lbs in total. Plus four big tench in the later stages to go with a few smaller skimmers, a multiple weighing revealed a superb total of nearly 75lbs winning net and a 50lbs gap back to that distant second place. Not a bad result for a match fished in very poor conditions, I might suggest! Results: 1 Paul Gilbert 74lbs 13ozs; 2 Brian Matthews 23lbs 11ozs; 3 Dave Millington 13lbs; 4 Martin Fielding 11lbs 2ozs; 5 Scott Wallington 8lbs 7ozs.

The Fenland Pike Club used the downstream side of the bridge and while odd decent fish were attracted to various baits only 11 fish were taken in total amongst the 12 anglers in attendance, and paled against their previous outing on the West Fen Drain at Frithville. Even so a good specimen of 17lbs secured the win for Andrew Leverton but it was nip and tuck before Stephen Leverton had to concede and settle for second with a similar sized fish but just a few ounces less, three even smaller fish giving Barry Moore a double figure total and third position. Results: 1 Andrew Leverton 17lbs; 2 Stephen Leverton 16lbs 5ozs; 3 Barry Moore 10lbs 4ozs.

All anglers are again reminded that the season’s end is upon us and on Saturday March 14 is indeed the last day and so those that wish to continue their activities will have to be content with visits to the many local private lakes for the time being.

Review for March 1

Double figure haul sees Rick net victory

Temperatures remain at or above average as we leave February behind but things look set to change to give a sting in the tail before we leave winter entirely behind.

The River Witham had suffered very poor conditions over these last few weeks but started to improve over the previous weekend when matches resumed. Just half a dozen turned out to sample the waters in the Saturday’s sweep at Tattershall Bridge and good mixed bags of fish were taken by all those involved. Leading the way was Rick Tweddel who took the only double figure net of those roach, perch and skimmers to secure victory. Bourne MG stable mate Brian Harding grabbed third and sandwiched in between was veteran Lincoln angler Maurice Thacker, all using similar tactics of pole and maggot. Results: 1 Rick Tweddel, Bourne MG, 12lbs 11½ozs; 2 Maurice Thacker, Lincoln, 9lbs 8ozs; 3 Brian Harding, Bourne MG, 8lbs 9ozs.

On to last Wednesday and word soon gets around as no fewer than 15 hopefuls arrived for the midweek match which was fished over the same pegs as the previous event. Catches proved to be on the up as most had a few pounds to show for their efforts and three of these made double figure weights. A good bream of 5lbs 14ozs helped Mick Stephens to victory, but even taking that out of the equation his net of mainly skimmers would have made the top spot anyhow. A similar net brought second to Grimsby angler Dave Ashmore and third fell to Dave Bontoft who stuck to his usual method of worm, worm and more worm to take a haul of perch and deny that position to Rick Tweddel. Results: 1 Mick Stephens, Boston, 19lbs 10ozs; 2 Dave Ashmore, Grimsby, 12lbs 7ozs; 3 Dave Bontoft, Southrey, 10lbs 10ozs; 4 Rick Tweddel, Bourne MG, 9lbs 12ozs.

Last Saturday’s match saw another decent turnout and in eight days brought about a complete turnaround in fortunes and culminated in good catches from almost all that took part. Small bream to 2lbs provided the main action and the winner Les Smith landed 19 of these little beauties using the swimfeeder and maggot combination. The self same tactics gave Kevin Rice the runner up position with 16 similar sized models, while Maurice Thacker conjured up a few bigger fish but obviously less in number for third. Results: 1 Les Smith, Lincoln, 34lbs 13ozs; 2 Kevin Rice, Sheffield, 30lbs 13ozs; 3 Maurice Thacker, Lincoln, 23lbs 9ozs; 4 Brian Harding, Bourne MG, 15lbs 4ozs; 5 Graham Worley, Lincoln, 12lbs 15ozs.

The annual fixture between the RAF Fox Match squad and the Old Lags (ex-RAF servicemen) took place on the Northlands Bridge section of the Sibsey Trader Drain and produced good weights all round, and particularly for those pegged on the upstream side of the bridge. Of the 26 that took part the lowest weight came in at over 5lbs, the average being around the 10lbs mark. Pegged next to the footbridge Graham Welton took a good haul of roach and skimmers to pole and pinkie for the top position but was pushed all the way by second placed Craig Shaw. Craig also employed like tactics next to Northlands Bridge itself for a similar net but added a perch of 2lbs which made the difference, lifting him above Matt Hall who had to settle for third spot. Results: 1 Graham Welton, Fox Match, 16lbs 11ozs; 2 Craig Shaw, Fox Match, 16lbs 1oz; 3 Matt Hall, Old Lags, 15lbs 10ozs. The team competition was decided by the 12 best weights from each side and so in this case Fox Match won the day with 138lbs 10ozs to the Old Lags 124lbs 5ozs.

Over to the River Steeping where catches in the weekend sweeps are suddenly being dominated by good sized bleak instead of the usual roach and skimmer hauls. This can perhaps be put down to the recent match pressure, which as seen the same stretches of water used for 4 days on the trot. Weights held up to their usual level on Saturday with the top three anglers from last week just changing positions. Dave Brown took first place with an almost identical weight to the previous and pushed Bob Smith into third with Kevin Harrison slipping into second spot on this occasion. Results: 1 Dave Brown 16lbs 2ozs; Kevin Harrison 14lbs; 3 Bob Smith 13lbs 7ozs.

Sunday saw them use the town section and here weights were much lower, and closer, as Pete Harker just squeaked home by a single ounce and leave Kevin Harrison in second place again. Results: 1 Pete Harker 8lbs 1oz; 2 Kevin Harrison 8lbs; Brian Clarke 7lbs 2ozs.

Fishtoft AC chose the Dovecote section but found the going much tougher as only a few small roach were caught by each angler, whichever method used. Pole and chopped worm brought victory to Rod Asher while punch gave second to Jerry Clifton, and pinkie over groundbait third place for Janusz Kedzierski. Results: 1 Rod Asher 3lbs 10ozs; 2 Jerry Clifton 3lbs 4ozs; 3 Janusz Kedzierski 2lbs 14½ozs; 4 Mark Cook 2lbs 2½ozs.

Next Sunday meet McDonalds 7.30am.

The Bingham AA match on the West Fen Drain at Frithville was very much a case of ‘the luck of the draw’ in many respects, as those pegged furthest from the bridge struggled for a bite. A perch of 2½lbs helped Paul Gilbert to the top spot using his normal worm tactics but even without that bonus would have just held on to win. Dave Millington held on to second with the help of a bonus tench of some 4 ½ lbs whilst Dale Adams, with an all small fish catch, had to settle for third. Results: 1 Paul Gilbert 8lbs 12ozs; 2 Dave Millington 5lbs 9ozs; 3 Dale Adams 4lbs 15ozs; 4 Richard Landon 2lbs 3ozs. The club will hold their next match on the Northlands Bridge section of the Sibsey Trader Drain this coming Sunday (March 8).

Review for February 15

Malc claims winning league match weight

Some light at the end of the tunnel at long last but the icy weather hung on well into Saturday. More snow and ice came during the previous few days and so prevented very little activity around the area once again. Two contrasting days again as Saturday began cold, dry and bright, milder conditions eventually arriving but unfortunately bringing with it cloudy skies and outbreaks of rain by Sunday morning.

The fourth round of the Lincoln Co-op League took place on the West Common stretch of the Foss Dyke Canal. Melted snow meant the canal was moving swiftly and carrying a lot of colour, which meant the roach and perch did not really want to know. Instead a few bream and skimmers turned up to ensure a result and Malc Firmstone tempted two bream on the pole-feeder and red maggot plus two more on the feeder to win by the proverbial street. Malc Green conjured up a solitary roach of one pound and added three skimmers using similar tactics for second. A single bream was enough to give Steve Gilbert third and exactly the same result for Eddie Cheeetham and Chris Elsom who tied for the fourth spot. Results: 1 Malc Firmstone, Garbolino Lincs County, 8lbs 3ozs; 2 Malc Green, Spro/Lincoln Whisby, 4lbs 11ozs; 3 Steve Gilbert, Spro/Lincoln Whisby, 2lbs 11ozs; equal 4 Eddie Cheetham, Spro/Lincoln Whisby, and Chris Elsom, Garbolino Lincs County, 2lbs 9ozs; 6 Dave Small, Spro/Lincoln Whisby, 2lbs 5ozs. With two rounds remaining Eddie Cheetham and Steve Gilbert are tied for the lead with 25 pts apiece.

The Rilmac Winter League reached its conclusion on Sunday when the sixth and final match was fished on the Saxilby roadside section and upstream of the Till mouth stretches of the Foss Dyke Canal. The canal was still carrying melted snow water from earlier in the week and although patchy in nature there were some good weights returned. Roger Wakenshaw said that he thought the winning draw would the end peg 60 on the Odder section and being lucky he went to draw that self same peg. Five hours later he had taken about 6 ½ lbs of roach and three perch to winning the match with some ease. Ian Rodgers also drew the end peg 72 on the Saxilby roadside and taking one good bream to go with a few perch he pinched second place right from under the nose of Phil Turner, the margin a mere half ounce. Phil, by the way, added a 2lbs perch to a net of roach to keep him ahead of joint fourth in the shape of Neil Smithson and Mick Tamms. Results: 1 Roger Wakenshaw, Spro/Lincoln Whisby, 8lbs 15ozs; 2 Ian Rodgers, Garbolino Lincs County, 6lbs 7ozs; 3 Phil Turner, Whisby AS, A 6lbs 6½ozs; equal 4 Neil Smithson, Garbolino Lincs County, and Mick Tamms, Grimsby, 5lbs 14ozs.

The race for the team title threw up no surprises but it could not have been closer as the two front-runners, Whisby AS A team and Garbolino/Harrison’s Lincs County battled for top honours. The verdict again went to the star studded Whisby AS “A” team who won the final match with 46 pts against 45 for the Garbolino/Harrison’s Lincs County outfit. The rest trailed home well down with Grimsby amassing just 33pts for third, Pelham fourth with 30 pts, Spro/Lincoln Whisby fifth on 28 points and Whisby AS B sixth with 26 pts. Consequently the Whisby AS A team were declared the league winners on 9 pts, Garbolino/ Harrison’s Lincs County runners up (for the third consecutive year) with 11 pts and Spro/Lincoln Whisby third with a total of 18 points, fourth Pelham 23 pts, fifth Grimsby 29 pts and finally Whisby AS B with 34 pts. The overall individual competition went right to the wire but the aggregate winner was Simon Fields of Grimsby on 34 pts, second Rob Perkins, Whisby AS A 32 pts and third Roger Wakenshaw Spro/Lincoln Whisby 32 pts. The prizes were presented by Richard Skinner of Rilmac, the sponsors of the league, and he informed the members that the Rilmac Company would continue their sponsorship and that would be improved upon for next year. The news was warmly received by the competitors and Richard was thanked and given a rousing round of applause.

The River Steeping continues on its own sweet way whatever the weather and the rise in temperature was too soon to have any real effect. Indeed catches in the Saturday sweep were on a par with previous weeks as more double figure weights were recorded. A fierce battle saw the top four positions separated by just 6ozs and raiders Neil Parkinson and Joff Hewitt actually tied for the top spot with a little under 12lbs each of roach and skimmers. They were followed home by match organiser Graham Cripsey and last week’s winner Bob Smith and for the record lowest recorded weight came in at over 6lbs. Results; equal 1 Neil Parkinson and Joff Hewitt 11lbs 10ozs; 3 Graham Cripsey 11lbs 6ozs; 4 Bob Smith 11lbs 4ozs; 5 Tony Evans 10lbs 5ozs. Next Saturday meet Wainfleet market place for 9am draw.

On to Sunday and a few less anglers but similar weights from the town section, the honours this time going to our own Pete Harker. He won with a catch only 2ozs short of the previous day’s winning nets, followed closely by waggler expert Alec Rawlings at just 3ozs down on the winner. Results: 1 Pete Harker 11lbs 8ozs; 2 Alec Rawlings 11lbs 5ozs; 3 Denis Houghton 10lbs 6ozs.

Fishtoft AC paid their third visit in a row to the Northlands section of the Sibsey Trader Drain on Sunday and Janusz Kedzierski stepped up to the mark to score another convincing victory. End peg or in the middle seems to make no difference as he also made it three on the trot and finished with well over 2lbs to spare over second placed Nick Mummery. Weights fell away a little after that but the seven anglers taking part amassed over 60lbs of roach and skimmers between them. Results: 1 Janusz Kedzierski 15lbs 11ozs; 2 Nick Mummery 13lbs 2ozs; 3 Alan Dixon 9lbs 5ozs. Next Sunday meet McDonald’s 7.30am.

Review for February 8

Pole and pinkie tactics pay off for Cripsey

Definitely a week to forget and although staying cold the weekend turned out to be bright and settled, temperatures hardly rising above two degrees. More on the horizon for this coming week and no real sign of any warmer conditions until we reach the end of the month I would suggest.

Sweeps on the River Steeping matched up to recent results despite the icy conditions and on Saturday close double figure weights of mainly roach were taken, lowest nets brought to scales being in the 6lbs plus category. Bob Smith scored another clear cut win using pole and pinkie to beat Graham Cripsey by a level pound, Joff Hewitt taking third on similar tactics and Alec Rawlings, on his trusty waggler and big maggot method, fourth. Results: 1 Bob Smith 12lbs 14ozs; 2 Graham Cripsey 11lbs 14ozs; 3 Joff Hewitt 11lbs 6ozs; 4 Alec Rawlings 11lbs 3ozs.

Sunday saw a similar turnout to fish the same pegs at schoolhouse bend but after a fruitless hour when no one produced a bite, the match was moved up a few pegs towards Crows Bridge. Immediately these swims came alive and in the 3½ hours available most anglers came home with weights in the 4lbs to 8lbs range. On this occasion Bob Smith had to be content with the runner up place as Alec Rawlings put his usual method to full effect to take the top spot, Graham Cripsey this time in third. Results: 1 Alec Rawlings 8lbs 6ozs; 2 Bob Smith 7lbs 4ozs; 3 Graham Cripsey 6lbs 8ozs.

The latest in the Spro/Lincoln Whisby Fossdyke league series was fished by 27 competitors on the section upstream of the River Till. Some areas of the canal were still frozen on Saturday morning but were soon cleared by the participants, with the help of some boat traffic. Ian Snowden drew peg 7 on the fertiliser factory stretch of the canal and using bloodworm and joker he was kept busy throughout the match and by the final whistle had landed 170 small roach for his winning weight. Tim Goldby grabbed second with the help of three good perch to lobworm, which added greatly to a catch of small roach, whilst Dave Small had no such bonus but held on to fourth, 2ozs ahead of Alan Houlton. Results: 1 Ian Snowden, Spro/Lincoln Whisby, 7lbs 4ozs; 2 Tim Goldby, Grimsby, 5lbs 12ozs; 3 Dave Small, Spro/Lincoln Whisby, 5lbs 3ozs; 4 Alan Houlton, Garbolino Lincs County, 5lbs 1oz; 5 John Blades, Spro/Lincoln Whisby, 4lbs 10ozs.With two matches remaining the battle for the league title is hotting up and Chris Jenkinson currently leads with 39 points, Ian Snowden, and Ian Rodgers tying for second place on 38 points.

The penultimate match of the Rilmac winter league took place on the Saxilby roadside stretch of the Fossdyke Canal on Sunday. The canal being frozen from bank to bank the start of the match was put back in order to allow the competitors to clear the ice from their pegs. Although the average weights were again well down the results were reasonable in view of the conditions. Weights were again in the 3lbs to 5lbs range but Chris Elsom was the only angler to achieve that upper end as it turned out. He fished towards the far bank and took four good skimmers and the same amount of perch for his winning weight. Roger Wakenshaw did much the same but relied on a net of smaller fish consisting of both perch and roach for second spot. A large perch of some 2lbs clinched third for Alan Henry after whom the fourth to sixth places fell back into the 3lbs range of weights and invariably fell to bloodworm. Results: 1 Chris Elsom, Garbolino Lincs County, 5lbs 5ozs; 2 Roger Wakenshaw, Spro/Lincoln Whisby, 4lbs 10ozs; 3 Alan Henry, Spro Lincoln Whisby, 4lbs 3ozs; 4 Malc Firmstone, Garbolino Lincs County, 3lbs 10ozs; 5 Dale Whelan, Garbolino Lincs County, 3lbs 9½ozs; 6 Phil Turner, Whisby AS A, 3lbs 9ozs.

The team result was a carbon copy of the previous week and incredibly Whisby AS A and Garbolino Lincs County tied again for first place, each amassing 42 pts. Spro/Lincoln Whisby came in third on 40 pts and Grimsby fourth with 35 pts. Fifth were Pelham with 29 points and Whisby AS B team were sixth with 24 points. It now looks to be a two horse race for the title with one round remaining, Whisby AS A team leading by a single point over Garbolino Lincs County. After five rounds: 1 Whisby AS A 8 pts; 2 Garbolino Lincs County 9 pts; 3 Spro/Lincoln Whisby 13 pts; 4 Pelham Piscatorials 19 pts; 5 Grimsby 26 pts; 6 Whisby AS B 28 pts.

Fishtoft AC paid yet another visit to the Northlands section of the Sibsey Trader Drain with much the same result as last week. Janusz Kedzierski came up with the goods once more but this time from the other end peg nearest to the bridge, pinkie over groundbait again the winning combination. Nigh 4lbs separated him from second place, which was occupied by Ernie Heseltine who in turn had an even greater advantage over Nick Mummery in third. Results: 1 Janusz Kedzierski 11lbs 5ozs; 2 Ernie Heseltine 7lbs 7ozs; 3 Nick Mummery 2lbs 10ozs. Next Sunday (February 15) meet McDonald’s 7.30am as usual.

Review for February 1

Keith clear in match of double-figure hauls

Well! Winter truly arrived with a vengeance and as I write on this Monday (February 2) morning we are already experiencing frequent heavy snow showers over the whole region. The weekend escaped the worst of this but was not exactly shirtsleeve weather as temperatures fell sharply on Sunday, light snow flurries being accompanied by a bitterly cold easterly wind. Poor conditions, and hence a lack of interest, caused the cancellation of Witham matches again last week and at this moment no improvement appears to be on the horizon. Elsewhere those that did get off the ground actually produced good catches, more so perhaps on Saturday rather than the following day.

The latest sweep on the River Steeping at Wainfleet was a good case in point, and my pick of the week, as most of those taking part made double figures, the lowest weight coming in at over 8lbs. Leading the way here was Keith Dobson who took another good winning net of roach to squatt and pinkie and finished the day nearly a pound in front of his nearest rival. This turned out to be Chris Mawer who employed those self same tactics and kept an even bigger gap between himself and third placed Alec Rawlings, no slouch himself on the rod, line and waggler method. Results: 1 Keith Dobson 13lbs 8ozs; 2 Chris Mawer 12lbs 8ozs; 3 Alec Rawlings 11lbs 4ozs; 4 Kevin Harrison 10lbs 12ozs; 5 Bob Smith 10lbs 8ozs.

Sunday found Fishtoft AC on a return visit to the Northlands section of the Sibsey Trader Drain and here Janusz Kedzierski ran out an easy winner from the end peg with a double figure net of roach to pole, pinkie and breadpunch. He finished with 3½lbs to spare over Alan Dixon and Ernie Heseltine who also brought decent nets of roach, in the 6lbs range, to scales. Results: 1 Janusz Kedzierski 10lbs 6ozs; 2 Alan Dixon 6lbs 14ozs; 3 Ernie Heseltine 6lbs; 4 Mark Cook 4lbs 11ozs. Next Sunday meet as usual McDonalds 7.30am.

The competitors in this fourth round match of the Rilmac Winter League were certainly made aware of the title “Winter League” as that bitterly cold wind and frequent snow showers punctuated the days fishing.

Despite the adverse conditions, the canal did fish reasonably well and the majority of anglers weighed in more than a pound. Big perch helped towards respectable weights and two such fish saw Grimsby’s Glen Lawrence claim a comfortable victory from a peg upstream of the Till mouth. He alternated bloodworm and lobworm on the pole to add a few roach using the former and perch to the latter. The remaining prize winners all made the 5lbs category and were led by Simon Fields with another of those bonus perch, which was much the case for those that followed closely behind, most of those anglers being pegged on that same stretch of water.

1 Glen Lawrence, Grimsby, 8lbs 4ozs; 2 Simon Fields, Grimsby, 5lbs 10½ozs; 3 Matt Hall, Whisby AS A, 5lbs 8ozs; 4 Steve Winter, Garbolino Lincs County, 5lbs 6ozs; 5 Roger Wakenshaw, Spro/Lincoln Whisby, 5lbs 2ozs.

The team event saw a tie on the day for the top spot and was between Whisby AS A and the Garbolino Lincs County outfit with 41 pts apiece. Spro/Lincoln Whisby came in third with 36 pts; Pelham 32 points for fourth leaving Whisby AS B and Grimsby well adrift on 31 and 30 pts respectively With two matches remaining league positions are now really tight and Whisby AS A team has just kept its nose in front with all still to play for. After four rounds: 1 Whisby AS A 7pts; 2 Garbolino Lincs County 8pts; 3 Spro/Lincoln Whisby 10pts; 4 Pelham Piscatorials 14pts; equal 5 Whisby AS B and Grimsby 22pts. Spro/Lincoln Whisby are third with 10 points and Pelham fourth with 14 points. Joint fifth are Whisby AS B team and Grimsby with 22 points each.

Finally, Boston and District Angling Association members are reminded that their 2009 AGM and prize presentation will take place on Tuesday February 10 at the Sportsman Club Rosebery Avenue, 7.30pm. Those wishing to stay on for the AGM should have their current membership book with them in order to attend said meeting.

Review for January 25

Varying fortunes over contrasting days

It was a case of contrasting days as usual for a weekend, Saturday being mainly dry and bright with a light breeze and Sunday totally overcast with outbreaks of rain and much warmer air temperatures. Not as bad as predicted (when is it in our area?) but successive downpours elsewhere during the early part of the week certainly made up for that. So much so that the flood waters caused the cancellation of both midweek and weekend competitions on the River Witham.

Matches in other parts of the area did get off the ground, one such being the River Steeping where, despite the rising water levels, both the Saturday and Sunday sweeps went ahead on pegs around schoolhouse bend. Reasonable catches on Saturday, the bright and cold morning having a due effect as match organiser finished top dog with nearly 1½lbs to spare over his nearest rival (Mr Whip) Bob Smith. Results: 1 Graham Cripsey 8lbs 2ozs; 2 Bob Smith 6lbs 12ozs; 3 Alec Rawlings 6lbs 10ozs. Meet next Saturday (January 31) in Wainfleet market place for a 9am draw.

Sunday turned out to be an improvement over the previous day as the top three all produced double figure nets of mainly roach. So intense was the competition that just a single ounce separated first from second and the lowest recorded weight came in at over 9lbs. Two entirely differing methods for those top two as Kevin Harrison won the day with a pole and pinkie approach but Alec Rawlings pushed him all the way using the waggler and big maggot method – for the second day in a row beaten by the odd ounce or two. Results: 1 Kevin Harrison 11lbs 12ozs; 2 Alec Rawlings 11lbs 11ozs; 3 Denis Houghton 10lbs 2ozs.

Not as consistent but the West Fen Drain at Frithville threw up decent weights for most Fishtoft AC members on Sunday. The choice is usually between squatt and pinkie for small fish or a waiting game for the likes of tench or big perch. In this case pinkies won the day and gave Jerry Clifton a clear 2lbs advantage over second placed Terry Gooding who usually does his own thing, which as most will know is the trusty waggler and big maggot tactics. Mark Cook spent much of the match in trying to tempt better fish but threw in the towel in the later stages and took a good net of roach and skimmers, under the circumstances, to grab third. A good perch of 2lbs plus one or two better skimmers saw Brian Blackamore into fourth, the best fish of the day, a super roach of 1lb 12ozs falling to Mick Morgan. Results: 1 Jerry Clifton 9lbs; 2 Terry Gooding 7lbs; 3 Mark Cook 5lbs; 4 Brian Blackamore 4lbs 8ozs. Meet next Sunday (February 1) outside McDonald’s 7.30am.

The seventh match in the individual Spro/Whisby series took place on the section of the Foss Dyke Canal, upstream of the River Till at Odder on Saturday. Despite the canal being coloured due to the heavy rain preceding the match, the venue fished well and some good weights were returned. Continuing his remarkable string of good results this season Boston matchman Steve Winter led the way with the only double figure weight of the day. He alternated between bloodworm and lobworm to take four pounds of perch and six pounds of roach for his winning weight. Most other participants stuck to bloodworm, which accounted for other good nets of roach and brought another Boston man Alistair Ogilvie second spot, a couple of good skimmers helping Paul Clark to third, just ounces ahead of Wayne Swinscoe. Lowest weight of the day fell to Alan Henry but being paired with Steve Winter he was far from unhappy as they won the pairs competition. With three matches remaining Ian Rodgers leads the field on 38pts, second being held by Chris Jenkinson with 36pts. Results: 1 Steve Winter, Garbolino Lincs County, 10lbs 3ozs; 2 Alistair Ogilvie, Daiwa Trentmen, 8lbs 12ozs; 3 Paul Clark, Whisby AS, 7lbs 14ozs; 4 Wayne Swinscoe, Trabucco, 7lbs 7ozs; equal 5 Ryan Neal and Mark Skelding, Whisby AS, 6lbs 12ozs.

The Rilmac Winter League reached its halfway stage and was fished on the Saxilby roadside section of the Fossdyke Canal on Sunday. Despite the heavy rain prior to the match the venue fished well and again the match was won with a combination of small roach to bloodworm and perch to lobworm. The winning weight fell to Rob Perkins who put around 50 such roach and nine perch onto the scales, albeit from an end peg. Another end peg gave Ian Rodgers second place but not without the help of 3lbs bream to add to a few perch which, incidentally, was the main species for the rest of the prize winning weights. Results: 1 Rob Perkins, Whisby AS, 8lbs 5ozs; 2 Ian Rodgers, Garbolino Lincs County, 6lbs 11ozs; equal 3 Jim Carrass, Pelham, and Alan Houlton, Garbolino Lincs County, 6lbs 7ozs; 5 Neil Smithso,n Garbolino Lincs County, 6lbs 5ozs; 6 Ian Snowden, Spro/Lincoln Whisby, 4lbs 7ozs.

A real shake-up in this third round as the formidable Whisby AS A team slumped to fourth place after success in the first two matches. The Garbolino Lincs County and Spro/Lincoln Whisby outfits certainly took full advantage and finished 13 and 12 pts clear respectively on the day. On the day: 1 Garbolino Lincs County 46pts; 2 Spro/Lincoln Whisby 45pts; 3 Pelham Piscatorials 34pts; 4 Whisby AS A 33pts; 5 Grimsby 31pts. This result has really tightened up the positions at the top of the league as Whisby AS A still hold a lead, but that is now cut to a single point. Positions: 1 Whisby AS 6pts; equal 2 Spro/Lincoln Whisby and Garbolino Lincs County 7pts; 4 Pelham 10pts; 5 Grimsby 16pts.

Review for January 18

Maurice well clear of open match opposition

Somewhat breezy over last weekend but far better than what was suggested a few days previously. The worst of the weather was reserved for night time hours and with no frosts to contend with in recent days, all waterways were fully operational.

Much so the River Witham where a few anglers returned for last Saturday’s Kings Arms open and were not disappointed. Veteran matchman Maurice Thacker finished way out in front and taking small skimmers and perch on both feeder and pole tactics he showed a clean pair of heels to Grimsby angler Dave Ashmore, no slouch himself. Indeed Dave came up with nearly 20lbs of roach and skimmers to keep a similar gap between himself and third placed Mick Stephens. Results: 1 Maurice Thacker, Lincoln, 26lbs; 2 Dave Ashmore, Grimsby, 19lbs 12ozs; 3 Mick Stephens, Boston, 11lbs 4ozs.

Catches on the River Steeping also increased accordingly and here just a handful pinky plus half a pint of squatts with a little groundbait is enough to ensure good weights of roach. Topping this sweep which took place at Schoolhouse bend was Bob Smith who stayed a few ounces ahead of the pack using those self same tactics. Chris Mawer and Keith Dobson matched each other fish for fish but it was the former who landed the runner up spot with Alec Rawlings fourth more than 1 ½ lbs down. Results: 1 Bob Smith 13lbs 0ozs; 2 Chris Mawer 12lbs 7ozs; 3 Keith Dobson 12lbs 4ozs; 4 Alec Rawlings 10lbs 12ozs.

Sunday saw similar results from Crows Bridge where Gavin Butler landed an even better catch and finished with a near 5lbs advantage over the rest. These were headed by Kevin Harrison who beat the previous day’s winner Bob Smith, and Kevin Wilson who also conjured up a double figure weight. Results: 1 Gavin Butler 16lbs 3ozs; 2 Kevin Harrison 11lbs 9ozs; 3 Bob Smith 11lbs 3ozs; 4 Kev Wilson 10lbs 9ozs.

Sunday also saw Fishtoft AC pay a quick return visit to the Northlands Bridge section of the Sibsey Trader Drain and here weights were not as high, but everyone finished in the 4 to 10lbs range. I say 10lbs, but Rod Asher only failed to reach that particular point by the small margin of 2ozs with his catch of small roach and skimmers to pole and pinky. The next two places saw a close fought battle to decide the outcome, which ultimately went to Ernie Heseltine by the even closer margin of just one ounce over Nick Mummery, Alan Dixon taking fourth with a good 6lbs plus net. Results: 1 Rod Asher 9lbs 14ozs; 2 Ernie Heseltine 7lbs 8ozs; Nick Mummery 7lbs 7ozs; 4 Alan Dixon 6lbs 10ozs. Next Sunday (January 25) meet McDonald’s 7.30am as usual.

On balance the West Fen Drain at Frithville showed even better form as roach and skimmers were the mainstay but odd good perch and tench also played a big part in the results. Pinky, chopped worm and big maggot later into the match produced the better results and winner Paul Gilbert can thank a bonus tench of around 5lbs to boost him to that lofty position. Second placed Dale Adams had no such luck and having won the previous match here, had to settle for that on this occasion, albeit only a mere 5ozs down on the victor. Matt Wallington held on for third with another 8lbs plus weight as two more anglers also made that level and actually tied for fourth spot as the nine participants brought over 60lbs to scales. Results: 1 Paul Gilbert 9lbs 1oz; 2 Dale Adams 8lbs 12ozs; 3 Matt Wallington 8lbs 9ozs; equal 4 Russ Atwell and Dave Millington 8lbs 1oz.

A welcome return to much better weights as the second round of the Rilmac Winter League, fished on the Saxilby roadside stretch, and upstream of the Till mouth, turned out to be a cracking match. Perch fed really well and they dominated the top weights, but there were also roach, bream and skimmers to be had in some numbers .The upstream section of the Till dominated the leading places and it was Jamie Osgodby who made the most of his end peg draw. Fishing pole and bloodworm, and alternating with lobworm, Jamie had a mixed catch of roach and perch to win by a good margin. A pole and lobworm combination brought a perch dominated catch, including one fine specimen of 3lbs, to give second place to Alan Henry, whilst Roger Wakenshaw concentrated on bloodworm for a mixed bag and third. Rob Perkins followed closely home in fourth with another good net of perch and completing the line up were Colin Waldron and Mark Godfrey. Results; 1 Jamie Osgodby, Garbolino Lincs County, 14lbs; 2 Alan Henry, Spro/Lincoln Whisby, 11lbs 7ozs; Roger Wakenshaw, Spro/Lincoln Whisby, 10lbs 10ozs; 4 Rob Perkins, Whisby AS A, 10lbs 6ozs; 5 Colin Waldron, Pelham Piscatorials, 9lbs 5ozs; 6 Mark Godfrey, Whisby AS A, 8lbs 15ozs.

The team event found the Whisby AS A outfit recording their second successive victory with a single point advantage over a resurgent Garbolino Lincs County, and Spro/Lincoln Whisby in third, a further two points adrift. Results; 1 Whisby AS A 41 pts; 2 Garbolino Lincs County 40pts; 3 Spro/Lincoln Whisby 38pts; 4 Pelham Piscatorials 33pts. After two matches: 1 Whisby AS A 2pts; 2 Spro/Lincoln Whisby 5pts; 3 Garbolino Lincs County 6pts; 4 Pelham Piscatorials 7pts; equal 5 Whisby AS B and Grimsby.

Review for January 11

Weather takes toll on match action

Staying bitterly cold since my last report and hence very little activity to be seen around our local waters, which continued to display a good covering of ice for the most part. Not a great deal of change over the weekend as the milder weather arrived too late in our region to have any significant effect on both attendances and catch rates.

So, disasters all around as the weather took its full toll and less than a handful of takers for each sweep on the rivers Witham and Steeping brought about cancellations both of midweek and weekend matches on these waters. The sole survivor was the Saturday match on the River Steeping at Crows Bridge where despite the freezing conditions catches held up well compared to the previous week. Again roach were the main takers as they fed readily to breadpunch initially and then to a combination of squatt and pinkie on whip and long pole to finish. This sample of fish have obviously grown on from last season as far less are needed to make up decent weights, Kevin Harrison emerging top dog with around 130 such models. A mere handful of fish made the difference as Keith Dobson pushed him all the way but in the end had to settle for second with 5ozs less. In the same street was third placed Chris Mawer who led home a gaggle of nets in the 5-6lbs category. Results: 1 Kevin Harrison 8lbs 3ozs; 2 Keith Dobson 7lbs 14ozs; 3 Chris Mawer 7lbs 4ozs. Next Saturday, meet Wainfleet market place for 9am draw.

Fishtoft AC kick-started their 2009 campaign back into life with a visit to the Northlands Bridge section of the Sibsey Trader Drain on Sunday. In complete contrast to the last outing, all those taking part had something to show for their efforts this time, and Terry Gooding showed the others the way home with a winning catch of roach and skimmers, all taken on his favourite waggler and maggot tactics. A similar catch, but this time to pole and pinkie combination, saw Nick Mummery pinch second spot after a close battle with Mark Naylor who finished just 2ozs adrift in third. Results: 1 Terry Gooding 4lbs 6ozs; 2 Nick Mummery 3lbs 8ozs; 3 Mark Naylor 3lbs 6ozs; 4 Janusz Kedzierski 2lbs 14ozs. Next Sunday meet as usual 7.30am McDonald’s.

The Foss Dyke Canal proved to be in a reasonable condition for the weekend but catches here also took a tumble as the opening round of the Rilmac Winter league proved on Sunday. Favourites and holders Mossborough withdrew at the last minute, which left six teams of ten contesting this year’s event, this match taking place on the roadside section at Saxilby. Bloodworm was always going to be the most successful bait but even so John Blades had to work hard to take over a hundred small fish for his winning weight. Similarly Alan Houlton had the same sort of struggle to take a mixed bag and clinch the runner up spot just 2ozs ahead of third placed Steve Watson, who snared a bonus perch of 2lbs to boost him to that lofty position. A comparatively wide gap then to Rob Perkins who led a string of weights in the 3lbs range, after which the rest toiled the five hours for very little reward. Results: 1 John Blades, Spro/Lincoln Whisby, 5lbs 5ozs; 2 Alan Houlton, Garbolino Lincs County, 4lbs 9ozs; 3 Steve Watson, Whisby AS, 4lbs 7ozs; 4 Rob Perkins, Whisby AS, 3lbs 14ozs; 5 Steve Nurse, Grimsby, 3lbs 13½ozs; 6 Graham Bunnage, Whisby AS, 3lbs 11ozs. Despite starting the day a man short the Whisby AS A team triumphed and lead by 2pts ahead of the Spro/Lincoln Whisby outfit. Newly installed favourites Garbolino Lincs County disappointed and finished way back in fourth. but obviously there is much water to flow under the bridge until we get to the conclusion of the league in February. Results: 1 Whisby AS A 43pts; 2 Spro/Lincoln Whisby 41pts; 3 Pelham Piscatorial 36pts; 4 Garbolino Lincs County 34 pts; 5 Grimsby 32pts; 6 Whisby AS B 24pts.

Finally I must remind match anglers that a sweep will take place this coming Sunday (January 18) on the Frith Bank Drain, for details ring Steve Lamyman on (01205) 310354 for details.

Review for January 4

Roach haul helps Dave land victory spoils

It’s very much a case of “as you were” as the weather is now firmly stuck under a dominant ridge of high pressure, thus ensuring a run of very cold and icy conditions for the time being. Sunday especially was one of those days which brought an icy northerly wind, very little sunshine and temperatures hovering just above freezing in most parts of the county.

The Lincoln Co-op League struck off with the first of their six-match series taking place on the West Common stretch of the Foss Dyke Canal under slightly better conditions on Saturday. Unfortunately most fish were in an unco-operative mood as the majority of those contesting the match struggled for bites with weights below half the average for this water. Dave Small chose bread punch at 10 metres to take 32 roach and win this match comfortably. Joint runners-up Eddie Cheetham and Chris Elsom both caught roach and in the case of Chris he achieved that second spot with a couple of bonus perch at a late stage in the proceedings. Likewise Frank Butler was going nowhere but home with just a few minutes left but a large perch of 2lbs 4ozs took a sudden interest in his ledgered lobworm. This boosted him then into fourth place ahead of Steve Winter who worked hard for 16 small roach and hence had to settle for fifth. Results: 1 Dave Small, Lincoln Whisby AS, 3lbs 2ozs; equal 2 Eddie Cheeetham, Lincoln Whisby AS, and Chris Elsom, Garbolino Lincs County, 2lbs 8ozs; 4 Frank Butler, Lincoln Whisby AS, 2lbs 7ozs; 5 Steve Winter, Garbolino Lincs County, 1lb 15ozs.

The latest of the Kings Arms open matches also took place on the River Witham on Saturday and for some unknown reason those little hand sized skimmers decided it was time for a feed. Rob Johnson made best use of this situation and with pole and pinkie took a good net of said fish to win, almost by the proverbial street. Next up was stable mate Brian Harding who also took a much smaller sample of the same but included 3 perch to 12ozs each. Those bonus fish ensured that he stayed well ahead of third placed Les Smith who had to make do with a mixed bag of mainly small roach. Results: 1 Rob Johnson, Bourne MG, 8lbs 12ozs; 2 Brian Harding, Bourne MG, 5lbs; Les Smith, Lincoln, 2lbs 12ozs.

Breaking the ice was definitely the first thing on the agenda for most venues on Sunday, the exception being the R.Witham which was entirely clear from one bank to the other and moving very slowly. The Fenland Pike club took full advantage of those conditions as 7 of the 12 members brought 27 good sized fish to scales for a total of 209lbs. Apart from that fact, members reported many dropped runs as even more fish were obviously half interested in the ledgered offerings, but dropped the bait within a few seconds of the take without being firmly hooked. King of the hill this time around was local lad Martin Picker who lives very close to the venue and took 6 very good fish to reach beyond the half century. Five similar models gave Mark Bradbury second spot and the edge over his father who in turn held on to third by the skin of his teeth. Just 2ozs was the only thing that separated him from Spider Pawson in fourth, and for the record the lowest weight came in at 10lbs. Results: 1 Martin Picker 52lbs 3ozs; 2 Mark Bradbury Jnr 41lbs 4ozs; 3 Mark Bradbury Snr. 33lbs 6ozs; 4 Spider Pawson 33lbs 4ozs.

A dour day on the Frith Bank Drain where the few anglers that turned out for this sweep had to do too much ice breaking in what is very shallow water. An activity that sent most fish running for cover, of which there is little, resulting in less than 2lbs being needed to win this event. The victory fell to Ben Jackson who took 35 small roach around an ounce each to pole and pinkie and win by 4ozs. He beat Len Shucksmith who opted for similar tactics and actually took a slightly better class of fish to double pinkie, but of course landing much fewer of those. Results: 1 Ben Jackson 1lb 12ozs; Len Shucksmith 1lb 8ozs; 3 Nick Mummery 1lb. Another match is scheduled in the near future and will take place on the same venue on Saturday January 17, details from Steve Lamyman on 01205 310354.

Very similar situation on the West Fen Drain at Frithville for Bingham AA, but with deeper water to contend with the fish, albeit very small, were a little more cooperative throughout the match length. Dale Adams however won this with some ease and with more than 200 small roach falling to pole and pinkie, he won with a massive 2½lbs – by comparison – to spare. His nearest rival, in the shape of Adam Cox, just failed to make the 3lbs mark but held on to head a string of 2lbs plus weights, which saw Paul Gilbert grab third and match organiser Richard Landon, a single ounce further back, in fourth. Results: 1 Dale Adams 5lbs 7ozs; 2 Adam Cox 2lbs 15ozs; 3 Paul Gilbert 2lbs 11ozs; 4 Richard Landon 2lbs 10ozs; equal 5 Martin Fielding and Dave Millington 2lbs 8ozs.

Fishtoft AC members pulled their usual trick at this time of year in travelling a fair distance to catch little or nothing. In this case it was the latter as they tackled the River Bain at Coningsby on Sunday to no avail and came home entirely fishless. Still, they will try again next week and members are asked to meet at McDonald’s 7.30am next Sunday morning.

Review for December 28

It’s a victory treble for Houlton

Quite a downturn in the weather as temperatures plummeted from Christmas onwards and was accompanied by leaden skies and stiff easterly winds. Not much change as we head towards the New Year, 5ºC being about the best we can hope for in the foreseeable future.

Starting off with the Kings Arms midweek open at Tattershall Bridge and the River Witham was in good order for a change. The steady run-off prompted the skimmers to feed and Alan Houlton followed his successive wins on the Foss Dyke and the Ancholme to duly completing his hat trick of victories. Drawn on peg 14, Alan fished a ground bait feeder and red maggot for his win, which just held off the challenge of his team-mate Chris Elsom who was on the next door peg 15. Chris also caught skimmers on the feeder and added a few perch on the pole to finish a clear second over Steve Gilbert who could only make half of that weight. Results: 1 Alan Houlton, Garbolino Lincs County, 19lbs 3ozs; 2 Chris Elsom, Garbolino Lincs County, 17lbs 2ozs; 3 Steve Gilbert, Spro/Lincoln Whisby, 8lbs 3ozs.

The Saturday match on the same venue was totally different as the thermometer plunged and a bitterly cold wind blew straight in at the competitors. It proved to be a real “Jekyll and Hyde” match as the anglers drawn nearest to the bridge managed to take a few fish but the last ten anglers in the match never saw a bite. Chris Elsom extracted full revenge for his mid week defeat and having drawn nearest to the bridge he made no mistake with a net of small skimmers plus three good perch on the pole. Rob Johnson took around twenty small fish on the pole for second place whilst Maurice Thacker attracted just eight much larger models for third spot. Results: 1 Chris Elsom, Garbolino Lincs County, 5lbs 6ozs; 2 Rob Johnson, Bourne MG, 2lbs 6ozs; 3 Maurice Thacker, Whisby AS, 2lbs 3ozs.

Sunday was certainly not shirt-sleeve weather and I suppose 10 hardy annuals turning out for the open match on the Frith Bank Drain was as much as could be expected. Pegs were used around the Antons Gowt area of the drain where most colour was in evidence, this being the prime indicator of good shoals of fish, especially given the recent dry period. Not a sparkling result but one that justified the pegging as Andy Scott took full advantage of an end peg, winning easily by a clear margin. He intended going on the attack with mainly pinkie, but having realised these were still tucked up safely in his home fridge he had to fall back to Plan B which was pole and breadpunch. This worked from the off in catching a succession of small roach and at the end of the day gave him a 2 ½ lbs advantage over runner up Gavin Butler. Similar tactics for Gavin brought an almost identical margin over organiser Steve Lamyman who put his faith in pinkie to deny that third place to Brian Blackamore. Results: 1 Andy Scott 8lbs 8ozs; 2 Gavin Butler 5lbs 15ozs; 3 Steve Lamyman 3lbs 10ozs; 4 Brian Blackamore 3lbs 8ozs. Another sweep next Sunday January 4^thon the same venue, please ring Steve Lamyman on 310354 for details.

No fixture for Fishtoft AC this week, but those interested in fishing next Sunday (January 4) should meet at McDonald’s at 7.30am.

Review for December 21

Duo finish well clear of match day rivals

Somewhat on the breezy side, but a much better weekend than of late as temperatures rose into double figures by Sunday morning. And things are seemingly set to stay much the same over the holiday period.

Catches responded accordingly and although the midweek open on the River Witham was cancelled, the Saturday fixture attracted enough matchmen for this to take place. Good weights for most, the lowest coming in at 2½lbs, and over 7lbs needed to achieve fifth place. Three of those finishing in that range of weights could only attract small roach to mainly pole and maggot, best of these being Brian Harding with just a touch under 8lbs, beating Dave Edwards to third place by a single ounce. The top two, both Grimsby anglers, finished way in front of the others and did so by employing both pole and feeder tactics to attract similar sized roach, but also adding a few skimmers to top up their catches. Dave Ashmore made the best of his draw by far and finished well clear of team mate Steve Nurse, both of whom were putting in their first appearances on this venue for this season. Results: 1 Dave Ashmore Grimsby 15lbs; 2 Steve Nurse Grimsby 12lbs 6ozs; 3 Brian Harding Bourne MG 7lbs 15ozs; 4 Dave Edwards Holly Farm 7lbs 14ozs; 5 Maurice Thacker 7lbs 3ozs.

A cracking day for the Fenland Pike Club when they visited the West Fen Drain at Frithville on Sunday. A total of 16 fish were taken by seven of the nine taking part and these came in at a combined weight of 128lbs, the best one going 17lbs 10ozs. Ernie Crisp was the outright winner taking three good specimens, followed by Gordon Ball and Kenny Sizer who took three and two similar fish respectively for their second and third positions. Results: 1 Ernie Crisp 32lbs; 2 Gordon Ball 26lbs 6ozs; 3 Kenny Sizer 25lbs 13ozs.

Quite a good day also for Fishtoft AC who settled on the Antons Gowt end of the Frith Bank Drain for their latest match on Sunday. Only one double figure weight this week but those that took part all brought good nets of roach to scales. Breadpunch or pinkie was again the choice and the latter proved to be the winner, the honours this time going to Janusz Kedzierski who has shown good form in recent weeks. Punch provided the next places which in reality was a tie for second between Jerry Clifton and Nick Mummery, with Alan Dixon just two ounces behind in fourth. Results: 1 Janusz Kedzierski 11lbs 8ozs; equal 2 Jerry Clifton and Nick Mummery 9lbs 1oz; 4 Alan Dixon 8lbs 15ozs. Next Sunday (December 28) meet McDonald’s 7.30am.

A good response for the Lincoln Fur and Feather match that took place on the Upper Witham in Lincoln between Dixon Street and Firth Road. Twenty-seven anglers fished the river which showed good colour but still pushing through fairly hard after last weeks deluge. Nevertheless the venue fished well and although the majority of the leading weights came from the noted Firth Road stretch, but it did produce decent weights in all the other sections. It proved to be good day for the Spro/Lincoln Whisby Squad who made a clean sweep of the main prizes as their members took the first five places. Leading the way was Eddie Cheetham who drew peg 155 and caught mainly roach to 2ozs on bread punch to clinch victory. He won with only a few ounces to spare from John Blades who also took roach, this time to 6ozs and caught steadily throughout the match. Weights then fell back into single figures but good backing weights in the 8lbs range filled the next four places, which were headed by Dave Small and completed by Keith Clifton. Results: 1 Eddie Cheetham 11lbs 6ozs; 2 John Blades 10lbs 11ozs; 3 Dave Small 8lbs 15ozs; 4 Roger Wakenshaw 8lbs 12ozs; 5 Julie Abbot 8lbs 4ozs; 6 Keith Clifton 8lbs.

Review for December 14

Festive match success for Winter

Again the weather deteriorated as the weekend approached and come Saturday we all had to endure a thoroughly miserable day with rain persisting in this area, virtually from dawn right through well into the evening. Consequently angling activity on that day was at a low level and the half dozen that turned up for the Kings Arms match on the River Witham took one look at the state of the river and went home.

Not really much better conditions earlier in the week with rafts of weed being an additional hazard. Thirty minutes into the match and Lincoln’s Frank Butler thought he had encountered such an obstacle on his quiver tip but then discovered the said object on the move. After a considerable struggle to bring this to the side, it was then found to be a large perch which had become foul hooked in the dorsal fin, and weighing in at 2lbs 5ozs proved to be the match winner. Two small fish for 5ozs were the only other catch on this dour day and gave Geoff Kelwick the runner-up position.

A much better day on Sunday for the Boston Christmas Benevolent match which took place on the Frith Bank Drain at Antons Gowt. You might say almost perfect conditions as the skies remained overcast with a light northerly breeze, and coupled with that was just the right amount of colour in the water which ran at a steady pace throughout. No wonder then that the drain fished its proverbial socks off as we saw some great roach catches and particularly from the first 25 pegs at the village end. These brought a total of over 272lbs of small fish to 2ozs to scales, and were taken almost exclusively on either breadpunch or pinkie, combined with 8m and 9m of pole, and sometimes even rod, line and waggler. Topping this list was none other than Boston angler Steve Winter who, being drawn close to the favoured area around the footbridge, made no mistake and was into fish right from the off until the finish. Taking some 250 such models to punch he easily outgunned Roger Wakenshaw at the next peg and won the day with around 2½lbs to spare over his nearest rival. Not to be completely outdone, team mate Mark Griggs also chose like tactics and put in a good performance from behind the Oak Tree public house, coming home third a couple of pounds further back, but a level 3lbs ahead of fourth placed Steve Lamyman. Apart from Roger Wakenshaw, who foiled the whitewash, the day belonged to local Boston anglers as Ben Brighton clinched fifth spot just behind Steve as Don Green completed the line up in sixth. Results: 1 Steve Winter 23lbs 3ozs; 2 Roger Wakenshaw 20lbs 13ozs; 3 Mark Griggs 18lbs 12ozs; 4 Steve Lamyman 15lbs 12ozs; 5 Ben Brighton 15lbs 10ozs; 6 Don Green 14lbs 11ozs.

Prizes for both match section results and raffles totalled around 40, being donated by local anglers and other organisations, and at this point I would express my thanks particularly to Boston and District Angling Association, Boston Angling Centre and Batemans Brewery for their valuable contributions. This made it possible to raise more than £150 for the Benevolent society and over £70 for our local junior organisation from this well supported match, many thanks to everyone involved.

Stickney AC chose the Hobhole Drain on Sunday but found the water going at a vast rate of knots and carrying a fair amount of suspended rubbish. Despite all that, a few roach and skimmers were to be found at all pegs – when hookbait could be kept clean – and mostly fell to pole and pinkie. Kev Hunt emerged an easy winner as he more than doubled the next best weight — that of Paul Wood, followed closely by Roly Sharp in third place. Results: 1 Kev Hunt 4lbs 6ozs; 2 Paul Wood 2lbs; 3 Roly Sharp 1lb 7ozs.

An early call to match anglers that sweeps will take place over the festive period, namely on Sundays December 28 and January 4 on the Frith Bank Drain, and will be organised by Steve Lamyman who can be contacted on 01205 310354 for further details. Lincoln and District Angling Association will be holding their Christmas match this coming Sunday, December 21, on the upper Witham in Lincoln. Those intending to take part should ring Frank Butler on 01522 534174 for full details.

Review for December 7

Les hits form to land spoils in open match

It was a case of yet more of the same weather conditions as temperatures gradually fell away last week, the lowest of course reserved for anglers out and about on Sunday morning. Most local waters naturally showed a good covering of ice in the margins, the worst affected being the Frith Bank Drain between Anton’s Gowt and Cowbridge.

Saturday’s Kings Arms open match on the River Witham at Tattershall Bridge attracted some dozen or more anglers but three or four anglers, having taken one good look at a river decide to cut their losses and try elsewhere. Those 10 that did stay found it in poor form, unlike Les Smith who found his to take the match, albeit with less than 5lbs of skimmers, which the rest caught to a lesser degree. Dave Edwards finished an agonising 2ozs down for second spot with Gavin Butler just holding on to third ahead of Trevor Ogilvie. Results: 1 Les Smith Lincoln 4lbs 15ozs; 2 Dave Edwards Holly Cottage 4lbs 13ozs; 3 Gavin Butler Sensas Mark One 3lbs 3ozs; 4 Trevor Ogilvie Boston 2lbs 15ozs.

Bingham AC were due to hold the first of their winter series on this very water but all agreed this would be very difficult given the existing conditions and so moved on to a more amenable West Fen Drain at Frithville. Results prove that they made the right decision as breadpunch accounted for the top weight of roach and was brought to scales by Dale Adams. Martin Fielding also enjoyed a similar catch for second and match organiser Paul Gilbert took third with a couple each of perch and skimmers to worm, ahead of Adam Cox, all but one of the competitors well over the pound mark. Results: 1 Dale Adams 6lbs 1oz; 2 Martin Fielding 5lbs 8ozs; 3 Paul Gilbert 4lbs 6ozs. 4 Adam Cox 3lbs 13ozs.

Fishtoft AC chose to travel to the River Bain at Coningsby on Sunday but this return visit brought no better results than their previous trip. Only the top four broke the pound barrier and the first two particularly ran out easy winners of their respective places. The outright winner, in the shape of Janusz Kedzierski, made all the running from the whistle and took all his roach catch to breadpunch, as did Mark Cook in that equally comfortable second place, which left both Mick Morgan and Brian Blackamore a street behind with a level pound each. Results: 1 Janusz Kedzierski 4lbs 10ozs; 2 Mark Cook 2lbs 14ozs; 3 Brian Blackamore & Mick Morgan 1lb. The club usually holds a sweep in conjunction with next Sunday’s Christmas Benevolent match and those who intend to fish should ring Barry Mallett to book in.

The fourth round of East Coast Junior League took place on the Head Fen Lakes Fishery at Littleport on what was the coldest Sunday morning of the year so far. The start was delayed while a boat was deployed to break the ice, which didn’t bode well for the 20 young anglers taking part on Snake Lake. However, with bright sunlight and a little light breeze the match got off to a good start with a few early fish, which unfortunately did not last. It was left to local lad Tom Cockle to find around 20lbs of F1 carp from tight under the far bank at peg 17.Weights then quickly fell away as Boston’s Dan Austin took well under 10lbs from peg 26 for his second place. He fished at 13 metres with double pinkie as did fellow team-mates Nick Wright and Chloe Raynor in third and fourth positions respectively, after which the remainder just landed the odd fish each. Boston Smurfs with 8pts, put in a good performance and was the only team to have three anglers catching, all of them winning their section. Kings Lynn came home second on 13pts while Holbeach and their team of reserves took a joint third on15pts, Lincoln unfortunately finished last on 20pts having travelled for two hours to get there and failed to catch a fish. Individuals: 1 Tom Cockle Kings Lynn, 20lbs 8ozs; 2 Dan Austin Boston Smurfs 7lbs 6ozs; 3 Nick Wright Boston Smurfs 4lbs 4ozs; 4 Chloe Raynor Boston Smurfs 3lbs 9ozs. League to date: 1 Boston Smurfs 41pts, 2 Holbeach 51pts; 3 Kings Lynn 59pts; 4 Lincoln A 65pts.

The hardiest members of Liam’s Elite club found themselves at Moon Lake, Tattershall in temperatures of minus 2 degrees with half the lake around the island frozen over. Most anglers therefore drew a blank and so it was left to Pete Scrivens and match organizer Dave Wilson to pick out the odd better fish to feeder and maggot tight to island. Results: 1 Pete Scrivens 2lbs 9ozs; 2 Dave Wilson 1lb 10ozs; equal 3 Jon Sanderson and Chris Chapman, both fishing pole and maggot for 1lbs 8oz.

Good news from the SPRO/Whisby League, which runs on the Foss Dyke Canal as Boston’s Mark Griggs came up trumps at the weekend. The fourth round of this series was fished on the Saxilby Rd stretch of the canal and small roach and the odd big perch made up the winning weights. Mark Griggs, Garbolino/Lincs County, was drawn on peg 12 where he fished bloodworm to take a mainly small fish catch as did Justin Rose who added one good perch to claim second. Both Julie Abbott and Chris Elsom also took nets of roach to tie for third position and a huge perch of around 3lbs, taken on the first cast, helped Mark Skelding to fifth. Results: 1 Mark Griggs, Garbolino Lincs County, 7lbs 4ozs; 2 Justin Rose, Lincoln Whisby AS, 6lbs 8ozs; equal 3 Julie Abbott, Lincoln Whisby AS, and Chris Elsom, Garbolino Lincs County, 6lbs 6ozs; 5 Mark Skelding, Ruston/Marconi, 6lbs 2ozs; 6 Ryan Neal, Whisby AS, 5lbs 14ozs. Ian Rodgers, Garbolino Lincs County, still leads the series with 26 points from Justin Rose who stands on 25 points.

A final reminder that the Boston and District Angling Association Christmas match will take place this coming Sunday December 14 on our local waters, exact venues yet to be decided. Many match and raffle prizes to be won, prizes and donations to the Benevolent Society much appreciated, those wishing to enter should ring Barry Mallett on 01205 871815 for more details.

Review for November 30

Early tench haul is decisive for Neville

Fog, frost and a good helping of wind and rain all adding to the mixture, has affected us all in the last few days. These all combined to bring about a thoroughly miserable weekend and particularly Sunday, which proved to be by far the worst of the two days.

The Boston and District Angling Associationwinter league has so far had to contend with very poor weather and water conditions round on round compared to the same competition last year, and Sunday was no exception as the biting cold wind and rain combined to bring about a nigh total disaster. Good roach weights were expected after practice sessions in midweek yielded nets into double figures to those on the right methods. But, as the match got underway on the Horncastle Road section of the Maud Foster Drain, it soon became obvious that everyone would be struggling.

I say everyone, because the match was effectively over in the first few minutes when one good-sized tench was netted and was the only bite of the day for the eventual winner. This turned out to be Neville Soulby whose first venture into his swim with a worm hookbait brought about an immediate response from the fish and after a strong fight, safely netted the fish within a matter of minutes. After that everyone else was playing catch up but alas it was not to be as no other came even close to making a pound with just the odd few small roach and tench. Roger Wakenshaw came home next best with just half a pound with Fishtoft AC angler Janusz Kedzierski a single ounce behind. After that Shipshape Tackle owner Lester Pratt managed to conjure up a couple of small perch – and that it boys and girls, just four anglers weighing in out of a good class field of 52.

This of course made little difference to the division one outcome as Garbolino Lincs County had all but sealed the title in the previous round barring a major catastrophe, but from the individual results the single score for Shipshape Tackle Gold saw this outfit leapfrog Browning Boston into the runner up position. Horncastle Short Ferry had a clear run and the second and third places achieved by two of their team saw then pinch the division two title from under the very nose of the Boston Angling Centre A outfit. Three of the four that weighed and gained points had no bearing on the individual competitions but that second spot from Roger Wakenshaw saw him take the honours ahead of John Briggs who virtually led from the start until this fifth and final round. Craig Butterfield also drew a blank but a perfect score carried over from the previous matches saw him hold on the title with seven points to spare. Results: 1 Neville Soulby, Horncastle Short Ferry, 3lbs 6ozs; 2 Roger Wakenshaw, Horncastle Short Ferry, 8ozs; 3 Janusz Kedzierski, Fishtoft AC, 7ozs; 4 Lester Pratt, Shipshape Tackle Gold, 3½ozs. Final positions: Division One, Garbolino Lincs County 104 pts; 2 Shipshape Tackle Gold 87pts; 3 Browning Boston 81pts; 4 Lincoln Whisby AS B 76pts; 5 Lincoln Whisby AS 75pts. Division Two, 1 Horncastle Short Ferry 87pts; 2 Boston Angling Centre A 82pts; 3 Castle AC 69pts; 4 Fishtoft AC 68pts; 5 Boston Angling Centre B 56pts. Individuals: Division One, 1 Craig Butterfield, Time Team, 36pts 2 Dave Priestley, Shipshape Tackle, 29pts; 3 Graham Ellis, Grimsby, 29pts. Division Two, Roger Wakenshaw, Horncastle Short Ferry, 30pts; 2 Janusz Kedzierski, Fishtoft AC, 29pts; 3 John Briggs 24pts.

An early reminder that the Boston & DAA Christmas benevolent match will take place on the Frith Bank Drain on Sunday December 14. Any donations to the Benevolent Society and prizes for the match would be very much appreciated and for match bookings and any other details please ring Barry Mallett on 01205 871815.

Going back to the earlier part of the week, and the latest midweek Kings Arms match was fished on the River Witham at Tattershall and although the weather was kind, water conditions were definitely not. The river ran off strongly from start to finish and lots floating weed certainly hampered competitors’ efforts to present any sort of bait properly, never mind catch fish. Brian Harding seemed to cope best and fishing the long pole and maggot he took mainly small roach to win the match. He came home with more than a pound to spare over Dave Bontoft who employed his usual tactics for perch and managed to tempted one big specimen plus a few smaller models to pole and lobworm. Results: 1 Brian Harding, Bourne MG, 4lbs 8½ozs; 2 Dave Bontoft. Pets Cabin. 3lbs 3½ozs; 3 Roger Woolhouse, Garbolino Lincs County, 2lbs 8½ozs; 4 Maurice Thacker 1lb 8ozs.

Although the conditions were extreme with freezing fog persisting all day the river was in much better form for anglers in the Kings Arms Saturday match. Good backing weights and the lowest at over 2lbs but Brian Harding drew end peg 15 again and carried on where he left off, and won this match with some ease as he took over 100 roach to the same method. Les Smith found two good sized skimmers in the last 15 minutes to boost him into second spot and Dave Edwards can consider himself a trifle unlucky to find himself in third, just 5ozs down. Results: 1 Brian Harding, Bourne MG, 8lbs 7ozs; 2 Les Smith, Lincoln College, 6lbs 15ozs; 3 Dave Edwards, Holly Farm, 6lbs 10ozs; 4 Graham Worley, Whisby AS, 6lbs 6ozs.

A sweep took place on the Foss Dyke at Odder upstream of the River Till and once again it produced some excellent sport in view of the dreadful weather conditions. Boston’s Alastair Ogilvie drew peg 43 and took some good perch on worm before topping up his catch with bloodworm caught fish. He held off the challenge of Lincoln’s Steve Gilbert who took a net of good roach to caster and worm, followed by Dave Small who tempted all his fish to bloodworm. Results: 1 Alistair Ogilvie, Daiwa Trentmen, 9lbs 9ozs; 2 Steve Gilbert, Lincoln Whisby AS, 8lbs 5ozs; 3 Dave Small, Lincoln Whisby AS, 8lbs 3ozs; 4 Ryan Neal, Whisby AS, 7lbs 6ozs; 5 Justin Rose, Lincoln Whisby AS, 7lbs 5ozs; 6 John Small, Lincoln Whisby AS, 7lbs.

Review for November 23

Shaun has the edge in chilly match action

It was a rather bleak weekend all round as temperatures plummeted into the low single figures and very few anglers venturing out onto the river bank in our local area. Snow showers also made their way slowly southwards with many parts of Lincolnshire displaying a good covering by Sunday morning.

United Anglers made a very hazardous trip down from Grimsby to fish the Northlands section of the Sibsey Trader Drain on Sunday morning and found the journey to be just worth the effort, despite one or two spins on the way. Heavy snow showers kept them closeted in their vehicles until mid morning but when the match got underway most anglers found a few fish in responsive mood, considering the overall conditions. Different methods all produced bites but by far the most successful was breadpunch, which accounted for the top four places. Topping this list by a close margin was again Shaun Bell who employed exactly the same tactics as those for his previous win on the Maud Foster Drain, which was punch at five metres on the edge of the main flow. Mike Deakins also followed suit and came very close to overhauling his son-in-law but finished well ahead of Paul and Jamie Cole. Results: 1 Shaun Bell 3lbs 2ozs; 2 Mike Deakins 2lbs 12ozs; 3 Paul Cole 1lb 12ozs; 4 Jamie Cole 1lb 11ozs.

Not so good for Fishtoft AC who decided on a trip to Crows Bridge on the River Steeping, also on Sunday morning. Same sort of conditions but much less fish in evidence as Rod Asher needed less than 1½lbs of very small ones to win, albeit by the proverbial street at that. Mick Morgan was next up with a mere 6ozs and after that 17 tiny specimens helped Janusz Kedzierski to a joint third with Nick Mummery. Results: 1 Rod Asher 1lb 7½ozs; 2 Mick Morgan 6ozs; equal 3 Janusz Kedzierski and Nick Mummery 4½ozs. Those not taking part in the Boston and District Angling Association winter league should meet McDonald’s 7.30 am next Sunday.

The mid-week Kings Arms match was fished downstream of the Billinghay Skirth at Tattershall and proved that the fish have now spread out from the bridge area. Brian Harding, drawn at peg 15 fished the pole and maggot to take mainly roach to win the event with some ease. Dave Small on the other hand opted for the waggler and maggot approach from two pegs away at 13 to take a catch of hand sized skimmers. This earned him a clear second spot whilst Graham Worley, sandwiched in between the two, chose the 8m whip to win third place ahead of Dave Bontoft. Results: 1 Brian Harding, Bourne MG, 9lbs 9ozs; 2 Dave Small, Lincoln Whisby AS, 8lbs 3ozs; 3 Graham Worley, Whisby AS, 6lbs 5ozs; 4 Dave Bontoft, Pets Cabin, 4lbs 13ozs.

Saturday saw the Kings Arms series continue on the River Witham at Tattershall Bridge but despite taking place before the worst of the weekend’s weather arrived, the venue showed much poorer form than of late. Perhaps those lowering temperatures had a big part to play in that, but very few fish seemed to be interested this time around. Mr Bond (not James) led the 11 strong field home with a few small skimmers to feeder and pinkie and almost doubled the next best weight, that of Brian Harding. Tim Kaye came home third with less than 3lbs after which the rest struggled for the odd pound or two between them. Results: 1 A Bond, Lincoln, 6lbs 11ozs; 2 Brian Harding, Bourne MG, 3lbs 8ozs; 3 Tim Kaye, London, 2lbs 14½ozs.

Forty anglers fished this third match of the SPRO/Whisby series on the roadside stretch of the Foss Dyke Canal at Saxilby. While it was grim for some, elsewhere the fifties and sixties fared much better, these pegs provided all the leading weights. Ian Rodgers continued his impressive start to the league by winning this match from the mid fifties once again targeting big perch on worm, one such specimen reaching a magnificent 3lbs 3ozs. His winning weight put him well clear of the runner up and team mate Chris Elsom who landed a mainly small fish catch to bloodworm from the next but one peg. Boston’s Andy Scott adopted similar tactics and grabbed third place, a mere 2ozs ahead of Steve Winter. Chris was drawn on peg 58 but his mainly small fish catch was taken on bloodworm and he weighed 7lb 11oz for second. Results: 1 Ian Rodgers, Garbolino Lincs County, 11lbs; 2 Chris Elsom, Garbolino Lincs County, 7lbs 11ozs; 3 Andy Scott, Boston, 7lbs 2ozs; 4 Steve Winter, Garbolino Lincs County, 7lbs; 5 Ian Snowden, Lincoln Whisby AS, 6lbs 13ozs; 6 Kevin Parkes, Mossborough, 6lbs 10ozs. After three matches, Ian Rodgers heads the league with a maximum of 21 points from Chris Jenkinson Van Den Eynde on 20 points and Justin Rose Lincoln Whisby AS third with 18 points.

Review for November 16

Breadpunch tactic a winner for Ernie

It was a relatively mild and much drier week than had been predicted a few days previously. And it’s much the same in prospect for our area over the next few days but perhaps with night frosts, as per Monday morning, following a few sunny days. Consequently our local drains are now at their normal and stable winter levels, but with very little colour as a direct result of that lack of rainfall.

It was exactly that situation for the Maud Foster Drain last Sunday when this stretch of water on Horncastle Road hosted the fourth round of the Boston and District Angling Association’s winter league. Running true to form for the conditions, the drain produced very patchy results as better weights were taken from around bridges or where there were natural gaps in the pegging. The match took place between Rawson’s Bridge and Norprint gates where indeed both the winner and runner-up were pegged, being on paper at adjacent pegs but in effect separated by the power line crossing at that point. Junior head coach Ernie Heseltine made best use of the situation and took a good number of mainly skimmers using pole and breadpunch to win the day from the downstream side of the gap. Hot on his heels from the other side was Roger Wakenshaw who employed similar tactics to come within 3ozs and claim second spot. On inspection of his peg and water conditions at Rawson’s Bridge, Jerry Clifton hurriedly revised his tactics and switching to a liquidised bread feed in conjunction with breadpunch to catch a good sample of recently introduced roach. He finished the day in a clear third place ahead of Ben Jackson who was pegged nearer to the cemetery gates and who also held a similar advantage over Craig Butterfield in fifth. In the individual stakes another section win leaves Craig Butterfield on a perfect score, having yet to drop a point, the chasing pack, which include Dave Priestley, Graham Ellis and Steve Winters, in effect trailing well behind. Division Two is a lot harder to call as only four points cover the top seven but sitting proud at the top of this particular pile is Boston Angling Centre man John Briggs, followed closely by team mate Len Shucksmith and Horncastle’s Roger Wakenshaw with Fishtoft AC angler Janusz Kedzierski in fourth. Results: Division One, 1 Craig Butterfield 36pts, equal 2 Dave Priestley and Graham Ellis 29pts, 4 Steve Winter 28pts, 5 Justin Rose 27pts, 6 Ben Brighton 26pts; Division Two: 1 John Briggs 24pts, equal 2 Len Shucksmith and Roger Wakenshaw 23pts, 4 Janusz Kedzierski 22pts, 5 Kevin Soulby 21pts, equal 6 Paul Webster and Denis Houghton 20pts.

Compared to previous rounds team results for both divisions were turned almost completely on their head as the front runners Lincs County fell away to nearly last. Instead the unfancied Lincoln Whisby B outfit won the day just one ahead of both Browning Boston and Grimsby, and two points better than their own Whisby A team. Similarly in Div 2 Fishtoft AC closed the gap at the top with a convincing team performance, as did the Castle AC squad in third. They have still got it all to do though as a second place from the leaders, being the Boston Angling Centre A team, has all but secured the Second Division title. Results: Individuals, 1 Ernie Heseltine 7lbs 14ozs; 2 Roger Wakenshaw, Horncastle Short Ferry, 7lbs 11ozs; 3 Jerry Clifton, Fishtoft AC, 6lbs 5½ozs; 4 Ben Jackson, Boston Angling Centre B, 5lbs 3ozs; 5 Craig Butterfield 4lbs 4½ozs; 6 Darren Crofts, Holbeach AC, 3lbs 13 ½ ozs; Teams on the day, Division One, 1 Lincoln Whisby B 27pts; equal 2 Browning Boston and Grimsby 26pts; 4 Lincoln Whisby A 25pts; 5 Holbeach AC 21pts; Division Two 1 Fishtoft AC 23pts; 2 Boston Angling Centre A 21pts; 3 Castle AC 20pts; 4 Horncastle Short Ferry 18pts; 5 Boston Angling Centre B 15pts. After four rounds: Division One, 1 Garbolino Lincs County 104pts; 2 Browning Boston 81pts; 3 Shipshape Tackle Gold 78pts; equal 4 Grimsby and Lincoln Whisby B 76pts 6 Lincoln Whisby A 75pts; Division Two, 1 Boston Angling Centre A 82pts; 2 Horncastle Short Ferry 73pts; 3 Castle Inn 69pts; 4 Fishtoft AC 61pts; 5 Boston Angling Centre B 56pts.

Mixed fortunes for local clubs and first of all Stickney AC suffered low catches from varying flows in their match on the South Forty Foot Drain at Swineshead Bridge. An initial run off saw all catching a few small fish but after the drain stopped and then restarted all bites ceased leaving Kevin Hunt the outright winner. All his weight came to pole and pinkie, as did Chris Chapman’s but even he could not make the pound mark for his second place. Results: 1 Kevin Hunt 3lbs 3ozs; 2 Chris Chapman 15ozs; 3 Rob Damms 5ozs.

Fishtoft AC fared much better over at Northlands Bridge on the Sibsey Trader Drain and in comparison everyone of those taking part managed 2lbs or more. Pinkie over groundbait was the successful tactic and Mark Naylor showed the way home with a touch over 5lbs of small roach and skimmers. Likewise Sheila Manning kept a similar gap between herself and third placed Mick Morgan. Results: 1 Mark Naylor 5lbs 1oz; 2 Sheila Manning 4lbs; 3 Mick Morgan 3lbs 13ozs. Next Sunday (November 23) meet McDonald’s 7.30am.

Review for November 9

Good news on drain restocking front

A very turbulent week is in prospect with further spells of rain and gale force winds, Saturday evening was the forerunner of things to come as Sunday night into Monday following a similar pattern.

Good news for local anglers as the first of a regular restocking programme took place on the Maud Foster Drain late last week. This follows last year’s disastrous run off during mid August when a faulty door control mechanism allowed three feet and more of water to be lost out of the system in the space of five hours. In that time many fish of all species, probably totalling in their thousands, were lost out to sea, but thanks to the co-operation and agreement between the Environment Agency and Boston and District Angling Association, these have now just begun to be replaced.

This initial stocking took place on the Horncastle Road section and saw some 3,500 or so of roach, bream and tench up to 4ozs introduced under almost ideal conditions. Hopefully the vast majority will survive and together with those following on in subsequent years this influx will make a notable difference to the local fish population in this part of the system.

The latest outing for Liam’s Elite found the 18 anglers fishing at Horseshoe Lake, Toynton, Top rod on the day was Lee Hepworth at peg 8 and fishing long pole with triple maggot to net some good carp for a 25lbs 8oz total. Second & third places went to a father and son duo, young Reece Dillamore getting the better of dad with 15lbs 1oz from the first peg to Andy’s 10lbs 8oz from peg 14. Fourth fell to Pete Scrivens on peg 4 with 7lbs 9oz and fifth Tony Vamplew at peg 6 on 6lbs 6oz. Next match is on December 7, Moon Lakes.

The third round of the East Coast Junior League took place on the South Holland Drain at Sharp’s Bridge on Sunday. The 24 young anglers found the water running off hard with a very strong downstream wind making presentation difficult. This was not helped by most fish being shoaled up by the bridge leaving half the field, at least, ending the match without a bite. The lower pegs in A and B section were the only ones to produce the goods with Luke Morley (Smurfs) catching from the off with roach to 6oz from peg 29 at the foot of the bridge. He used pole at 7 metres and fished pinkie over ground bait for his winning weight. A good scrap for second place developed between James Wright and Josh Read but a few better fish gave Josh the edge and the runner up spot. Results: 1 Luke Morley, Boston Smurfs, 9lbs 12ozs; 2 Josh Read, Lincoln, 5lbs 2ozs; 3 James Wright, Holbeach, 4lbs 4ozs. The team result was turned upside down due to only half of each squad catching and local knowledge (or luck) produced the top team in the shape of Holbeach with a 15pt total, from King’s Lynn and Boston Smurfs who tied each on 18pts, Lincoln A and B teams close behind on 19 and 20pts respectively. League to date: 1 Holbeach 36pts; 2 Boston Smurfs 38pts; 3 Lincoln A 45pts; 4 Kings Lynn 46pts; 5 Lincoln B 52pts. Next round is on December 7, Head Fen Fishery.

This latest Kings Arms match was fished at Tattershall Bridge but following the heavy rain the river was running hard all day and floating weed was a real problem. It was a case of déjà vu as Les Smith drew the coveted peg six again and promptly followed up with a repeat win over the previous week. His catch was far more modest this week as he only needed seven skimmers on the ground bait feeder and pinkies, both Malc Green and Dave Edwards taking three such models to similar tactics to claim second and third. Results: 1 Les Smith, Lincoln, 11lbs 6ozs; 2 Malc Green, Lincoln Whisby, AS 3lbs 19ozs; 3 Dave Edwards, Holly Farm, 3lbs 6ozs.

Fishtoft AC, with hindsight perhaps, chose the wrong option in trying the River Bain at Coningsby, which on the day was in poor condition – a day or two either way would have perhaps produced a different story. The match was, in effect, won on the first cast as double red maggot presentation tempted a good sized tench of around 4 ½ lbs to Terry Gooding. After all that excitement he had to be happy with the addition of two or three little perch over the next 4 hours but saw him win the sweep at a canter. Only Ernie Heseltine and Stan Stankvich finished in the pound category, Ernie taking second with half a pound to spare. Results: 1 Terry Gooding 5lbs 1oz; 2 Ernie Heseltine 1lb 8ozs; 3 Stan Stankvich 1lb; 4 Mark Cook 13ozs. Next Sunday those not involved in the winter league should meet 7.30am McDonald’s.

United Anglers were possibly in the right place at the right time when they visited that recently stocked area of the Maud Foster Drain on Sunday. At the very least the winner, in the shape of Shaun Bell, got it spot on as he took a good weight for a convincing victory over his rivals. Fishing breadpunch over liquidised bread at close range he took many of those small roach up to 2ozs. Similarly for Paul and Jamie Cole who opted for a pinkie approach at long range and finished well adrift of the winner. Results: 1 Shaun Bell 7lbs 8ozs; 2 Paul Cole 2lbs 15 ½ oxs; 3 Jamie Cole 2lbs 9ozs; 4 Archie Hare 8ozs.

As mentioned earlier, the fourth round of the Boston and District Angling Association winter league will take place this coming Sunday November 16 and is scheduled for the Maud Foster Drain at this moment. Any changes to venue or pegging will be posted on noticeboards and tackle shops at the earliest opportunity.

Review for November 2

Second win in row makes it a Winter wonderland

Little change over previous weekends as another spell of rain, and this time much heavier, descended upon the area over Saturday night and well into Sunday morning. No immediate effect on local waters around Boston but potential flood conditions set mechanisms in motion to prevent such an event occurring.

Unfortunately this found the Bargate Drain in full flow during the middle part of Sunday and with only a scant amount of colour in the drain at that point the overall conditions brought very little joy to anglers.

Such was the case for the vast majority of those involved in the Boston and District Angling Association Winter League, which is now past the halfway stage. The third round match took place entirely on the Horncastle Road section and sadly many of those early pegs failed to produce a bite of any description. The rest were not much better as most weighed in no more than a few ounces, a grand total of 12 making more than a pound. No stopping Steve Winter though as he again confounded all predictions and won again for the second time in two rounds with a good net of roach from an unfancied peg, which was up near to the Maud Foster railway bridge. Ultimately an easy victory but you would not have suggested as such when he, along with the others close by, had to endure a fruitless and frustrating first two hours. At that point he spotted a shoal of fish heading his way and quickly feeding his swim, he managed to attract enough of what turned out to be quality roach to 6ozs to his bronze maggot bait and pole at 11 metres approach. Fish followed fish right up to the final whistle to give him a winning weight of over 8lbs and exactly 5lbs over his nearest rival Graham Ellis. Graham was only six pegs on the downstream side and benefited very little from this shoal, his catch consisting mainly of perch to chopped worm. He also tempted three good roach to tail of a lob at a late stage to secure second place ahead of Steve’s stable mate Andy Scott, who is generally no slouch himself under most conditions. Castle AC’s Denis Houghton also got in on the act from close by and just held on to fourth, a single ounce in front of Holbeach AC’s Andy Squance who was also pegged in the same area. Another convincing win by the Lincs County outfit by a full dozen points over Shipshape Tackle sees them firmly in the driving seat, and barring any major disaster are runaway favourites for the Division One team title. Not quite the same for the race in Division Two where the Horncastle Short Ferry squad put themselves back in contention with a sound victory on the day with two section wins. BAC A however had to settle for second spot this time around and although the gap has narrowed they are still in the driving seat with the Castle AC just about staying in contention. Results: Individuals, 1 Steve Winter, Garbolino Lincs County, 8lbs 3ozs; 2 Graham Ellis, Grimsby, 3lbs 3ozs; 3 Andy Scott, Garbolino Lincs County, 2lbs 15½ozs; Denis Houghton, Castle AC, 2lbs; 5 Andy Squance, Holbeach AC, 1lb 15ozs; 6 John Kadzionis, Browning Boston, 1lb 14ozs.

After three rounds: Division One, 1 Craig Butterfield 27pts; 2 Steve Winter 26pts; 3 Andy Scott 24pts; 4 Dave Priestley 23pts; 5 Greg Brown 22pts. Division Two, equal 1 Len Shucksmith and Kevin Soulby 18pts; equal 3 John Briggs, Greg McLaughlin and Janusz Kedzierski 17pts. Teams on the day: Division One, 1 Garbolino Lincs County 34pts; 2 Shipshape Tackle Gold 22pts; 3 Sensas Nathans 17pts; 4 Holbeach AC 13pts; 5 Lincoln Whisby A 12pts. Division Two, 1 Horncastle Short Ferry 24pts; 2 Boston Angling Centre A 17pts; 3 Castle AC 15pts; 4= Fishtoft AC & Lincoln Whisby A 12pts. After three rounds: Division One, 1 Garbolino Lincs County 92pts; 2 Shipshape Tackle Gold 61pts; 3 Browning Boston 55pts; 4 The Time Team 53pts; equal 5 Lincoln Whisby A & Grimsby 50pts. Division Two, 1 Boston Angling Centre A 61pts; 2 Horncastle Short Ferry 55pts; 3 Castle AC 49pts; 4 Boston Angling Centre B 41pts 5 Fishtoft AC 38pts.

Much the same for the Fenland Pike club on the River Steeping at Wainfleet on Sunday. All of the 12 members in attendance struggled as the floodgates opened to allow the river to run off at a vast rate of knots. They did manage the sum total of eight fish between them and two smaller specimens gave Barry Moore the victory over Pete Bolland who landed a single fish of 8½ lbs to clinch second ahead of Martin Picker. Results: 1 Barry Moore 9lbs; 2 Pete Bolland 8lbs 8ozs; 3 Martin Picker 5lbs 10ozs.

Review for October 26

Patience pays off for Ben

A week, a day and for that matter a match of two parts and probably typical of this time of year. Firstly the week, which in its early stages was very windy but somewhat warmer but on approaching the weekend turned brighter but colder. Having said that, the weekend can also be classified in a similar vein as anglers had to endure a rough day on Saturday, with very little sun to cheer. Sunday was definitely the day of two parts as overnight rain continued well into the morning but then drifted southwards to leave us all suddenly bathed in brilliant sunshine for the rest of the day.

Lastly of course to the match on that same day, which was the annual Bateman’s Cup and took place on the Horncastle Road section of the Maud Foster Drain, involving 16 teams of three. Those initial dull and damp conditions prompted small skimmers to feed even if only spasmodically with many achieving a few ounces to the odd pound or two while this lasted.

Ben Brighton, however, could only look on as others around him saw some of this action but his time was to come. Patience has its rewards as a steady trickle of hemp bore fruit when the sun came out and roach of good quality suddenly started to respond. From that point onwards, until the final whistle, a steady stream of fish to 6ozs went into the net and gave him a convincing victory with the sole double figure weight of the day. Last week’s winner Steve Winter had to settle for the second place this time around but still managed to cobble together a decent mixed bag of fish from an unfancied peg close to the cemetery footbridge. Lincoln angler Chris Elsom also came up with the goods from another of those ‘nothing’ pegs and took third with a similar net using similar tactics to Steve, which was again pinkie at 11 metres. The top six individual positions showed the ‘Billboards’ area to be the most consistent and Fred Bispham, Kevin Harrison and Bob Dyer completed the line up from alternate pegs in the 80s.

Competition for the team title was also tight and with no challenge from last year’s winners, in the shape of the Londesborough Arms, it was left to the Ball House teams to sweep the board. On a low points basis only a single point separated first from second, being the A and C teams, and third place produced a dead heat from which team H emerged the better having had the benefit of the individual winner’s input, team aggregate weight then being the deciding factor. Individuals: 1 Ben Brighton 11lbs 14ozs; 2 Steve Winter 8lbs 1oz; 3 Chris Elsom 7lbs 6ozs; 4 Fred Bispham 7lbs 4ozs; 5 Kevin Harrison 6lbs 2ozs; 6 Bob Dyer 5lbs 4ozs. Teams: 1 Ball House A 9pts; 2 Ball House C 10pts; 3 Ball House H 16pts (14lbs 13 ½ozs; 4 Ball House B 16 pts (7lbs 6ozs).

The Lincoln County Hospitals match took place on those pegs immediately upstream of the Batemans competition but being a rod only match, members were restricted to either the feeder or waggler methods. Neither produced anything sparkling but the latter certainly brought better weights, such as they were. Only three dry nets but the better weights of small roach were restricted to 1lb category and as you would imagine any one place being very close to the next. The best fell to R Bentley who used both feeder and waggler to hold on to the top spot by a narrow margin, the second place being tied between Steve Watson and C Mooreman, fourth coming home a mere half ounce down. Results: 1 R Bentley 1lb 6ozs; equal 2 Steve Watson and C Mooreman 1lb 3ozs.

Almost a wasted journey for Stickney AC members when they travelled to fish the River Trent at Burton Joyce on Sunday. A near 120 mile round trip is no joke in the present climate as the 10 anglers could not muster 2lbs between them and less than a pound for the top weight. This fell to Yappy Mountain who used his usual feeder method to tempt a small chub and a couple of roach. A single chub of similar size gave Chris Chapman second and three small roach to the waggler brought third to Kevin Hunt. Results: 1 Yappy Mountain 14ozs; 2 Chris Chapman 9ozs; 3 Kevin Hunt 5ozs.

The third round of the Boston and District Angling Association Winter League will take place this coming Sunday November 2 and with the weather taking a serious turn to more wintry conditions we may well experience more woes until fish become acclimatised to the lower temperatures. Not quite cast in tablets of stone as of yet, so pleasure anglers should consult notice boards and the tackle shop for exact pegging on the Bargate and/or Maud Foster Drains towards the weekend.

Review for October 19

Patchy results as conditions remain testing

Nothing much in the way of change since my last report, and certainly not for the better in most cases. Lack of significant rainfall maintained the gin clear water conditions across the county and combined with a fresh and very windy day on Sunday in particular, made angling and bait presentation very difficult as bites were at a premium for most. More in the way of strong winds and rain for this coming week with a taster on Monday October 20, but we need significant falls before we see any colour return to local waters.

Such conditions as described presented themselves for round two of the Boston and District Angling Association winter league, which again took place on the Windsor Bank and Horncastle Road sections of the Bargate Drain. A day when a few ounces were the lot of many as all parts of the match produced very patchy results. For more consistent weights Horncastle Road perhaps just had the edge with less than a dozen below the pound and the top two individual catches produced here. In reality the most competitive spot was in fact the Wheelers Close area where third and fourth places was fought out, third eventually going to Kings Lynn angler Dave Priestley, last week’s ‘swimming champion’ Mick Balls taking fourth some way behind. But, by the proverbial street, the day belonged to Steve Winter who continued his winning streak from a peg in front of the cemetery gates with a good net of skimmers to pole and pinky, latterly topped off with three pounds or so of roach to hemp. The town end peg on that same stretch saw Roger Wakenshaw make no mistake with a similar net of skimmers and produced the second of only two double figure weights of the day to take second spot.

Teamwise in Division One, the Lincs County outfit had to settle for second place on Sunday behind the Time Team but actually increased their overall advantage and lead both those and Browning Boston by a convincing 14 points at this early stage. Div 2 saw a much better performance from the Castle AC to tie with Boston Angling Centre A on the day but a result which also saw the latter increase their advantage to 10 points. Individuals: 1 Steve Winter Lincs County 15lbs 2ozs; 2 Roger Wakenshaw Horncastle Short Ferry 10lbs 10ozs; 3 Dave Priestley Shipshape Tackle Gold 8lbs 5½ozs; 4 Mick Balls Grimsby 4lbs 13ozs; 5 John Briggs Boston Angling Centre A 4lbs 12½ozs; 6 Jason Ebbage Holbeach AC 4lbs 4ozs. Teams on the day: Div 1, 1 Time Team (K9) 27pts; 2 Garbolino Lincs County 24pts; 3 Grimsby 22pts; 4= Browning Boston, Holbeach AC and Lincoln B 19pts; Div 2, equal 1 Boston Angling Centre A and Castle AC 22pts; 3 Horncastle Short Ferry 18pts; 4 Shipshape Tackle Blue 15pts; 5 Fishtoft AC 14pts; After two rounds: Div 1, 1 Garbolino Lincs County 58pts; equal 2 Browning Boston and Time Team 44pts; 4 Lincoln Whisby B 41pts; equal 5 Grimsby and Shipshape Tackle Gold 39pts; Div 2, 1 Boston Angling Centre 44pts; 2 Castle AC 34pts; equal 3 Horncastle Short Ferry and Shipshape Tackle Blue 31pts; 5 Team Youthful 30pts.

The Hobhole Drain showed a lot more colour and lowered water levels for Fishtoft AC when they fished their latest Sunday sweep near to the Lade Bank pumper. Not a sparkling result by any means as small roach and odd perch made up the bulk of catches. In these circumstances the result was always going to be tight and Rod Asher held on for a hard won victory using pole, squatt and pinkie. He took the top spot over Jerry Clifton, who chose similar tactics, by the slim margin of a single ounce and in turn Jerry held a wider margin to third place, which was Alan Dixon at over half a pound down. Results: 1 Rod Asher 3lbs 1oz; 2 Jerry Clifton 3lbs; 3 Alan Dixon 2lbs 7ozs. Next Sunday those not involved in the Batemans Cup competition should meet at McDonald’s 7.30am for a change of venue from Swineshead Bridge.

A similar story from the Swandyke Lane area where Stickney AC members struggled to tempt much more than a few small roach and hybrids, most ending the day around the 2lbs mark. Odd better specimens were also hooked and lost but Kevin Hunt continued in top form and made it three on the trot with a net of said fish. Chris Chapman also finished in the same street, with Rob Damms taking third but more than a pound down on the first two. Results: 1 Kevin Hunt 3lbs 10ozs; 2 Chris Chapman 3lbs 2ozs; 3 Rob Damms 2lbs 1oz.

The annual Batemans Cup match will take place this coming Sunday October 26 and is scheduled for the Bargate Drain, both Windsor Bank and the Horncastle Road sections. Along with a club match around the railway bridge area, this leaves very little space for pleasure anglers who should enquire as to exact pegging at the tackle shops and also consult bankside notice boards before attempting to fish this water.

Review for October 12

Ernie sees off rivals in decisive triumph

A magnificent week of autumnal weather with temperatures and conditions more akin to high summer than that of mid-October. Saturday and Sunday especially so as the thermometer recorded highs of 20 degrees Celsius plus around the Wash area.

On the downside a boating collision with the Black Sluice lock gates on London Road brought near disaster as these were then unable to close for around three hours, which meant a fair influx of salt water into the South Forty Foot Drain on the high tide. Luckily most fish in the system had already decided to migrate upstream and the EA fisheries team, who were quickly on hand to monitor the situation, reported no losses and salinity at significant levels no further than the Wyberton Chain Bridge area.

Saturday found Boston and District AA teams competing in the EMAF match on the Newark Dyke right through the town from the weir field down to Red Bridge, at least two pegs space allocated to each angler. This appeared to pay dividends in some cases and especially the winner who was pegged at Red Bridge. He was none other than Boston angler and junior coach Ernie Heseltine who paralysed a good class field with nearly 30lbs of bream. Likewise Graham Worley who grabbed second spot with half the weight of the same species from the Devon Mouth, and deny local angler Paul Pettener of that position. Team-wise it was all to no avail as the others in the Boston teams could not come up with the goods and on a points system had to settle for second place, well behind locals Newark, but satisfaction in beating Spalding for that runner up spot by virtue of total weight. Individuals: 1 Ernie Heseltine, Boston, 29lbs 11ozs; 2 Graham Worley, Boston, 14lbs 7ozs; 3 Paul Pettener 11lbs 4ozs. Teams: 1 Newark Fed 11pts; 2 Boston A 19pts; 3 Spalding 19pts; 4 Bingham Gold 27pts.

Showing something of its true self, the River Witham has burst into life in recent days with good weights from those renowned bream shoals. Not everywhere mind you, but at least both pleasure and matchmen had something to shout about. The Tattershall Bridge to Billinghay Skirth area is favourite at the moment and Saturday sweep here confirmed that bream both large and small are there in some numbers. A few weights came in around the 10lbs mark but Dave Edwards took the match by storm with over 40lbs of the smaller variety in the 1lb or so category. Likewise Dave junior also got in on the act and took a few of a similar size but topped it off with 4 larger sized models in the 4lbs plus class to take second spot, both father and son catching their fish to feeder and maggot. Results: 1 Dave Edwards senior 43lbs; 2 Dave Edwards junior 27lbs 10ozs.

Despite very bright, flat calm and gin clear conditions, decent sized skimmers were also to the fore on the cemetery length of the Maud Foster Drain for Carr Lane Social Club members. Wayne Easter got the tactics spot on as he took a succession of those using pinkie and pole at 13 metres and left everyone else to fight for second place. A huge gap of more than 17lbs to the next place which fell to Bob Callison who in turn held on to second by less than a pound over ‘Harry’ Jackson, most others managed 2-3lbs. Results: 1 Wayne Easter 23lbs 2ozs; 2 Bob Callison 6lbs 4ozs; 3 H Jackson 5lbs 5ozs.

It was a different story from the Stickney AC sweep just a few pegs downstream on the ‘Billboards’ stretch. In complete contrast all members found it hard to induce a few bites on whichever method, the winning weight being probably lower than the lowest in the above match. This fell to Kevin Hunt who can thank a few better roach for turning up in the last half hour of the match to help him top two pounds, only Ray Taylor and Roly Sharp with anything over the pound mark. Results: 1 Kevin Hunt 2lbs 4ozs; 2 Ray Taylor 1lb 8ozs; 3 Roly Sharp 1lb 2ozs.

Roach were the quarry of Fishtoft AC members on their visit to the Twenty Foot Drain at Guyhirn. Unfortunately the club were also faced with gin clear water and large ‘cabbages’ which stretched from one bank to the other in most cases. Nevertheless a few decent catches of those redfins were recorded, particularly in the first half dozen pegs, Stan Stankvich with the best of those weights. Sadly for Stan he had to settle for the runner up spot as a large bream of some 5lbs 7ozs was luckily hooked, well played and landed on light tackle and helping Jerry Clifton to a clear cut victory. Results: 1 Jerry Clifton 11lbs 11ozs; 2 Stan Stankvich 7lbs 4ozs; 3 Ben Brighton 6lbs 9ozs.

Round two of the East Coast Junior League took place at Littleport nature reserve Snettisham Beach on Sunday. Seven teams of four took part on a very calm sunny morning, which found the resident bream and roach shoals still lying low from the overnight cold and fog. The majority of anglers struggled to get the better roach feeding and had to be content with a few smaller samples for weights in the 2lbs region. Top angler on the day though was Matt Brandon who fished the feeder for four bream and a few bits, followed by Nick Wright who chose the pole and maggot to catch roach and skimmers at 9 metres, as did third placed James Wright. Results: 1 Matt Brandon, Lincoln A, 9lbs 14ozs; 2 Nick Wright, Boston Smurfs, 5lbs 7ozs; 3 James Wright, Holbeach, 4lbs 10ozs. The Holbeach lads led the teams home. They put together a good all round effort for 9pts with Lincoln A and Boston Smurfs tied on 12pts, Lincoln B and Kings Lynn also equal with15pts each. After two rounds: 1 Boston Smurfs 20pts; 2Holbeach 21pts; 3 Lincoln A 25pts; 4 Kings Lynn 28pts. Section winners were: A, Damian Evans, Kings Lynn, 3lbs 8ozs; B, Brendan Strolger, Holbeach, 2lbs; C, Rocky Murley, Holbeach, 2lbs 11ozs; D, Josh Reed, Lincoln A, 2lbs 13ozs. Next match will take place on the South Holland Drain November 9 and so any anglers wishing to take part should contact Dave Rance on 01529 461415.

The latest outing of Liam’s Elite saw 18 anglers taking on the resident carp on Moat Lake, Tattershall on Sunday. Local hot rod young Daniel Austen chose to fish the far shelf with pellet and sweetcorn fand came up with a thumping victory. Second place went to another youngster in the shape of 15-year-old Joe Paton who employed similar tactics to Dan, and so both beating all the senior anglers in the match. Results: 1 Daniel Austen 57lbs 14ozs; 2 Joe Paton 41lbs 4ozs; 3 Pete Scrivens 32lbs 2ozs; 4 Darren Cound 16lbs 4ozs; 5 Andy Dillamore 15lbs 10oz.

Finally, pleasure anglers should be aware that the second round of the Boston & DAA winter league will take place this coming Sunday October 19 on both the Windsor Bank and Horncastle Road sections of the Bargate and Maud Foster Drains. For exact pegging please consult bankside notices or enquire at the local tackle shop.

Review for October 5

Barry’s success in ‘held-over’ club match

Autumn has certainly set in as we all endured a sometimes wet and certainly a very windy week. Much the same in prospect for the rest of this week and although staying on the breezy side, temperatures look to be on the up and return to the monthly average and above.

Held over from last week was the Fenland Pike Club match on the Sibsey Trader Drain where just five pike were landed by five of the ten members taking part. A good but not exceptional fish gave Barry Moore a convincing victory as Daniel Walker took second in front of the vastly experienced Kenny Sizer. Results: 1 Barry Moore 11lbs 4ozs; 2 Daniel Walker 6lbs 2ozs; 3 Kenny Sizer 5lbs 10ozs.

Talking of specimen fish and young Brady Coulson, at the tender age of just nine years, outfought a huge pike from a swim on the West Fen Drain near Lush’s Bridge. The fish was tempted to deadbait, the fight lasting a full 15 minutes or more and when finally grassed, it banged the scales down to a whopping 21lbs 2ozs, well done young ’un.

The intermediate National Junior AA Challenge match took place on the Chesterfield canal at Retford on Saturday and here Boston’s Reece Dillamore emerged the victor. Fishing to the far shelf at approx. 12 metres, he used pinkie on the hook and constantly fed squatts and fine groundbait in small quantities to keep roach up to 8ozs in a feeding mood to finish with 2.860Kgs. Luke Morley also grabbed some of the action and took third place with around 1.600kgs so I hear. Reece and Luke, incidentally, fished for Kings Lynn as Boston could not muster a team, Kings Lynn finishing sixth.

Sunday was exactly one of those truly awful days, the only good thing being that the wind and driving rain only lasted until mid afternoon. The first round of the Boston and District AA winter league got off the ground under those very same conditions on both the Windsor Bank and Horncastle Road sections of the Bargate Drain. 16 teams of four competed for the various titles, which include the Divisional team champions as well as top individuals in each of the two leagues. A complete turn around from the previous match last Sunday in that the fancied areas on Windsor Bank turned into a real struggle, whilst previous mediocre pegs on Horncastle Road came up trumps. So much better in fact that the top six individuals were all pegged in close proximity around the ‘Billboards’ section. Andy Scott followed on from where he left off last Sunday and went one better as he showed a clean pair of heels to those around him, a level 9lbs of roach, skimmers and hybrids to pole and squatt for the winning weight. Similar tactics brought second place to Maurice Addison who had the satisfaction of seeing off son Kevin who had to settle for third just one ounce ahead of Grimsby’s Graham Ellis. Lincoln’s Alan Henry and Boston angler Pete Harker also made the top six with similar mixed bags in the 6lbs range. Results: 1 Andy Scott Garbolino Lincs County 9lbs; 2 Maurice Addison Shipshape Tackle Blue 7lbs 6ozs; 3 Kevin Addison Shipshape Tackle Gold 6lbs 10ozs; 4 Graham Ellis Grimsby 6lbs 9ozs; 5 Alan Henry Lincoln Whisby A 6lbs 7ozs; 6 Pete Harker Team Youthful 6lbs 1oz.

Team wise the match was dominated by the Lincs County squad who with two section wins and two seconds emerged as early contenders for the title, having already opened up a section sized gap to Browning Boston and Lincoln Whisby in third. Division 2 is a little tighter as the Boston Angling Centre A team did well to end the day with a two-point cushion over Team Youthful and a further 4 points to both their B team and Shipshape Tackle Blue. Div 1: Garbolino Lincs County 34pts; 2 Browning Boston 25pts; 3 Lincoln Whisby A 24pts; 4 Lincoln Whisby B 22pts; 5 Shipshape Tackle Gold 21pts. Div 2: 1Boston Angling Centre A 22pts; 2 Team Youthful 20pts; equal 3 Boston Angling Centre B and Shipshape Tackle Blue 16pts; 5 Horncastle Short Ferry 13pts.

Fishtoft AC completes the round for this week and a little better overall as they paid a return visit to the same area of the Sibsey Trader Drain. Almost an identical winning weight but not for Rod Asher who had to settle for the runner up spot this time around. The top weight fell to Mark Naylor on this occasion and travelling partner Mick Whitham was always in the hunt but failed to clinch second by a single ounce. Result: 1 Mark Naylor 3lbs 5ozs; 2 Rod Asher 2lbs 11ozs; 3 Mick Whitham 2lbs 10ozs; 4 Gordon Manning 2lbs 6ozs. Next week meet Little Chef, Algarkirk for a trip to the Twenty Foot Drain at Guyhirn.

Review for September 28

Archie has edge in venue-switch match

A pleasant day or to leading into the weekend but by the time Sunday arrived this was all over as cloud and rain moved in. passed the autumn equinox now and we suddenly look set for a spell of cooler, wet and windy weather in the next few days; nothing new there then, you might say.

After abandoning a weed-infested South Forty Foot Drain, United Anglers Club members tripped across town to settle on their secondary destination, being the roadside stretch of the Sibsey Trader Drain between Stonebridge and Trader Bridge. Here some found the bream and skimmers in a feeding mood even though somewhat erratic as they were soon put off by any excess noise or disturbance due to the near gin clear conditions. Archie Hare maintained his winning record on this particular water but had to fight all the way to keep runner up Shaun Bell at bay. Both took five good bream each and reported used long pole and worm with fish coming in fits and starts but Archie just edged it with 10 minutes left. A change of method for Archie to quivertip and worm with loose fed caster produced the day’s best specimen, weighing in at 4lbs 7ozs. Eric Altoft took third with two or three decent skimmers to a pound each adding to a net of bits, and Paul Cole at the next peg did similar to gain fourth. Results: 1 Archie Hare 16lbs 7ozs; 2 Shaun Bell 13lbs 9ozs; 3 Eric Altoft 6lbs 14ozs; 4 Paul Cole 5lbs 9ozs; 5 Dave Willows 4lbs 12ozs.

Just upstream of them were Fishtoft AC who also decided on a move off the Old Match Length, albeit for an entirely different reason. Unfortunately they faired much worse and only Rod Asher was able to tempt a couple of small bream for an easy win. The others could muster no more than a pound or so of small skimmers at best, the best of the rest being Janusz Kedzierski a few ounces ahead of Mark Cook and Jerry Clifton. Results: 1 Rod Asher 3lbs 5½ozs; Janusz Kedzierski 1lb 12ozs; 3 Mark Cook 1lb 3½ozs; 4 Jerry Clifton 1lb 3ozs. Next Sunday those not involved in the winter league should meet at McDonald’s 7am.

Stickney AC suffered much the same conditions on the Golf Course stretch where bonus fish were completely absent. Even so Chris Chapman came up with a winning weight of small fish which actually beat that of Rod’s in the Fishtoft match. After that though it also went quickly downhill and only Kevin Hunt and Roly Sharp made more than the pound. Results: 1 Chris Chapman 4lbs 2ozs; 2 Kevin Hunt 2lbs 8ozs; Roly Sharp 1lb 1oz.

The main event on Sunday was the Boston and District Angling Association pairs competition which was held on the Windsor Bank section of the Bargate Drain. The thirty anglers involved used pegs on both sides of the swimming pool footbridge with very little difference in overall weights between the two sections. The downstream pegs just off the end of Windsor Crescent just held sway as three of the top six anglers were pegged here together in a line. The very end peg was occupied by Craig Butterfield who made no mistake in targeting small skimmers with pole squatt and pinky and won the day, beating Newark’s Paul Pettener into third place. Sandwiched between the two was Craig’s partner Andy Scott who employed those self same tactics close to the footbridge for the second of those three double figure weights. Brian Clarke did well to hang in and grab some of the action at the next peg to Paul and took fourth in front of Mark Nesbitt and Les Waldren. Both Newark lads took second spot in their sections, which normally would be enough to take the title but on this occasion those results for both Craig and Scotty ensured a perfect score to lift the cup. Third place incidentally going to the Grimsby pairing of Mick Tamms and Les Waldren. Results: 1 Craig Butterfield, Boston, 11lbs 12ozs; 2 Andy Scott, Lincs County, 10lbs 4ozs; 3 Paul Pettener, East Midland MG, 10lbs 3ozs; 4 Brian Clarke, Boston, 7lbs 7ozs; 5 Mark Nesbitt 6lbs 12ozs; 6 Les Waldren, Grimsby, 6lbs 8ozs.

Next Sunday will see the start of the winter league, which will again use most of the pegs along Windsor Bank as well as some on the Horncastle Road stretch. Pleasure anglers please consult notice boards and tackle shops for up to date information on precise sections in use for this event.

The first round of the East Coast Junior League took place on a wet and misty Sunday morning using the golf course stretch of the Foss Dyke Canal at Lincoln. As only five teams are taking part the organizers are concerned for the future of this league and it is hoped that more anglers will be available for the next round.

But, the sun came out and with the small roach and perch suddenly having a go, all the young anglers managed to put a few fish in the net. New recruit Gary Harris of Kings Lynn fishing chopped worm at 9 metres, found bonus fish in the shape of a 1lb perch and 3lbs tench for his winning weight. Tying for second place was team mate Kirsty Reed and Boston’s Nicholas Wright who both used pole and squatt for small roach and skimmers, as did Brendan Strolger in fourth. Results: 1 Gary Harris, Kings Lynn, 7lbs; equal 2 Kirsty Read, Kings Lynn, and Nicholas Wright, Boston Smurfs, 4lbs 2ozs; 4 Brendan Strolger, Holbeach, 3lbs 2ozs.

On the team front it was a close finish with Boston Smurfs taking the top spot ahead of Kings Lynn with two points to spare, all four team members finishing second in section. Results: 1 Boston Smurfs 8pts; 2 Kings Lynn 10pts; 3 Holbeach 12pts; 4 Lincoln A 13pts; 5 Lincoln B 17pts. Both Boston and Holbeach were forced to use reserve anglers loaned from Lincoln and Kings Lynn to make up their team and it was Alex Dowe from Kings Lynn, fishing his first ever match, that made the difference. He won A section with 2lbs 13ozs, B section going to Brendan Strolger Holbeach on 3lbs 2ozs, C section Matt Brandon Lincoln 2lbs 4ozs and finally D section Josh Cade 1lbs 4ozs. Round two will take place on Ten Mile Bank on October 12. Contact Dave Rance on 01529 461415 if you wish to enter.

Review for September 21

Memorial match action proves a success

Now at the autumnal equinox and traditionally the weather changes from hereon in, and we could be faced with any sort of conditions from one day to the next. Some might say we have already experienced such and I think they called it ‘summer’. Never fear though, the sun made a sudden reappearance last Thursday to give us a few pleasant days leading into the weekend. A very short ‘Indian Summer’ you might say, but by the start of the present week, this all too brief interlude came to an end as rain moved in, and autumn is surely only just around the corner.

The Liam Wilson Memorial match took place at Westwood lakes on Saturday and as usual attracts much interest from local anglers and friends of Liam. With pegs on all three lakes in use, in perfect weather conditions and the fish in a good feeding mood it seemed all too easy. The younger anglers from year 8 and under fished newly stocked Hawk Lake and top dog here was Chris Weedon. He chose short pole with red maggot for a clear-cut victory over Chloe Raynor, and fishing his first ever match was Harry Cowling who occupied third spot. Results: 1 Chris Weedon 24lbs; 2 Chloe Raynor 21lbs 8ozs; 3 Harry Cowling 10lbs 6ozs.

The older group from year 9 onwards fished Kingfisher Lake and venue regular Daniel Austin fished long pole and maggot to the end of the island for an even bigger margin of victory. Twelve-ounce carp made the difference as second placed Luke Morley concentrated on the long pole to island with sweet corn & maggot, third going to Nicholas Wright who stuck to feeder tactics to the island. Results: 1 Daniel Austin 38lbs 7ozs; 2 Luke Morley 29lbs 2ozs; 3 Nicholas Wright 24lbs 7ozs.

The adult match was held on Kestrel Lake and found Sean Higgingbottom and Gavin Butler fighting it out for top honours. Gavin ultimately getting the result over his pal by fishing long pole and pellet to the island, but worthy of note was veteran Jim Smith’s performance in putting a good net of fish together for third place. Results: 1 Gavin Butler 65lbs 3ozs; 2 Sean Higginbottom 50lbs 12ozs; 3 Jim Smith 36lbs 6ozs.

Dave Julie & Lauren Wilson would like to thank everyone for their generosity help and support in making the day such a success. £524 was raised for Liam’s charities.

The gods were smiling on the junior anglers who took part in the Lincs Junior Championship on the River Ancholme at Brigg on Sunday, the weather being warm and sunny and the river in perfect condition. Sponsorship was provided by Scunthorpe and District as well as Eyewatch Security and so there was a good array of prizes to be won. Every one of those competing caught fish, in what proved to be an excellent match, the better weights turned in by the Intermediate (16 to 18 year olds) section from the Dyke End through to peg 40 of the Cake Mills stretch. It was pleasing to see that the majority of weights consisted of bags of roach and skimmers with several anglers reporting the loss of big tench and perch. Watching these youngsters in action you could see potential stars of the future in the way they set about the task of catching those fickle Ancholme fish. Boston were the clear team winners in the intermediate category and totalled 43lbs 15ozs, averaging almost 11lb each of the four, who were Luke Morley, Kirsty Reed, Tom Cockle and Reece Dillamore, with the last placed team in this group having the good total of 25lbs 4ozs. In addition Boston provided the outright match winner in the shape of Damien Evans who actually guested for Scunthorpe and made up that team which were one short on the day. Results: 1 Damien Evans Scunthorpe 17lbs 15ozs; 2 Luke Morley Boston 14lbs 10ozs; 3 Kirsty Reed Boston 13lbs 9ozs; 4 Tom Cockle Boston 9lbs 6ozs; 5 Josh Read Lincoln 9lbs 2ozs.

1 Boston 5pts; 2 Scunthorpe 9pts (30lbs 12½ozs); 3 Lincoln 9pts (25lbs 4ozs).

The juniors section (12 to 16) was won by Scunthorpe Red who boasted 3 out of 4 section winners and also provided the individual winner in Christian Kelly. Unfortunately Boston could not muster a squad for this event and did not take part, either in this or the Cadet categories. Results: 1 Christian Kelly Scunthorpe 3lbs 11½ozs; 2 Aaron Wallis Lincoln 3lbs 5ozs; 3 Adam Kisby Lincoln 3lbs 1ozs; 4 Ryan Lidgard Scunthorpe 2lbs 14ozs; 5 Matthew York Scunthorpe 2lbs 8 ½ ozs. Teams: 1 Scunthorpe Red 5pts; 2 Lincoln 9pts; 3 Scunthorpe Blue 10pts

The Cadet section (under-12s) was a much tighter affair with both Lincoln and Scunthorpe tying on 6 points each, forcing the organisers to do a count back on weight from which Scunthorpe emerged the winners; 7lbs 3½ozs to Lincoln’s 6lbs 8½ozs. The Scunthorpe squad also had the individual winner in the shape of Kane Brown who was fishing in only his second ever match, his mixed bag of small silver fish weighing 3lbs 7ozs.

Sunday also saw Fishtoft AC pay a visit to the Midville area of upper Hobhole Drain which is as yet so far unaffected by the Blue-Green algae problem. Even so, most members found the drain to be well below par as Janusz Kedzierski came home in a clear second place, well ahead of a gaggle of pound plus weights. Despite employing the pole and squatt method, which was similar in tactics to the winner, he finished with exactly half of his amount. Ben Brighton was that very man and won an easy victory with a weight which consisted mainly of small roach and skimmers. Results: 1 Ben Brighton 5lbs 2ozs; Janusz Kedzierski 2lbs 9ozs; 3 Stan Stankvich 1lb 14ozs; 4 Mark Naylor 1lb 12½ozs. Next Sunday meet Cowbridge locks 7am to fish the Old Match Length.

No better for Stickney AC who settled on the Sibsey Trader Drain where only the top two broke the pound barrier and half the field finished with dry nets. Kev Hunt made it to the top for the second week in a row but this week scraped home with only two ounces to spare. Both he and the runner up Chris Chapman found a few small skimmers to pole and squatt but Kevin held on to win by that narrow margin, young Kai Kerbel taking third. Results: 1 Kevin Hunt 2lbs 5ozs; Chris Chapman 2lbs 3ozs; 3 Kai Kerbel 13ozs.

The Foss Dyke Championship took place between Saxilby and the Doddington Road on Sunday and like many other events these days, attracted just 30 anglers. A good match in terms of close weights, with Lincoln anglers in general filling most of the prize list. However they were all beaten by in form Boston angler Steve Winter who won by just over a pound, adding this title to an ever-growing list of successes. Like second placed John Small he fished mainly pole and maggot at 10 metres, both adding four bonus skimmers to nets of ‘bits’. Alan Houlton also made the 5lbs plus category, thanks to a bonus perch of around 1½lbs and held on to third place in front of a gaggle of anglers in the 4lbs range, headed by John Turner. Results: 1 Steve Winter Lincs County 6lbs 12½ozs; 2 John Small Lincoln 5lbs 11ozs; 3 Alan Houlton Lincs Co. 5lbs 6½ozs; 4 John Turner Lincoln 4lbs 14ozs; 5 Chris Foulston Lincoln 4lbs 8ozs; 6 Roger Wakenshaw Lincoln 4lbs 6ozs.

The Boston & DAA Pairs competition will take place this coming Sunday September 28 on the Windsor Bank section of the Bargate Drain. Those wishing to take part should ring Barry Mallett on (01205) 871815 ASAP, which also applies to the Boston winter league (teams of four) which starts on the following Sunday, October 5.

Review for September 14

Jonathan is juniors’ top rod

A very poor week from a weather point of view and one that culminated in a thoroughly miserable day on Friday as the rain came down steadily and virtually fell from morning until night. A quiet and much drier week in prospect but who knows what conditions will confront us by the time next weekend arrives, certainly not less weed if the Bargate Drain is anything to go by.

The East Midland Angling Federation Junior Championships took place on the Coronation Channel at Spalding the following morning (Saturday) and after a two-year break due to lack of teams entering, it was great to see 20 youngsters from Spalding, Grantham and Boston contesting the event once more. A misty overcast start didn’t bode well as the youngsters struggled to find fish of any size and were reduced to fishing for the abundant fry, with as many as 15 needed for a single ounce. The Boston teams were quick to latch on to the situation and proceeded to dominate the match with the members of all three teams catching, something the others taking part were unable to do. Top rod on the day was Jonathon Taylor, fishing next to bridge at the first peg, and whose weight consisted mainly of those tiny specimens with the odd better roach to 3ozs. Joining him on the prize list were team-mates Luke Morley and Reece Dillamore who, with around 150 ‘pairs of eyes’ each, came in joint second. Third place fell to Spalding’s Tom Bell with a bonus eel making up most of his weight and fourth to Boston’s Damien Evans on a lowly 4ozs. Individuals: 1 Jonathon Taylor Boston Green 1lb 7ozs; equal 2 Luke Morley and Reece Dillamore Boston Green 10ozs; 3 Tom Bell Spalding 9ozs; 4 Damien Evans Boston Red 4ozs.

Boston made a clean sweep of the team event as the Green team turned in a perfect score of just 3pts, leaving the Red outfit in second and the Blue squad some way adrift in third but just ahead of the Grantham and Spalding contingents. Section winners: Luke Fahey Grantham Blue; Gary Harris Boston Red; Kirsty Read Boston Red. Teams: 1 Boston Green 3pts; 2 Boston Red 7pts; 3 Boston Blue 11 pts; 4= Grantham Blue & Spalding 12pts. With more than £200 worth of prizes on offer and donated by the Federation, all those taking part were well rewarded for their efforts.

Boston Junior Angling Club need more anglers to take part in competitions over these next few months and so anyone interested please contact the team manager Dave Rance on 01529 461415 for more information.

The main event, being the Boston and District Angling Association memorial match, turned into a non-event due to lack of local support and with less than a dozen anglers booked in, the decision to cancel was taken on Friday evening. The match may be run again later in the season or take place in conjunction with another competition, a decision on which will be taken shortly. Nothing for this coming weekend but the following Sunday September 28 will see the Boston and District Angling Association pairs match take place on the Bargate Drain, sections to be decided later. This is the usual precursor to the opening round of the Winter League on October 5. Bookings for these events are now being taken and as usual please contact Barry Mallett on (01205) 871815 for full details.

Fishtoft AC paid a visit to the Moon Lake complex on Sunday and the usual small carp to 2lbs provided most of the action. All except that is for a 16½ lbs specimen which fell to second placed Mark Cook using the branded pellet and feeder combination. Much the same for Ernie Heseltine who relied entirely on the smaller models to give him a convincing victory and finished nearly 8lbs clear with a level 40lbs. Results: 1 Ernie Heseltine 40lbs; 2 Mark Cook 32lbs 8ozs; 3 Mick Whitham 29lbs 12ozs; 4 Gordon Manning 21lbs.

Next Sunday meet 7am Aladdin’s Cave to fish the upper Hobhole Drain.

Small skimmers gave everyone some action when Stickney AC visited the Hobhole Drain at Ings Bridge last Sunday. A large perch of 1lb 11ozs helped Frank Scrupps to third place but both Paul Wood and Kevin Hunt both topped that with an all skimmer catch to pole and pinky, Kevin taking the honours on this occasion. Results: 1 Kevin Hunt 4lbs; 2 Paul Wood 3lbs 11ozs; 3 Frank Scrupps 2lbs 9ozs. Next Sunday meet Sibsey Trader Drain 6.30am.

NOTE: Please be aware that the highly poisonous blue-green algae has appeared on the Hobhole Drain in recent days and at present affects the section between the main road bridge at Haltoft End and the outfall at Fishtoft. The Witham 4^th District Drainage Board have already erected signs which effectively ban any fishing in this area and all anglers are requested to observe this restriction until further notice.

Review for September 7

Praise for hard work at ‘national’ match

Something of a turnaround in the weather, gradually losing the sun as rain clouds gathered during the week. The change was all too apparent come the weekend as air temperatures fell and so did the rain with everywhere suffering some heavy bursts, which at times merged into prolonged downpours. Nothing, thankfully, akin to what the good people of South Wales and parts of the Midlands suffered over last Friday. In comparison our local rivers and drains only rose slightly and showing a little more colour, the rain being really needed both by our farmers and fishermen alike. Unfortunately or not, as the case may be, we look to be in for more of the same over these next few days, but that’s enough of the farming forecast for now as I move on to the weekend reports.

Of greatest interest this week was of course the NFA Division One National Championship which took place on the River Huntspill and King Sedgemoor Drain in Somerset on Saturday. From the start, the area took some of those downpours but thankfully avoided the major flooding which occurred but just a few miles away. Full credit must still go to local staff of the Environment Agency who worked through the night to divert and reroute much of the floodwater that did enter that river and drainage system. Top marks must also go to the local match organisers who, because of safety concerns and flood risk, made a late decision to move sections off the main King Sedgemoor drain and spent many hours over Friday to sort out and peg new areas of the South Drain. The action proved to be fully justified as many of the top 20 weights came from this area, which was K section, and indeed the top two individuals were pegged side by side here at the very end of the match. Both Richard Lattimer and Duncan Ray set about the renowned breams shoals from the off and matched each other fish for fish for the most part. The former however gained an early advantage and went half a dozen fish in front, a lead which he never gave up and won the day handsomely with a 10 kilo plus advantage come the weigh in.

No local team interest as such but the entire extent of Lincolnshire and just beyond was well represented as our near neighbours Holbeach and District Angling Club, Mark One from Wisbech and Lincs County from Lincoln, together with teams from Scunthorpe, were all taking part against some of the country’s elite. Mixed fortunes as you may imagine in such illustrious company but most acquitted, and even excelled themselves by far. Scunthorpe finished way down the list in 39^th place out of the 63 teams fishing but one of their own affiliated clubs, in the shape of Winterton AC, put in a sterling performance to finish fifth. Just one place behind and 11 points down came Holbeach AC who far exceeded their own expectations in beating the likes of Leicester, Barnsley and District and Barnsley Blacks – the same could be said for Sensas Mark One who came home in 11^th. I save the best until last as the Lincoln based Garbolino Lincs County outfit could not take in the result when, having thought they had also missed out on a top 10 position, discovered that they had indeed pinched the runner-up spot ahead of all those other teams plus strong favourites Daiwa Dorking. By no means down to luck as an early morning look at the river brought about a team decision to bombard the swim at the off and then concentrate on small fish close to the near bank. The tactics obviously paid huge dividends as most of the team gathered 40 plus points out of the 63 available in each section. Boston anglers Mark Griggs and Steve Winter were part of this team and gave a good account of themselves, Mark being slightly disappointed with 29 points but still beating most in his vicinity, but well done especially to Steve who also hammered all around him with a weight of 2.22kg and a 60 point total. Chris Elsom emerged the team’s top man in winning his particular section with the best weight of 5.2kg. Before I close this account I am reminded that whilst the whole team are still over the moon at the outcome, they wish it known that this performance is dedicated to the memory of Paul Andrews who died prematurely before this competition could take place and is still sadly missed by those who knew him.

Team results: 1 Starlets AS 488 pts; 2 Garbolino Lincs County 448pts; 3 Shakespeare Redditch 416pts; 4 Team Daiwa Dorking 415pts; 5 Winterton Workingmens AC 413pts; 6 Holbeach and District AC 402pts; Individuals: 1 Richard Lattimer Milton Keynes AA 31.820kg; 2 Duncan Ray Fox Match Stanjay 20.900kg; 3 Richard Crispin Walton AC 20.000kg; 4 Graham Mumby Scunthorpe and DAA 17.000kg. Making it a golden weekend was the England National team who clinched both the team and individual top medals in the World Championship, staged in Cremona, Italy on Saturday.

Back to normal now and all hope of fishing the River Witham on Sunday was abandoned by Fishtoft AC when a close look at the river revealed huge rafts of floating weed going through at a vast rate of knots. Instead the club settled on a midway point of the Sibsey Trader Drain between the Trader Bridge and Stonebridge where conditions were not far short of ideal, displaying just a touch of colour. Here small roach and skimmers dominated catches and entirely suited the likes of Jerry Clifton who made no mistake with a 5lbs plus haul on pole, squatt and pinky to win from Gordon Manning. In turn Gordon employed a similar method to stay well ahead of Mark Cook in third. Results: 1 Jerry Clifton 5lbs 11ozs; 2 Gordon Manning 5lbs 1oz; 3 Mark Cook 3lbs 10ozs; 4 Stan Stankvich 2lbs 9ozs. Next Sunday meet Moon Lake, Tattershall 8.30am

Stickney AC also abandoned thoughts of fishing the South Forty Foot Drain on Sunday due to an abundance of surface weed and instead settled on the cemetery length of the Bargate Drain just below the railway bridge. Weed here is also still something of a nuisance as big fish were hooked and lost by most members but Ray Taylor managed to winkle out three smaller specimens of tench to take a comfortable victory. A smaller tench plus a bream gave Frank Scrupps the runner up position and Roly Sharp, using his favoured small fish tactics, came home in a clear third place. Results: 1 Ray Taylor 9lbs 8ozs; 2 Frank Scrupps; 3 Roly Sharp 4lbs 6ozs; 4 Kev Hunt 3lbs 4ozs.

A reminder to match anglers that the Boston and District Angling Association Memorial match will take place this coming Sunday (September 14) on the Horncastle Road section of the Bargate Drain. Those intending to fish should contact Barry Mallett on (01205) 871815, tickets at £3.50, pools optional on the morning. Also an early call for the Pairs match, at the end of the month on the 28^th and following that the Boston & DAA Winter League on October 5. This popular league is for teams of four over a series of five matches and will take place fortnightly and cost £50 per team for the whole series, same contact details as above.

Review for August 31

Phil scales double-figure match weight heights

Almost a repetition of last week, and if anything local waters have veered more to the stale side as no rainfall of any note has fallen in these last seven days. Consequently catches have been very similar with the odd few bream falling to pleasure anglers but match pressure soon makes them lie doggo until the coast is clear.

Talking about clear conditions and the Sibsey Trader system as a whole is in much this state and in this I also include the Bargate Drain. The Horncastle Road section was the scene of last Sunday’s Benevolent match from which all income is donated to either a nominated charity or goes to help any local angler and their families who may be temporarily in some distress. Extensive weed is another major and on-going problem in some areas and between the two, combine to make angling much more difficult than it should be.

Despite very thick early morning fog, which made travelling difficult for those coming 50 miles or more, the match attracted 25 anglers to the starting grid. The match sadly suffered from a lack of a better class of fish such as bream or tench, most of those being hooked were soon lost in this underwater jungle. Only their smaller cousins in the 1lb to 2lbs range were successfully landed and had no bearing on the final result. It was therefore left to the small fish experts to show their strengths as all of the top six places were fill with those. In this scenario fish are usually counted as caught by the angler and quantities ranging from around the 200, and up towards the 400 mark were seen in nets and duly weighed.

On this occasion last week’s top two of Steve Winter and Mark Griggs were well beaten and finished in the also-rans, but full credit must go to Phil Chesterton who brought the top end of that range to scales for the day’s only double figure weight. Not too far behind was team mate Chris Jenkinson who weighed in around 300 similar small skimmers and like Phil used simple tactics of the pole squatt and pinky combination; as did Andy Scott and Barry Wigginton in third and fourth respectively. Results: 1 Phil Chesterton, Van Den Eynde, 10lbs 11½ozs; 2 Chris Jenkinson, Van Den Eynde, 9lbs 3ozs; 3 Andy Scott, Garbolino Lincs County, 7lbs 13ozs; 4 Barry Wigginton, Van Den Eynde, 7lbs 2ozs; 5 Steve Winter, Garbolino Lincs County, 6lbs 9ozs; 6 John Spalton, Van Den Eynde, 6lbs 3ozs.

Eighteen anglers were in attendance for the latest Liam’s Elite match which took place on Hawk Lake at Westwood on Sunday. Most found the resident carp hard to come by with most of the weights made up of small tench, barbel, roach and skimmers, Andy Dillamore fishing pellet at the foot of the far shelf for a better stamp of skimmer to 1lb for his winning weight. 16yr old Daniel Austin appears to be an expert on this venue but pellet and maggot fished to the far shelf only brought him second place on this occasion. Boston Youth Team Member Chris Weedon, fishing only his second match of the year took third place, a superb result considering he competes at this level at the tender age of just 11 years old. Results: 1 Andy Dillamore 29lbs 4ozs; 2 Daniel Austin 20lbs 2ozs; 3 Chris Weedon 15lbs 4ozs; 4 Ken Mallows 13lbs 8ozs; 5 Luke Morley 11lbs 14ozs.

Fishtoft AC travelled to fish the Hudson Bay area of the Newark Dyke but most had to content with mediocre nets of small roach and skimmers to rod, stick float and maggot, which was the case for second placed Jerry Clifton. Not so Brian Blackamore who chose the feeder and maggot to conjure up a handful of good skimmers for a convincing victory. Results: 1 Brian Blackamore 6lbs 9ozs; 2 Jerry Clifton 4lbs 10ozs; 3 Gordon Manning 3lbs 13ozs; equal 4 Mark Cook and Sheila Manning 2lbs. Next Sunday meet boathouse Carlton Road 7am.

Stickney AC paid a return visit to the Hobhole Drain at Swandyke Lane on Sunday and despite some good catches of roach during mid week pleasure sessions, they could not be induced to feed in this instance. Instead members were generally confined to small skimmers a la the Bargate Drain and Kevin Hunt showed a clean pair of heels using the self same pole, squatt and pinky tactics. John Briggs finished over 2lbs short in second, a similar gap to Roly Sharp in third spot. Results: 1 Kevin Hunt 7lbs 2ozs; 2 John Briggs 5lbs; 3 Roly Sharp 2lbs 13ozs.

The Boston and District Angling Association require bailiffs to patrol local waters on a regular basis during the fishing season. Prospective candidates should be able to devote some time at the weekends to fulfil their duties and any additional time during midweek, especially the summer months, would be an advantage. Those interested parties should contact the Association president Brian Balderson, either at the Boston Angling Centre, Horncastle Road or ring him on (01205) 353436 for further details.

Review for August 24

Ben is clear-cut club match winner

It’s a case of ‘as you were’ with very little change in either weather or water conditions since my last report. What has changed, despite an obvious lack of colour, is a welcome increase in catches of the smaller species of fish, particularly on our local Bargate Drain.

Despite a soggy start to proceedings Fishtoft AC led the way with some good mixed bags of roach and skimmers from the Windsor Bank section of the Bargate Drain on Sunday morning. Ben Brighton showed a clean pair of heels and in reality won by the proverbial mile as he held a nigh 5lbs advantage at the end of the day. His catch consisted of some of those small skimmers, but roach, which were in a different class and went up to 8ozs each, earned him that easy victory over the second half of the match. Ernie Heseltine took second with a similar but smaller catch as he in turn only just beat Janusz Kedzierski to that second spot by less than a pound. Results: 1 Ben Brighton 12lbs 2ozs; 2 Ernie Heseltine 7lbs 7ozs; 3 Janusz Kedzierski 6lbs 8 ½ozs.

Next Sunday meet McDonalds, Sleaford bypass 7am.

A later start for the BDAA championship on the Horncastle Road section avoided the worst of that very damp morning and also produced good catches, both of those tiny skimmers and their much larger cousins. Mark Griggs put exactly the same weight onto the scales as Ben in that Fishtoft club match but in this case had to settle for second place. His catch consisted mainly of small skimmers but was ultimately beaten by team mate Steve Winter who amassed some 400 similar models but added a couple of small bream for good measure to win the day. For the record they both employed squatt and pinky combined with the pole to achieve this success. Some better fish were taken and Steve Lammiman made no mistake from a swim very close to his home and landed three bream to secure third. After that it was back to the small variety once more and Alan Houlton took an easy fourth position ahead of Barry Wigginton with around 250 such models. Both Colin Ingamells and Barry Pogson suffered the agonies of catching a couple of bream in the first hour or so but then had to sit out the remainder of the time without any more response from their respective swims, both being pegged adjacent to each other at the town end of the match. Results: 1 Steve Winter, Sensas Lincs County, 15lbs; 2 Mark Griggs, Sensas Lincs County, 12lbs 2ozs; 3 Steve Lammiman, Boston, 10lbs 9ozs; 4 Alan Houlton, Sensas Lincs County, 9lbs 11ozs; 5 Barry Wigginton, East Midland MG, 7lbs 5ozs; 6 Colin Ingamells, Boston, 6lbs.

Stickney AC tackled the Swandyke Lane area of the Hobhole Drain on Sunday after clearing an abundance of bankside vegetation. After finding a few bream in practice during mid-week only one of any size turned up for the match proper. This of course fell to the winner in the shape of Kevin Hunt who added around 5lbs of bits to earn the victory. Chris Chapman fished his usual style for bits and could be counted unlucky to come second, but at least deserved some credit to beat Roly Sharp who is another small fish expert. Results: 1 Kevin Hunt 9lbs 8ozs; 2 Chris Chapman 5lbs 11ozs; 3 Roly Sharp 4lbs 8ozs; 4 Rob Damms 3lbs 12ozs.

Bookings are now being taken for the Boston Benevolent match, which will take place over much the same stretch of the Bargate Drain this coming Sunday August 31. Ring Barry Mallett on (01205) 871815 for tickets please.

September will see further Boston and District Angling Association matches take place, which namely will be the Memorial match on Sunday the 14^th followed by the pairs match on the 28^th. This leads of course nicely into the start of the very popular Winter League on October 5 – yes its approaching that time already – and teams of four may be entered at any stage from now on, to Barry Mallett who will supply full details on application.

Review for August 17

Frank emerges to land annual match spoils

Another mixed bag of weather last week, and varied fortunes for many anglers for that matter. Sunday morning dawned with a real downpour but by the time the serious business got underway it looked more like a summer’s day than the middle of autumn. Noticeably small fish seem to be taking a breather and have laid low, continuing right through the weekend as cooler temperatures descended upon the local area.

Bigger fish, such as tench in the 4lbs plus category, made up for this downturn and was a feature of the re-arranged Boston and District Angling Association’s annual match. This took place on the Horncastle Road section of the Bargate Drain on Sunday but still attracted less than 20 local matchmen. After years of trying, and consistently finishing among the minor places, Frank Scrupps came up with the goods at long last and won this match in some style. One of only two anglers to achieve double figures Frank stuck to his usual quivertip tactics and red maggot on the hook to tempt three tench in the 4lbs range — the best going 4lbs 8ozs — over the course of the match. In complete contrast, those similar models landed last week all came in the last half hour or so: but either way some great degree of patience is required to achieve that end. At the other end of the match Don Green just managed to make the 10lbs mark, no small thanks to a decent bream of 3½ lbs to add to a few good skimmers for second spot. Similarly, third place was taken by Sean Higginbottom who added another of those tench to around 4lbs of bits and finish well clear of Ben Brighton in fourth. Results: 1 Frank Scrupps, Stickney AC, 13lbs; 2 Don Green, Boston, 10lbs; 3 Sean Higginbottom, Sensas Mark One, 7lbs 14ozs; 4 Ben Brighton, Fishtoft AC, 3lbs 3ozs.

The Fishtoft AC match on the Northlands stretch of the Sibsey Trader Drain showed similar characteristics as another of those 4lbs tench made a big difference to proceedings. The beneficiary in this instance was Jerry Clifton who added a 4lbs 2oz model to around 3lbs of other fish, all taken on pole and worm. Mark Cook was the one to suffer as the lack of a bonus fish relegated him to the runner up position as was much the same case for Rod Asher in third. Results: 1 Jerry Clifton 7lbs 11ozs; 2 Mark Cook 4lbs 3½ozs; 3 Rod Asher 3lbs 8ozs; 4 Janusz Kedzierski 1lb 6ozs.

Next Sunday meet Windsor Bank 7am.

The latest outing for Liam’s Elite fishing club took place on Sunday at Royle’s Lake, Leverton. The 17 anglers taking part were given the run around by the abundant stock of smaller F1 carp, most of which only came on to feed in the latter part of the match. Top rod was Pete Scriven who chose short pole and maggot to land a bonus koi and a gold fish to go with some of those for the winning weight. Andy Dillamore opted for pellet at 8 metres up in the water for a close second spot, only 2lbs adrift, Ken Mallows coming home well behind in third. Results: 1 Pete Scriven 35lbs 14ozs; 2 Andy Dillamore 33lbs 12ozs; 3 Ken Mallows 25lbs 8ozs; 4 Luke Morley 24lbs 4ozs; 5 Dave Morley 24lbs.

The Hobhole Drain, with more colour on display than at any time this season so far, showed much better form this last weekend. The latest Stickney AC match at Ings Bridge went a long way to prove the fact as Kevin Hunt brought home the bacon with a double figure net of mainly skimmers. He finished well ahead of last weeks winner Roly Sharp who chose similar tactics of pole and maggot but ended the day nearly 3lbs short. Rob Damms finished in the same street as Roly but can thank the appearance of a four pound bream for his third place, Yappy Mountain still with a decent weight for fourth. Results: 1 Kev Hunt 10lbs 12ozs; 2 Roly Sharp 7lbs 15ozs; 3 Rob Damms 7lbs 4ozs; 4 Yap Mountain 5lbs 2ozs.

Right up to date now and the last of the Monday evening series ended on a high note as Ben Brighton made double figures in the short time available. Taking a good skimmer catch in the early stages he then switched to seed bait and continued to top up with quality roach until the final whistle. The rest could not keep up and finished nearly 6lbs down but the fight for second went to the wire and a mere ounce separated that from third, in this case Steve Hiley beating Brian Blackamore to that position. Results: 1 Ben Brighton 10lbs 5ozs; 2 Steve Hiley 4lbs 9 ½ozs; 3 Brian Blackamore 4lbs 8½ozs.

Well, that’s the Monday evenings done with for this season but a series could take place on Saturday afternoons so I will keep you posted as to that situation. Watch this space! A reminder to matchmen that the BDAA Championship will take place this coming Bank Holiday Sunday (August 24) on the Bargate Drain and the following Sunday (August 31) it’s the benevolent match, which supports local charities. Tickets for both are available from Barry Mallett on (01205) 871815.

Review for August 10

Fossitt is tops in testing match action

A warm and fairly dry week for most of us but one which quickly deteriorated as the weekend approached and gave way to a very soggy Saturday. Sunday proved to be a much better day with only the odd shower but anglers in many places had to battle a near gale force wind.

The Charlie Doughty memorial match took place on the South Forty Foot Drain at Oldrids during those wet conditions on Saturday and proved to be a real tester as many of the 17 that turned out, struggled for a bite. Indeed even those that produced the better weights had to be content with mixed bags of just small roach, perch and skimmers. Only a handful made better than the pound mark, the top prize going to Tony Fossitt who used pole, chopped worm and casters to make a level 4lbs. Arthur Male chose the waggler and maggot method to finish close behind, just 2ozs short, third place falling to Craig Butterfield who used the pole, and nearly every bait available. Results: 1 Tony Fossitt 4lbs; 2 Arthur Male 3lbs 14ozs; 3 Craig Butterfield 3lbs 8ozs; 4 Chris Smith 2lbs 6ozs.

On to Sunday and Sibsey AC tackled those self same pegs and under those windy conditions only three of those involved avoided dry nets and had very little to show for their efforts. Kev Smith made a level pound of small fish to take second but the honours went to Derek Smith who managed to hang on to one solitary bream of 3lbs plus for his win. Results: 1 Derek Smith 3lbs 13ozs; 2 Kevin Smith 1lb; 3 Ian Singlehurst 12ozs.

In reality Fishtoft AC faired little better just down the road at Westwood Lake where wind strength was also a major factor and five small carp was just enough to hand the top prize to Gordon Manning. Not that he had it all his own way as Mick Whitham ran him very close with a similar number and had to settle for the runner up spot just 8ozs adrift. After that Ben Brighton came home third with the day’s only other double figure weight. Results: 1 Gordon Manning 17lbs 4ozs; 2 Mick Whitham 16lbs 12ozs; 3 Ben Brighton 10lbs 8ozs; 4 Mark Cook 7lbs 8ozs. Next Sunday meet Littlemoor Lane Sibsey Trader Drain 7am.

Much, much better on the adjoining Hawk Lake was the Castle AC who actually broke the match record. This fell to Danny Pettigrew who landed many small carp in the pound category, adding just the odd one or two going 5lbs. His net of fish went well into three figures and left only Steve Lane hanging onto his coat tails with just a touch under that three figure mark. Weights then fell away to half that and less but Danny did the double in taking the pairs competition with Stuart Jordan as his partner. Results: 1 Danny Pettigrew 111lbs 8ozs; 2 Steve Lane 99lbs 8ozs; Mick Corkrum 47lbs. Pairs:- Danny Pettigrew & Stuart Jordan 141lbs.

‘Lost fish’ was the theme of the Club Championship which took place on the Horncastle Road section of the Bargate Drain on Sunday. A fiercely contested match saw fortunes ebb and flow as a number of tench were lost to sub surface weed in many areas. The outcome really hinged on a single fish as any one of the top four teams could have taken the title with a little bit of luck. In the end that was not needed as that went to the Boston squad who stuck mainly to small fish tactics to finish just two points clear of the East Midland MG. They also can count themselves unfortunate, finishing just two points down but a man short on the day.

Stickney AC put in a sterling performance in taking third spot ahead of a good Grimsby outfit and also provided the top two individuals in the shape of Roly Sharp and Frank Scrupps. Contrasting methods here as Roly gained victory with a pole and red maggot approach to winkle out around 250 tiny half ounce skimmers. Frank, on the other hand stuck to his trusted quivertip and maggot tactics to conjure up two tench and a small bream for second place, these only appearing during the last half hour as the wind eased down. Similar fish fell to John Kimpson who alternated worm and red maggot to come home third, an agonising single ounce light of the second placed weight. Completing the individual list was Boston’s Andy Scott and Ernie Heseltine who both returned tiny skimmers on either side of the 200 mark. Teams: 1 Boston 20pts; 2 East Midland MG 18pts; 3 Stickney AC 17pts (22lbs 1oz); 4 Grimsby 18lbs 1oz. Individuals: 1 Roly Sharp, Stickney AC, 7lbs 9½ozs; 2 Frank Scrupps, Stickney AC, 6lbs 15ozs; 3 John Kimpson, Grimsby, 6lbs 14ozs; 4 Andy Scott, Boston, 6lbs 11½ozs; 5 Ernie Heseltine, Boston, 5lbs 9ozs

Finally the Windsor Bank area of the Bargate Drain showed much improvement over the previous Monday evening and once again a good net of roach proved decisive. Ben Brighton employed pole and seed tactics to achieve the winning weight of roach to 6ozs and beat second placed Steve Hiley by almost 3lbs, veteran Brian Clarke coming home third with another good weight of ‘bottletops’. Next Monday will be the last in this series as nights are now bringing these activities to an early closure, meet 5.15pm.

The rearranged Boston annual match will take place this coming Sunday August 17 on the Bargate Drain. For bookings please ring Barry Mallett on 01205 871815 ASAP.

The Boston Youth Angling Club is inviting any young anglers to join them on the South Forty Foot Drain at Wyberton Chain Bridge, on Saturday August 16 and 23 from 10.00am. There will be a number of match anglers to help and advise on best methods and baits required to catch more fish on the local drains and commercial waters. In addition there will be an opportunity to join the squad and take part in local matches and competitions fished against other clubs during the coming months. Anyone unable to attend or requiring more details should contact team manager Dave Rance on 01529 461415.

Review for August 3

Struggling times for local club members

A quiet week in most respects and local drains are now in need of an influx of fresh water, most displaying a distinct lack of colour and are verging on the stale side due to a severe shortage of rainfall in recent times. The few reports I have certainly bear this out as most club members struggled to put together any sort of decent weights from whichever water was fished.

Starting with Sibsey AC and a move to the Giggs Bridge area of the Hobhole Drain kept them busy on Sunday morning but tiny roach and skimmers were the only fish on offer. Colin Peltell went one better than last week and took the match with the clear cut advantage of 8ozs over match secretary Duncan Smith and the same distance again to son Declan in third, anglers offering a combination of squatt and pinky to attract bites. Results: 1 Colin Peltell 2lbs 8ozs; 2 Duncan Smith 2lbs; 3 Declan Peltell 1lb 7ozs.

Fishtoft AC faired little better on the South Forty Foot Drain at Cooks Lock which on their previous visit, just a fortnight before, had been in good form. No big bream to help them out on this occasion, instead they all had to settle for nets of small skimmers. Best of the bunch this week by far was Jerry Clifton who exactly doubled the weight of the two tied in second, they being Stan Stanovich and Alan Dixon. For the record most fish fell to the pole squatt and pinky combination. Results: 1 Jerry Clifton 3lbs 6ozs; equal 2 Stan Stanovich and Alan Dixon 1lb 11ozs; 4 Janusz Kedzierski 1lb 2½ozs. Next Sunday meet Westwood Lakes 8am.

Stickney AC tried the ‘ Billboards’ stretch of the Maud Foster drain on Sunday and bucked the trend a little. Although losing some bigger fish they enjoyed good catches of small bream, skimmers and tiny specimens as per Chris Chapman who finished third with a weigh of nearly 9lbs of that class of fish. Beating him for the top two places however was firstly a weight of skimmers to Roly Sharp to claim the runner up spot but top marks go to Kevin Hunt who included one or two 2lbs specimens in his winning weight. Results: 1 Kevin Hunt 9lbs 9ozs; 2 Roly Sharp 9lbs 6ozs; 3 Chris Chapman 8lbs 15ozs; 4 Rob Damms 4lbs 14ozs.

The Monday evening sweep completes the picture and there on Windsor Bank another stretch of gin clear water hindered any likelihood of good catches. The one bright note was a solitary bream of nearly 4lbs to give Janusz Kedzierski a well earned victory. As Gary Shinn could only muster a shade over 4lbs, then doing the maths, it still handed victory to Janusz with nearly 6lbs of bits to put with that bream. Results: 1 Janusz Kedzierski 9lbs 13ozs; 2 Gary Shinn 4lbs 1oz; 3 Steve Heighley 1lb 14ozs. Next week start 15 minutes early to give enough fishing time as the nights are now pulling in fast. Meet swimming pool footbridge at 5.15pm.

A final reminder that the club championship will take place this coming Sunday August 10 on the Bargate Drain and teams of six at £20 should be entered as soon as possible to Barry Mallett on 01205 871815. Pleasure anglers please observe notice boards on the bank side and in the Boston Angling Centre for allocated pegs. This competition will be followed by the annual match the following Sunday August 17 on the Bargate Drain — same details for that.

Review for July 27

Bream haul sees Kevin land spoils

Phew! What a scorcher. Things certainly warmed up from last midweek onwards and by Sunday temperatures reached 26 degrees at the very least. Not that this state of affairs gives rise to good catches as frequently the opposite is usually true. Very still and sultry conditions make most of the larger fish seek shelter amongst and under any abundant weed growth, which in many of our local drains we are by no means short of. Reports on our usual club Sunday fixtures seem to confirm same, the only exception being that of Sibsey AC on the Golf Course section of the Sibsey Trader Drain.

Here a couple of decent sized bream helped Kevin Smith to his second victory in a row and fell to small fish tactics i.e. pole and squatt. The others did very similar but had to settle for a few small fish as Colin Peltell took a distant second with those and Duncan Smith an agonising third. a mere half ounce behind with a couple of decent skimmers. Results: 1 Kevin Smith 7lbs 12½ozs; 2 Colin Peltell 1lb 12ozs; 3 Duncan Smith 1lb 11 ½ozs.

Fishtoft AC’s trip to the Coronation Channel at Spalding faired somewhat better as a whole but no bigger fish turned up to make weights look respectable. Instead the match was fought out with small skimmers and roach and Janusz Kedzierski turned in the top performance to take the match ahead of compatriot Stan. (Apologies, nobody at present seems to remember, or pronounce his second name). Results: 1 Janusz Kedzierski 3lbs 13ozs; 2 Stan 3lbs 4 ½ozs; 3 Rod Asher 2lbs 13ozs; 4 Mark Cook 2lbs 10ozs.

Excessive vegetation on the banks of the Hobhole Drain prompted Stickney AC to move their Sunday match to the Bargate Drain. Windsor Crescent was the venue and proved to be the right decision as decent nets of small fish were taken by most. None more so than Roly Sharp who came up with an all roach catch taken on pole, hemp and tares. Trouble was that he had to give best to Yappy Mountain who stuck to his trusted method of feeder and caster to come up with four small bream to win the day with a pound to spare over Roly. Results: 1 Yappy Mountain 10lbs 9ozs; 2 Roly Sharp 9lbs 9ozs; 3 Kevin Hunt 4lbs 6ozs; 4 Frank Scrupps 3lbs 7ozs.

The latest round of the Liam’s Elite matches found 18 anglers taking part at Priory Lakes, Ruskington and on what was the hottest Sunday of the season the fish were up on the top sunning themselves and not feeling very hungry. Poles were soon cast aside and the feeder put to good use as Tony Vamplew, fishing peg 29, placed sweet corn close to the island to take a succession of mostly small carp for the top weight. Second spot fell to Reece Dillamore who also fishing feeder with double red maggot on the hook for a level 20lbs. Tom Boaler came home a close third, just 4ozs short and this time luncheon meat accounted for his catch. Results: 1 Tony Vamplew 23lbs 6ozs; 2 Reece Dillamore 20lbs; Tom Boaler 19lbs 12ozs; 4 Jonathon Taylor 18lbs 3ozs.

On to Monday evening and the sweep over those same pegs on Windsor Crescent produced another set of small fish weights and were in effect even better, considering the time scale of no more than around three hours match length. Stan Stanovich rose to this occasion and held on to beat Kevin Hunt with a net of roach and skimmers to pole and pinky. Kevin for his part took a slightly better catch than the day before and even moved up the prize list to head Janusz Kedzierski by the close margin of just 1½ozs. Results: 1 Stan Stanovich 5lbs 8 ½ ozs; 2 Kevin Hunt 4lbs 11ozs; 3 Janusz Kedzierski 4lbs 9 ½ozs. Next Monday same time same place.

An early reminder to clubs that the Club Championship match will take place on Sunday August 10, entry fee £20 per team of six to Barry Mallett on 01205 871815 ASAP please.

Review for July 20

Sad loss of well-respected angler

First of all I must mark the sad and untimely passing of Paul Andrews who was a well liked and respected angler in both the county and national match scene. He was born and raised in Lincoln and represented their angling association in competitions for many a year before turning his attentions to the set-up of the Lincs County match squad. Under his guidance they themselves went from strength to strength and gave a good account of themselves in whichever match or competition they entered. He will always be remembered for his straightforward approach with everyone, his good, open and friendly nature, which I always found to be the case in over 20 years of my own personal dealings with him. I’m sure he will be held up as a role model for many a year to come and will be greatly missed by all that had the good fortune to know him, goodbye my good friend.

Apart from the clearance of weed from some swims, Winterton AC found the Maud Foster in tip-top form on Saturday. Pegged on Horncastle Road between the cemetery footbridge and the railway bridge, most members enjoyed a day of catching plenty of small skimmers as well as a sprinkling of larger specimens, including the odd tench, bream and perch. One each of those was enough to clinch victory for Graham Bontoft who used pole and worm to tempt a bream of around 4lbs and a tench of 3 ½ lbs. Karl Maddison tempted another of similar size and added a perch of 2 ½ lbs to pinch second spot ahead of club secretary Mal Chambers and Paul Stevenson. For the record Steve Baker made fifth with a good weight taken on pole and squatt with the lowest weight recorded being only just short of 3lbs. Results: 1 Graham Bontoft 12lbs 10ozs; 2 Karl Maddison 10lbs 15ozs; 3 Mal Chambers 9lbs 9ozs; 4 Paul Stevenson 9lbs 4ozs; 5 Steve Baker 7lbs 6ozs.

United Anglers continued the theme the following day and even improved their catch rate on Winterton over some of those self same pegs. Bream, perch and tench were again in attendance but Jamie Musgrove needed only one small bream to add to a good net of skimmers to win the day. Two tench and a bream put Colin Batchelor firmly into the runner up position from close to that railway bridge whilst third and fourth fell to Dave Johnson and Chris Willows, pegged between the two bridges. Lowest weight again was in the 2lbs plus range. Results: 1 James Musgrove 11lbs 12ozs; 2 Colin Batchelor 10lbs 8ozs; 3 Dave Johnson 9lbs 15ozs; 4 Chris Willows 8lbs 15ozs; 5 Archie Hare 5lbs 12ozs.

Skimmers were the mainstay of Fishtoft AC catches on the South Forty Foot Drain at Cooks lock on Sunday but small bream made the difference between success and failure. A couple of 2lbs models gave Mick Whitham third place but was beaten to second by two more of the same species in the 3lbs category by Jerry Clifton. All had to bow though to Mark Naylor as for the second week running a real monster turned up to help the lucky winner to that exalted position. This heavyweight, when finally landed, turned the scales to 8½lbs and full credit to Mark in landing such a large fish on the pole and pinky combination. Results: 1 Mark Naylor 11lbs 7ozs; 2 Jerry Clifton 10lbs 11ozs; 3 Mick Whitham 6lbs; 4 Ben Brighton 4lbs 15ozs. Next week Coronation Channel at Spalding, meet McDonalds 7am.

No bonus fish for Stickney AC on the Hobhole Drain at Ings Bridge on Sunday. Most members however managed nets of small skimmers in the 3lbs range and Kevin Hunt took a shade under 4lbs to emerge top dog. Alan Fear in second was only 2ozs back, as was John Briggs with a similar margin in third. Results: 1 Kevin Hunt 3lbs 15ozs; 2 Alan Fear 3lbs 13ozs; 3 John Briggs 3lbs 11ozs.

The Monday evening sweep on Windsor Bank attracted no less than 16 anglers but the venue showed a dip in form against recent weeks. Frank Scrupps, fishing the feeder and maggot came up with the odd perch and a few skimmers to take the match, well ahead in reality, of Ben Brighton in second, followed closely by Brian Blackamore in third place. Results: 1 Frank Scrupps 4lbs 14ozs; 2 Ben Brighton 3lbs 7ozs; 3 Brian Blackamore 3lbs 5ozs. Next Monday, same time, same place.

The Boston annual match was unfortunately postponed but will now take place on Sunday August 17.

Review for July 13

Tench catch gives Reeson winning advantage

Very much a mixed bag of weather since this time last week with sunshine, rain, hail and thunderstorms all following on in quick succession from one day to another. But after a wet start, an improving picture as we moved through the weekend, Sunday being by far the better day of the two.

Just for a change last Tuesday’s Senior Schools match took place in good conditions but unfortunately the venue did not match up to the occasion. The Horncastle Road section of the Bargate Drain played host to around 54 young anglers but with an over abundance of fringe weed as well as subsurface growth it was all too much of a struggle for many youngsters to tempt any more than a very few small fish to feed. As usual the more experienced could conjure up more than most of the field but at the final reckoning only one competitor actually managed to weigh in more than 1kg. Even so, the winner, in the shape of Chris Reeson, can thank a tench of around 3lbs for taking an interest in his bait as pole, squatt and pinky was being used to take a steady stream of small skimmers. No such luck for Zak Lomas who had to be happy in the knowledge that he produced the best net of small fish on the night to take the runner up spot, and also achieve third place with brother Thomas in the team event. The William Lovell A team were always going to be winners with the help of that tench but the experienced Giles team pushed them all the way and took second place. Even so, the brothers Lomas were not too far adrift and with the addition of a third member, which they did not have, they could well have made second, having finished less than 400g behind the Giles outfit. The individual competition is split into two age groups and obviously Chris Reeson won the older group of the two but credit must go to Ben Eldin in winning the under 14yrs category. Results were as follows. Under 14: 1 Ben Eldin Giles E 650g; 2 Jonathon Taylor Middlecott A 575g; 3 Leon Creasey Boston Grammer B 510g. Under 17: 1 Chris Reeson W. Lovell A 2.660kg; 2 Zak Lomas W Lovell B 960g; 3 Luke Morley Giles X 750g. Teams: 1 Wm Lovell A 2.780kg (Chris Reeson, Jake Chambers, Callum McPhail); 2 Giles X 1.935kg (Reece Dillamore, Luke Morley, Daniel Austin); 3 W. Lovell B 1.560kg (Zak Lomas, Thomas Lomas). Boston Angling Centre and members of Boston & DAA donated prizes and thanks were also given to them for the pegs, Norprint for use of their car park, parents, guardians and teachers plus those volunteers who came along to help at the weigh in.

The Leeds/Liverpool Canal at Wigan was not kind to the Boston team in general and Mark Cook in particular as a lost bream in subsurface vegetation after a 15minute struggle deprived him of a probable section win, a medal and a possible spot in the top 20 individuals. Worse still those extra points lost would have guaranteed a top ten place for the team and promotion to Div 1 as they finished in a halfway house just 14 points short of that target. On the plus side Chris Mawer gained 4^th in section with 1.740kg and Ben Brighton one better with 1.700kg. Teams: 1 Fox Match Black Horse 303pts; 2 Farnborough & District 275pts; 3 Eclipse AC 261pts; 10 Andover 221pts; 19 Boston & D.A.A. 207pts. Individuals: 1 Tom Robinson Reddish AC 9.950kg; 2 Ian Taylor Vale AC 5.250kg; 3 Mark Little Cheshire MG 5.240kg; 4 Keith Holland Eclipse AC 5.120kg.

The jinx on Mark continued the next day when Fishtoft AC paid a visit to the River Trent at Burton Joyce as all of 5 fish, each estimated at around 10lbs, either slipped the hook or broke very strong line on the run. A good measure of these fish was the one bream landed at the next-door peg by Brian Blackamore which won the day, and came in at a thumping 9lbs 12ozs. Odd fish made up the remaining weights and only Jerry Clifton breached the one pound mark with one roach and one perch. Results: 1 Brian Blackamore 9lbs 12oz; 2 Jerry Clifton 1lbs 9ozs; 3 Mick Morgan 12ozs; 4 Mark Naylor 6ozs. Next Sunday meet Cooks Lock, South Forty Foot Drain 7am.

Taking that bream out of the equation and the river is in reality in very poor form and putting everything into perspective is not producing as many fish as our local drains, as reports will prove. Sibsey AC tried the Cooks Lock section of the South Forty Foot Drain on Sunday and here skimmers and a small bream helped Kevin Smith to a convincing victory, even as Derek Smith used exactly the same tactics, with much less response. 1 Kevin Smith 8lbs; 2 Derek Smith 2lbs 9ozs; 3 Maurice Sharp 1lb 7½ozs.

Stickney AC struggled with an overabundance of bank vegetation on the Cowbridge Drain at Bakers Bridge but even here the match could be considered a success as Paul Woods won the contest with just under 4lbs. he used feeder tactics to tempt a few small bream, Kevin Hunt in second place choosing pole and pinky for similar fish. Results: 1 Paul Woods 3lbs 13ozs; 2 Kevin Hunt 2lbs 14ozs; 3 Chris Chapman 1lb 14ozs.

The Castle AC visited Royle’s fishery at Leverton and here small carp to 1 ½ lbs were the quarry. Steve Lane won this particular battle with a level 46lbs but was pushed all the way by Paul Oglesbee who finished probably just one fish short. After that Billy Coope and Paul Cater filled the minor places and still finished with weights in the 30lbs plus range. Results: 1 Steve Lane 46lbs; 2 Paul Oglesbee 44lbs 8ozs; 3 Billy Coope 35lbs 8ozs; 4 Paul Cater 34lbs.

Pride of place over the last seven days must be the latest Monday evening sweep on the Windsor Bank section of the Bargate Drain. Here a string of good weights at last, and particularly considering that the sweep is limited to the daylight remaining which at present is around 3 hours and falling. A 2lbs perch made the difference as Gary Shinn secured victory by less than than that weight but all those involved brought good nets of small bream plus the odd roach to scales and averaged over 3lbs per man. Results: 1 Gary Shinn 8lbs 3ozs; 2 Janusz Kedzierski 6lbs 8ozs; 3 Dave Simpson 6lbs. Next Monday same time same place.

The Boston & DAA’s annual match will take place this coming Sunday and providing there is sufficient entries the match will take place on the Windsor Bank section of the Bargate Drain. For tickets please ring Barry Mallett on 01205 871815, £3.50 entry and optional polls on the morning.

Review for July 6

Youngsters have to brave the elements

Quite a warm and virtually dry week and despite being in its usual gin clear and weedy state at this time of year, the River Witham continues to provide pleasure anglers with some superb bream fishing from many areas along the roadside stretch from Kirkstead to Dogdyke. Provided that some degree of patience is exercised, by which I mean at the very least an hour and sometimes more, then weights of fish go to 50lbs or more in a sitting, individual fish up to 6lbs. As far as the weather is concerned the overnight change into Saturday was supposed to be something more akin to autumn than mid-summer, as rain and strong winds were due to arrive and stay with us for the whole of the weekend, and beyond. That was the prediction, but in reality our area suffered no more than the odd hour or two of rain on Saturday and the odd heavy shower or two on Sunday, with a rumble of thunder thrown in for good measure.

Not so lucky the young competitors in Saturday’s Junior National Championship, held on the Stainforth and Keadby Canal near Doncaster, as they had to endure a violent thunderstorm and downpour during the afternoon’s proceedings. For the first time in a good many years Boston were unable to enter teams into this year’s event due to insufficient anglers available to form teams of six. But, a few local lads managed to join up with other teams and gave a good account of themselves on the day. In the Cadets (under 12) we had two anglers fishing with Mosella Farnborough and District in the shape of Keiron Woodhouse and Rocky Murley. Keiron, fishing his first National had a great match, out fishing all around him by catching three fish to everyone else’s one, only to find at the weight-in his keepnet had a hole at the bottom, and instead of winning the match he was last in section with only five fish. As a result the team finished in second place just one agonising point behind Smart Bait Leeds. Rocky faired much better and finished third overall, won his section and helped his team to second spot for a total of three medals on his first attempt at Cadet Nationals.

Boston had two anglers in the intermediate event, Luke Morley for Mosella Farnborough and District and Reece Dillamore fishing with Holbeach AC. Luke managed a creditable fourth in his section behind some top local anglers and weighed 2.056kg for 13^th place overall, whilst East Coast individual champion Reece Dillamore finished with 1.440kg. Results were as follows. Cadets: 1 Smart Bait Leeds 20pts; 2 Mosella Farnborough & District 19pts; 3 Worksop & DAA 13pts. Juniors: 1 Worksop & District AA 90pts; 2 Fox Match 88pts; 3 Smart bait Leeds 81pts. Intermediates: 1 Fox Match 87pts; 2 Wakefield AC 86pts; 3 Barnsley & District 80pts. Other results of local interest are: 9 Lincoln & District 58pts; 12 Holbeach & District 42pts.

Fishtoft AC tackled the Nunn's Bridge section of the Hobhole Drain on Sunday and most opted for the small fish approach, choosing short pole or whip combined with squatt and pinky over the near shelf. Top dog on this occasion, and with some ease, was Rod Asher who put nearly 3lbs daylight between himself and second placed Ben Brighton with a good net of mainly skimmers. Results: 1 Rod Asher 7lbs 9ozs; 2 Ben Brighton 4lbs 14ozs; 3 Nick Mummery 4lbs 2ozs; 4 Mark Cook 3lbs 7ozs. Next Sunday a trip to the R. Trent at Burton Joyce meet McDonalds, Sleaford 7am.

The South Forty Foot Drain at Oldrids was Sunday’s venue for Stickney AC, but the match was spoiled as most members complained of the loss of a few good sized fish due to an abundance of subsurface weed. Instead the competition was reduced to catching small fish to pole and pinky and here John Briggs, fresh from much practice with similar tactics on the Leeds/Liverpool Canal last week, clinched victory with a few ounces to spare on Yappy Mountain and Jamie Broughton. Results: 1 John Briggs 3lbs 8ozs; 2 Yappy Mountain 3lbs 1oz; 3 Jamie Broughton 2lbs 6ozs. Next Sunday meet Bakers Bridge (JJ Fuels) 6.30am.

A fine Monday evening after the day’s downpours did little to encourage other than very small roach to feed. Brian Blackamore just held on to win by a single ounce from Gary Shinn and Janusz Kedzierski not much further adrift in third. Results: 1 Brian Blackamore 2lbs 13ozs; 2 Gary Shinn 2lbs 12ozs; 3 Janusz Kedzierski 2lbs 7½ozs. Next Monday meet Swimming Pool footbridge 5.30pm as usual.

Review for June 29

Bradie lands spoils in decisive win

A week into the season and a better class of fish are suddenly starting to show, as last Tuesday’s junior schools match was the first to threw up some surprises, none more so than a mainly roach catch for the winning weight. The match took place over the entire length of Windsor Bank and good majority of those aged 8 to 11 had something to show for their efforts after the allotted two hours. Even more surprising was the fact that some of these brought higher weights to scales than their seniors had managed to do only the night before over the same pegs.

Indeed that winning weight of 1.820kg taken by Bradie Coulson, is almost exactly 4lbs and came in 8ozs above Monday’s winning net, with a full hour less of match time to play with. Timely advice from dad Wayne was taken on board and pinky fished over a groundbait and squatt feed produced the goods. At the end of the day Bradie scooped the major prizes, taking not only the individual winner’s trophy but also, single handedly the team prize for Frithville and naturally, his own age group (under 10) category as well. Other prizes went Tristan Simpson in the under 12 group winning that with 680g, Thomas Balden aged 8, the youngest angler weighing 340g and Libby Staples our best lady also aged 8 with 370g. Results: individuals, Under 10: 1 Bradie Coulson 1.820kg; 2 Jordon Smalley 860g; 3 Libby Staples 370g. Under 12: 1 Tristan Simpson 680g; 2 Mitchell Young 600g; 3 Thomas Vamplew 500g. Teams: 1 Frithville (Bradie Coulson) 1.820kg; 2 Fishtoft A 1.230kg ( Thomas Vamplew, Libby Staples, Billy Staples); 3 Sibsey A 1.220kg ( Tristan Simpson, Hannah Kitchen, James Wood).

Thanks were given to Boston and District AA for the pegs, Boston Angling Centre for prizes, those that helped at the weigh in, as well as all those parents, guardians and schools for looking after the youngsters.

Next Tuesday (July 8) the senior schools competition will take place on the Maud Foster Drain with the draw at 5.30pm in Norprint car park, off Horncastle Road. Teams not yet entered to fish can still do so by contacting secretary Barbara Clifton on 01205 760666 by this coming weekend.

Fishtoft AC travelled to Tydd Gote and here most opted for the bigger fish approach to achieve some success with a few small bream and the minor places. The day however belonged to Jerry Clifton who stuck to his tried and trusted method of pole, squatt and pinky and came up with the winning weight, albeit helped to that position by a bonus perch of around a pound. Nick Mummery made a bid for his second win on the trot but despite taking a bream plus 4 big skimmers he finished a pound down and had to settle for second, this being much the same for Brian Blackamore in third, without the aid of one of those bream. Results: 1 Jerry Clifton 6lbs 8ozs; 2 Nick Mummery 5lbs 8ozs; 3 Brian Blackamore 3lbs 14ozs; 4 Janusz Kedzierski 3lbs 7ozs. Next Sunday Hobhole Drain meet Nunn’s Bridge, Fishtoft.

Stickney AC chose the platforms on the Northlands section of the Sibsey Trader Drain and unfortunately was troubled with too many small pike to achieve any amount of uninterrupted fishing for silver fish.alan Fear gained his revenge this time and took the match with a number of tiny roach and skimmers to beat Chris Chapman into second by just 3ozs. Results: 1 Alan Fear 3lbs 2 Chris Chapman 2lbs 13ozs; 3 Roly Sharp 2lbs 4ozs. Next Sunday meet Wyberton Chain Bridge, S. Forty Foot Drain.

Similar weights for Sibsey AC members on their visit to the Hobhole Drain at Ings Bridge. Here a small bream made the difference and gave the spoils to Ian Singlehurst as the others could only muster nets of small roach and skimmers, Dan Mustill being the best of the rest. Resultd: 1 Ian Singlehurst 3lbs 2ozs; 2 Dan Mustill 2lbs 2ozs; equal 3 Derek Smith & Colin Peltell 1lb 8ozs.

A different story from the Castle AC on Marsh Lake at Tattershall where Paul Oglesbee took the match with some ease, around 15 carp to 3lbs to finish over 11lbs in front of Mick Corkrum and Danny Pettigrew in third. Results: Paul Oglesbee 40lbs 8ozs; 2 Mick Corkrum 29lbs 4ozs; 3 Danny Pettigrew 24lbs 8ozs.

Up to date now and the Monday evening sweep on Windsor Bank produced better weights and here newcomer Ikev Stan beat Brian Blackamore’s bream into second spot with a nice net of roach and skimmers. 1 Ikev Stan 4lbs 9ozs; 2 Brian Blackamore 3lbs 9ozs; 3 Gary Shinn 3lbs 6ozs. Next Monday more of the same, meet Swimming Pool footbridge 5.30pm.

Review for June 22

It’s double success for Rod

The season is now in full swing and all reports suggest mixed fortunes for most of those that have already tried the many differing waters around the area. Some got the bream feeding wherever they were found, including Windsor Bank and the ‘Billboards’ area of the Horncastle Road section of the Bargate Drain, as well as Timberland Lane on the River Witham at Kirkstead where weights of around 50lbs were taken. What is noticeable is the lack of smaller fish such as hand sized skimmers and quality roach, although it has to be said that these traditionally don’t show their faces until well into the season.

The Boston and District Angling Association committee and delegates match took place on the Windsor Bank section of the Bargate Drain on Monday June 16 and despite best efforts to tempt larger fish, it fell to Rod Asher to land around 40 or more tiny skimmers to clinch the trophy. As it turned out, only three of the small field made the pound mark as Ernie Heseltine pinched the runner-up place a mere half a ounce ahead of Alec Rawlings. Results: 1 Rod Asher 1lb 14ozs; 2 Ernie Heseltine 1lb 5ozs; 3 Alec Rawlings 1lb 4 ½ ozs.

Rod Asher tasted success for the second time in four days as he took the evening Fishtoft AC match on the cemetery length of the Bargate Drain. On this occasion a single fish made the difference as whilst others concentrated on small fish, Rod wrapped up proceedings with a nice carp of 4lbs to clinch victory ahead of Rex Harrison. Rex included a small tench of 2lbs together with other small fish; this being enough to clinch that second place ahead of Terry Gooding. Results: 1 Rod Asher 5lbs 8ozs; 2 Rex Harrison 3lbs 13ozs; 3 Terry Gooding 3lbs 8ozs; 4 Gordon Manning 3lbs 5½ozs.

Moving on to Sunday’s club matches, and it was more of the same, the odd large specimen helping the fortunate angler to an easy victory and the rest struggling to catch those tiny skimmers or finishing the day with a dry net. It was exactly that scenario for Fishtoft AC, this time on the South Forty Foot Drain at Oldrids, where Rod Asher suffered the same fate as those others in that previous midweek fixture. He managed third this time but was in effect resounding beaten by one huge bream of 6lbs 14ozs, taken by Nick Mummery on pole and single pinky. Second place fell to Brian Blackamore who was helped to that position by a perch of 2lbs. Results: 1 Nick Mummery 7lbs 9ozs; 2 Brian Blackamore 3lbs 7ozs; 3lbs 7ozs; 4 Janusz Kedzierski 10½ozs. Next Sunday (June 29), meet Little Chef 7am for a visit to Tydd Gote.

A bit thin on the ground, both in terms of members and fish but Stickney AC completed their fixture on the Hobhole Drain at Ings Bridge on Sunday. Small skimmers were the main takers and Frank Scrupps won this particular battle with a level 2lbs, beating Alan Fear into second by just 2ozs. Results: 1 Frank Scrupps 2lbs; 2 Alan Fear 1lb 10ozs; 3 Rob Damms 1lb.

Sibsey members suffered much the same fate on the Sibsey Trader Drain as only one weighed in over a pound. Whilst most added just a few tiny skimmers, young Declan Peltell showed a clean pair of heels to win easily with a single tench of over 4lbs. This, I may add, also landed on the pole and pinky combination. Results: 1 Declan Peltell 4lbs 1oz; 2 Kevin Smith 8ozs; 3 Derek Smith 4ozs.

Hopefully the Bargate Drain will improve as the season gets into full swing and next Monday evening sees the regular series continue on the same venue, meet 5.30 pm at the swimming pool footbridge.

Review for June 15

Making sure everything’s in order for new season

Hello once again boys and girls, already a new season and a little bit of maintenance should have been done before we arrived at that date. Prime consideration must be paid to that wicker basket which must be thoroughly scrubbed down and varnished, centre pin reels to be stripped and oiled along with your cane rod which also comes in for close inspection for cracked and worn rings, to be replaced where necessary – oops sorry, wrong era!

Seriously though, some maintenance on our modern tackle will not go amiss and may well avoid a huge disappointment on that first outing, with the loss of that first big fish due to faulty line, hooks or clogged up elastic. I may well be talking to the converted as nowadays the vast majority of regular anglers keep their gear in tip top condition, as they constantly attend many of the private lakes which now abound in the local area.

Moving on to a very important point, and we must make sure our documentation is in order, First of all a rod licence (for those aged 12 and over) should be already in your possession before venturing onto the riverbank as Environment Agency bailiffs will be very active in this area from the off. Secondly a Boston and D.A.A. member’s book should also be considered as at £17 per adult or £12 concessionary (River Bain permit £1 extra), this gives season long access to over 60 miles of Lincolnshire waters and must represent the best value for money throughout the whole country – considering that £3.50 will only buy you one temporary member’s day ticket on these self same waters when the local bailiff pays a visit.

The delayed final round of the East Coast Junior League was held at Moat Lake Tattershall on Sunday June 8. After Saturday’s rain this bright sunny Sunday saw the carp hard to come by for some of the young anglers fishing this final match of the series. Following on from Saturday’s big winning weights, the 28 anglers involved were hoping for a good day’s sport, and some points to sort out the very close individual and league positions.

As always the draw for these matches can be vital and with two top teams Smurfs and Holbeach drawing next to each other it turned out to be an interesting day. Top individuals in the individual points race, Reece Dilamore and Brendan Strolger, were separated by just the one point and with the nerves playing a big part for both anglers (not to mention the parents) this also proved to be a great battle. Top dog on the day was Smurfs Luke Morley who fished for carp using pellet and corn from peg 3. The rest finished way behind and in second was team mate Nicholas Wright who chose similar tactics, followed by Damien Evans of Kings Lynn. Results: 1 Luke Morley Smurfs 53lbs 3oz; 2Nicholas Wright Smurfs 22lbs 4oz; 3 Damian Evans Kings Lynn Gold 17lbs 9oz; 4 Danny Martin Lincoln B 14lbs 2oz; 5 Mattie Smith Lincoln B 11lbs 15oz.

Never really any doubt as to the final outcome and two section winners not only gave the Smurfs a win on the day by a single point from Lincoln B, but merely confirmed them as league winners by the handsome margin of 25 points over Holbeach. Teams: 1 Smurfs 8pts; 2 Lincoln B 9pts; 3 Lincoln A 14pts; 4 Boston Green 15pts; 5 Kings Lynn Gold; 6 Holbeach A 22pts. Final individual positions: 1 Reece Dillamore, Boston Smurfs, 22pts; 2 Brendan Strolger, Holbeach A, 23pts; 3 Luke Morley, Boston Smurfs, 24pts; equal 4 James Wright and Cameron Flowers, Holbeach A, Mattie Smith, Lincoln B, 29pts. Final team positions: 1 Boston Smurfs 84pts; 2 Holbeach A 109pts; 3 Lincoln A 136pts; 4 Lincoln B 145pts, 5 Boston Green and Kings Lynn Gold 169pts. All the young anglers would like to thank parents, helpers and angling clubs for their support during this year’s competition.

The junior section has been very active in recent weeks and has just completed their first month of weekly meetings of this year’s programme. So far, all of these sessions have taken place at Thorn House Fishery and have been well attended. This year the emphasis has been directed towards the novice and improver anglers and those aged 7 to 15, both boys and girls, have attended, plus the more experienced have also been made welcome. Unfortunately we are unable to accommodate any more newcomers at present until we can improve our ‘coach/helper to angler’ ratio. It has been a pleasure to find that slightly older anglers who have gone through this system in recent years are now turning out to help coach the new crop of anglers. More help will be needed if we are to take on more junior anglers.

This week, June 18, will see the juniors back at Thorn House and the following week, June 25, the session will be held on the 10 double sized platforms on the Sibsey Trader Drain at Northlands. These pegs have been provided by the Environment Agency specifically for the purpose of coaching and the less able bodied, therefore, pleasure anglers are requested to please leave them available after 5.30pm on that day.

Juniors who wish to join the waiting list, or senior members who wish to assist the coaches, are asked to get in touch with the lead coach on 0781 6211795 or register their interest at Boston Angling Centre, 01205 353436.

The season started with a whimper as very few sizeable fish were caught and you could also call it a lost weekend as the season was not rightly under way until one minute past midnight on Monday morning. Many anglers will of course take full advantage of these first few days with a week’s holiday, and fish from nigh dawn ‘til dusk. The Boston and DAA committee and delegates match took place on the Windsor Bank section of the Bargate Drain on Monday evening and despite best efforts to tempt larger fish, it fell to Rod Asher to land around 40 tiny skimmers to clinch the trophy. As it turned out, only three of the small field made the pound mark as Ernie Heseltine pinched the runner-up place, a mere half a ounce ahead of Alec Rawlings.

1 Rod Asher 1lb 14ozs; 2 Ernie Heseltine 1lb 5ozs; 3 Alec Rawlings 1lb 4½ozs.

Hopefully the drain will improve as the season gets into full swing and next Monday evening sees the start of a series on the same venue, meet 5.30 pm at the swimming pool footbridge.

Review for March 9

Decisive win for Maurice with mixed haul

There was a stormy period to go with the last few days of this current angling season, with Saturday giving us a foretaste of what was to come. An indifferent week has just gone but coincided with a dip in temperatures in the early part of the week. The River Witham saw a sudden plunge in catches, as those involved in the Wednesday sweep can confirm. A mixed bag of small fish gave Maurice Thacker another convincing win as he finished with a clear 3lbs advantage over second placed Brian Harding. Roger Woolhouse came home fourth another pound down, only just failing to overhaul Trevor Ogilvie who doggedly clung on to third by a mere half ounce. Results: 1 Maurice Thacker, Lincoln, 7lbs; 2 Brian Harding, Bourne MG, 4lbs; 3 Trevor Ogilvie, Boston, 3lbs 1½ozs; 4 Roger Woolhouse, Bardney, 3lbs 1oz.

Water temperatures were again on the rise and come the Saturday match big bream up to 5lbs suddenly decided it was feeding time and put a totally different aspect on proceedings. Lincs County angler Chris Elsom took the lion’s share of these and won handsomely with nearly 10lbs to spare over Roger Woolhouse who took a net of big skimmers and perch. Steve Nurse brought a similar catch to scales and was good value for his third spot, well ahead of Dave Bontoft who can thank another one of those big bream for his fourth place. Results: 1 Chris Elsom, Garbolino Lincs County, 24lbs 8ozs; 2 Roger Woolhouse, Bardney, 15lbs; 3 Steve Nurse, Grimsby, 14lbs 8ozs; 4 Dave Bontoft, Pets Cabin, 11lbs.

Sunday proved to be far, far better than was forecast and looking at these next reports would seem to have had a benign effect on catches after the gales during the previous day. Leaving it very late in the season but at long, long last the South Forty Foot drain at Swineshead Bridge ran in to some form for visitors Bingham AA on Sunday. Some indication of that came from pleasure anglers the previous week and this final club match confirmed those sort of catches. Skimmers were again the main takers. And newcomer Adam Cox showed how it was done by taking the only double-figure weight of the day to pole, pinkie and maggot over groundbait. Brian Vincent, at the next peg chose different tactics as chopped worm tempted a number of decent perch for a comfortable second place. Weights then fell to below half that of the winner but all of those taking part had something to show for their efforts and Dave Millington, at the far end peg, produced one good specimen perch of 2lbs 9ozs to round off an enjoyable day. Results: 1 Adam Cox 10lbs; 2 Brian Vincent 7lbs 7ozs; 3 Matt Wallington 4lbs 10ozs; 4 Steve Simpson 4lbs 9ozs; 5 Brian Lees 4lbs 7ozs.

Fishtoft AC chose a ‘hole in the ground’ for their latest venture and tackled one of the Moon Lake complex on Sunday. Here of course carp are first on the menu but Mick Whitham put a number of bream with those to record a runaway victory, beating Rod Asher into second spot with just over twice the weight. Only consolation for Rod is that he landed the best fish of the day, one such model of carp to the tune of 16lbs, which kept him ahead of the likes of Ben Brighton and Gordon Manning. Results: 1 Mick Whitham 50lbs 1oz; 2 Rod Asher 24lbs 4ozs; 3 Ben Brighton 22lbs; 4 Gordon Manning 15lbs 14ozs. The club will continue their match programme into the close season and a series of sweeps will be held at Westwood Lakes, meet on site 8.45am, starting on March 23.

Less than a dozen anglers turned out for the open match on the North Level at Parson Drove and here Barry Wigginton ran out an easy winner taking roach to 6ozs using pole and breadpunch. John Taylor also managed double figures with a similar net of roach for second place. Results: 1 Barry Wigginton, Essex VDE, 14lbs 8ozs peg 1; 2 John Taylor, Sensas Mark One, 10lbs 5ozs peg 5.

Round five of the East Coast Junior League also took place at Swan Bridge, Parson Drove instead of the River Glen. A fine and much warmer Sunday morning saw the seven teams of youngsters tackling the North Level Drain and all anglers managed to put some fish in the net for the first time since September. Almost a mirror of the previous day as top rod was also drawn at peg 1 next to the bridge, being local lad Brendan Strolger from Holbeach. He too caught roach to 6ozs but this time used pole and pinkie at 9m for the winning weight. Peg 5 also came up trumps again and Kyle Woodhouse of Lincoln took full advantage to clinch second, just 5ozs better than Boston’s Reece Dillamore. Results: 1 Brendan Strolger, Holbeach AC, 8lbs 2ozs; 2Kyle Woodhouse, Lincoln A, 6lbs 15ozs; 3Reece Dillamore, (Boston) Smurfs Elite, 6lbs 10ozs. Section winners: (A) Joss Cade Lincoln A 3lbs 13ozs; (B) James Wright Holbeach 6lbs 4ozs; (C) Danny Martin Lincoln A 5lbs 12ozs; (D) Joe Elliker Boston Green 2lbs 7ozs.

Teams were led home by a good solid performance from Lincoln A with two section winners for their 6pts, second place (Boston) Smurfs Elite with 8pts, third, Holbeach A 11pts and fourth Boston Green, with only three anglers, 18pts. Fifth were Kings Lynn Gold on 21pts. League to date: 1 Holbeach A 50pts; 2 (Boston) Smurfs Elite 64pts; 3 Lincoln A 89pts; 4 Lincoln B 98pts; 5 Kings Lynn Gold 103pts. Next round will take place at Dents Farm on March 30.

Review for March 2

Rick secures a follow-up success

Staying mainly dry with above average temperatures, but strong winds were the main feature over these last few days and despite making bait presentation more difficult, the overall affect was of better catches almost everywhere.

Last Tuesday’s match was more the exception as the RAF match at Tattershall took place under more benign conditions but threw up very much lower weights than later that week. No one made double figures as small perch and skimmers were the order of the day and brought a win for Gary Vongyer who trounced all those pegged around him. Kev Wilson managed to grab second with the help of a downstream end peg and Baggy Allen emerged from the middle of the pack to pinch third, just a single ounce in front of Steve Reid. The team event saw local team Coningsby triumph again, a result which consolidates their leading position but certainly leaves the title race wide open with three rounds remaining. Individuals: 1 Gary Vongyer, Waddington, 8lbs 9ozs; 2 Kev Wilson, Coningsby, 7lbs 10ozs; 3 Baggy Allen, Digby, 6lbs 12ozs; 4 Steve Reid, Cottesmore, 6lbs 11ozs; 5 Ben Jackson, Coningsby, 5lbs 10ozs; teams: 1 Coningsby A 5pts; 2 Old Lags 8pts; 3 Cottesmore A 10pts; 4 Digby A 15pts 5 Scampton 19pts.

Tench are not too common in any area of the River Witham and even less so under match conditions. The Wednesday sweep however featured two specimens in the 4lbs region and fell to those who eventually made it to the prize list. Rick Tweddel won his second match in less than a week and even came close to making it a hat trick last Saturday. Having won the final Bourne Winter League the previous Sunday, the Wednesday sweep on the R.Witham saw him inch to victory over Maurice Thacker, despite the latter including a tench in his catch of mainly perch and skimmers. Rick’s was a similar net taken on pole, worm and caster, both the top two easily outpacing Dave Bontoft who also included another tench in his third place weight. Results: 1 Rick Tweddel, Bourne MG, 20lbs 12½ozs; 2 Maurice Thacker, Lincoln, 20lbs 7ozs; 3 Dave Bontoft, Pets Cabin, 10lbs 4ozs; 4 Graham Worley, Lincoln, 10lbs 2ozs.

On to Saturday and Maurice gained full revenge as he took a good net of small bream to 2lbs to maggot and feeder for a comfortable win. Rick also found a similar sample to clinch second but had to give best on that day coming home some 3½lbs down, Brian Harding also getting in on the act and Graham Worley taking fourth again. Results: 1 Maurice Thacker, Lincoln, 17lbs 5ozs; 2 Rick Tweddel, Bourne MG, 13lbs 12ozs; 3 Brian Harding, Bourne MG, 11lbs 1oz; 4 Graham Worley, Lincoln, 9lbs 8ozs.

The Lincoln and DAA Cathedral match was one of two distinct parts as those pegged in the Laundry bridge area bagged up on quality roach whilst the rest at Dixon St struggled for very few bites. Pole, hemp and breadpunch was king and Nathan Zamzinski led the field home using exactly this method. Dave Small ran him close as similar tactics brought him second, well up on Roger Wakenshaw and Maurice Thacker in third and fourth respectively. Results: 1 Nathan Zamzinski, Lincoln, 18lbs 13ozs; 2 Dave Small, Lincoln Whisby AS, 3 Roger Wakenshaw, Whisby AS, 14lbs 7ozs; 4 Maurice Thacker, Lincoln, 9lbs 1oz.

A real ding-dong battle on the West Fen Drain where Mark Cook and Rod Asher went head to head in the latest Fishtoft AC match at Frithville on Sunday. They both chose tactics for large perch after finding only a few small silver fish in the initial stages and then took such models to 2 ½ lbs. Mark looked to have the match won with only minutes to go but Rod thought otherwise and on the last cast hooked and finally landed the best perch of the day, being one that weighed in at a level 3lbs to clinch the top spot. Results: 1 Rod Asher 11lbs 5ozs; 2 Mark Cook 10lbs 2ozs; 3 Alan Dixon 3lbs 8ozs; 4 Nick Mummery 1lb 6ozs. Next Sunday (March 9) the club will meet 8.30am at Moon Lake, Tattershall.

The Thompson Memorial Trophy will be fished for on the upper Witham on Sunday March 9. Draw 8.15am Bracebridge Café and fish 10am to 3pm, tickets £15 all in from Frank Butler on 01522 534174. Note: Bloodworm and joker are barred.

An open match will also be held on the North level, Parson Drove on Sunday March 9. Tickets are £20 all in and details from John Spalton on 07808 750779.