Much colder conditions last week made very little difference to catches, due mainly to the fact that most waters are already at their lowest temperature without actually freezing. Under these circumstances roach fishing, and for that matter the continuing inclusion of big skimmers and hybrids in many nets, is invariably at its best and the latest round of matches go a long way to support this fact.

The River Witham continues to excel, and apart from the leading lights the backing weights in both of last week’s sweeps showed substantial improvement over those in recent weeks. Swimfeeder and maggot for those fish is the successful method by far at present and local boy Roger Woolhouse topped the list in the Wednesday match. Only a few ounces to spare over second placed Chris Mawer, with Alan Houlton in fairly close order to take third, the rest not managing double figures. Results: 1 Roger Woolhouse, Bardney, 17lbs 6ozs; 2 Chris Mawer, Boston, 16lbs 12ozs; 3 Alan Houlton, Sensas Lincs County, 15lbs 7ozs; 4 Graham Worley, Lincoln, 8lbs 10ozs.

Similar weights came on Saturday but there was a slightly lower winning catch for Grimsby angler Lee Wright who also seems to have returned to the fold after a serious flirtation with golf. Graham Worley improved to second place this time around as Spalding angler Brian Harding grabbed third ahead of Maurice Thacker. Results: 1 Lee Wright, Grimsby, 15lbs 14ozs; 2 Graham Worley, Lincoln, 12lbs 10ozs; 3 Brian Harding, Bourne MG, 11lbs 8ozs; 4 Maurice Thacker, Lincoln, 10lbs 4ozs.

On to the River Steeping and despite the appearance of some Essex County and Peterborough stars, the locals showed them all a clean pair of heels in a match which saw a couple of dozen anglers in attendance. Kevin Harrison won the day as he included a better class of roach from a fancied peg, whilst Bob Smith confounded the pundits in taking second spot from an unfancied area. Arguably the best catch was that of Alec Rawlings who came home third with a little under 10lbs of roach, all taken on waggler and big maggot, lowest weight in the match being 4lbs 14ozs. Results: 1 Kevin Harrison, Wainfleet AC, 12lbs 4ozs; 2 Bob Smith, Team Maver, 11lbs 10ozs; 3 Alec Rawlings, Wainfleet AC, 9 lbs 6ozs; 4 Chris Howard, Spilsby AC, 8lbs 2ozs; equal 5 Mark Griggs, Keith Dobson and Chris Mawer, all Boston AA, 8lbs.

Over at Barston Lakes in Birmingham, the Sensas Challenge match, fished on Saturday by most of the country’s top anglers, included our own Gavin Butler, among others. He not only competed well in this exalted company but actually won his 16-peg section with 8kgs of roach. On to a league match at Milton Keynes on Sunday and he was again in action, just failing to win his section in a bloodworm-dominated event with just under 5½lbs.

The River Welland in Spalding followed much the same pattern as last week’s big event, as the latest Fishtoft AC Sunday sweep showed, the difference being that there was much less of the stretch covered on this occasion. Ben Brighton won the match at a canter whilst those pegged on either side struggled for the odd pound or so. To a lesser extent those close to second placed Gary Shinn did similar and Mark Cook and Barry Hudson were able to claim third and fourth places respectively with paltry low weights. Results: 1 Ben Brighton 14lbs 12ozs; 2 Gary Shinn 6lbs 5ozs; 3 Mark Cook 3lbs 5ozs; 4 Barry Hudson 2lbs 4ozs.
Next Sunday meet Sluice Bridge 7.30am as usual.

A better result over on the River Glen at Pinchbeck where the 50-odd anglers, practising for next week’s winter league match, found decent nets of roach in most of the pegged areas. A variety of methods caught fish but the most successful was groundbait and pinky, closely followed by the breadpunch approach. The top two, in the shape of winner Mick Dixon and runner-up Simon Godfrey, both chose the former tactics while third placed John Whincup put his faith in breadpunch – those three being the only ones to make double figure nets. Results: 1 Mick Dixon, Bourne MG, 13lbs 3ozs; 2 Simon Godfrey, Mark One, 11lbs 1oz; 3 John Whincup, Essex County, 11lbs; 4 Geoff Gray, Mark One, 9lbs 10ozs; 5 Wayne Swinscoe, Essex County, 9lbs 7ozs.

The fourth round of the Rilmac winter league was fished on the Foss Dyke Canal with four sections upstream of the Till and six above the Bridge Inn at Saxilby. Leading weights are usually in the 6lbs to 7lbs category and gale force winds ensured that this was again the case. Upstream of the Till mouth was the place to be and the top three individuals were all pegged adjacent to each other at the boat passing area. Ian Snowden headed those with a mainly roach catch taken at 10m using pure bloodworm. He clinched a narrow victory in beating Malc Firmstone by just 4ozs and Malc, for his part, took another good roach catch using a combination of bloodworm, caster and worm. Meat in the sandwich was Roger Wakenshaw who pinched third place, having taken two bonus perch at a late stage in the match and so denying that spot to Steve Woolard. Results: 1 Ian Snowden Lincoln Whisby AS 7lbs 5ozs; 2 Malc Firmstone Sensas Lincs County 7lbs 1oz; 3 Roger Wakenshaw Fox Elite 6lbs 8ozs; 4 Steve Woolard Whisby AS 6lbs 3ozs; 5 Dave Small Lincoln Whisby AS 6lbs; 6 Ken Norton Whisby AS 5lbs 15ozs.

The team event proved to be a disaster for the Sensas Lincs County side (last year’s winners) who slumped to an unprecedented last place. They had moved back into contention for the league when they drew level with league leaders Mossborough last week, but this result effectively blew their chances of retaining the title.
Victory went to Lincoln Whisby AS who put in a consistent performance on a difficult day as Mossborough kept on course for the league title by claiming second place, closely followed by Whisby AS. Results: 1 Lincoln Whisby AS 37pts; 2 Mossborough 35pts; 3 Whisby AS 34pts; 4 Fox Elite 23pts. Mossborough lead the league with seven points from Sensas Lincs County on 10 as Lincoln Whisby AS stay close in third with 11 points and Fox Elite some way adrift in fourth on 17 points.

Finally a reminder to Boston and District Angling Association members that their annual meeting and prize presentation evening will take place on Tuesday February 6 at the Sportsman (formerly Mayflower) Club, Rosebery Avenue 7.30pm for a 7.45pm start. All are welcome to attend. Please note that a current (2007) member’s book will be needed to attend the AGM which will follow the prize presentation – books will be available for purchase at the door.

Week ending January 21

Magnificent result for veteran Maurice

It was a much wetter week with more water than of late to contend with around the county’s waterways — all this discounting, of course, the horrific gales on Thursday and more strong winds when Saturday and Sunday arrived.

Before all that came about the RAF East Midlands Angling league, consisting of 25 anglers, took place on both the West Fen and Frith Bank Drains on a cold and very damp Tuesday, the former being nicely coloured but almost gin clear on the latter. An improved water level on Frith Bank (an average of around 18 inches deep but very little flow) made it hard work. Nevertheless all anglers pegged here caught reasonably well, weights ranging from double figures to more than 1lb, the most productive period being when there was some flow. Punch was the predominant bait, though the winner Stu Thompson actually caught perch to pole and pinky, being pegged next to the Tattershall Road Bridge. The West Fen was a little better overall as weights ranged from just under 10lbs down to around 2lbs, with the runner-up in the form of John Belcher being pegged here in the mid-20s. Results: 1 Stu Thompson 10lbs 12ozs; 2 John Belcher 9lbs 12ozs; 3 Gary Vongyer 9lbs.

A wonderful week for Maurice Thacker who, despite his advanced years (he is in his mid-70s) showed the others a clean pairs of heels both in the midweek sweep on the River Witham on Wednesday and again beating the self same anglers in the Kings Arms Saturday open. Two big bream and a numbers of skimmers to 1½ lbs made up the vast bulk of his mid-week weight to beat second placed Graham Worley by almost 10lbs. Graham in turn also took a single bream and similar sized skimmers to beat Ted Rowe into third place by much the same margin. Results: 1Maurice Thacker, Lincoln, 24lbs 14ozs; Graham Worley 16lbs 6ozs; 3 Ted Rowe, Lincoln, 5lbs 14ozs; 4 Ron Chambers, Woodhall Spa, 4lbs 10ozs.

That Saturday match brought lower overall weights but perhaps one of the best nets seen for many years, and not a huge weight at that. Only 11 fish in total for Maurice, one of which a small bream, but the rest were magnificent 1lb plus specimen roach, all of which were taken at the rod end to either caster or maggot. Once more Graham Worley claimed second spot way behind at some 8lbs down, his net of some 200 roach being more in the ounce category rather than the pound. Results: 1 Maurice Thacker Lincoln 14lbs 2ozs; 2 Graham Worley Lincoln 6lbs; 3 Ron Chambers Woodhall Spa 3lbs 2ozs.

The River Steeping match on Saturday attracted another 21 competitors and despite the adverse conditions it still produced the goods. The fancied end peg again turned up trumps and in-form Steve Winter continued his good luck in not only drawing that, but also added a bonus bream of around 2lbs to deny match organiser Chris Mawer his first win of the series. He fell short by an agonising 3ozs as Steve scored his second win in recent weeks, Keith Dobson with another double figure net moving up a place to third this time around. Result: 1 Steve Winter, Boston AA, 12lbs 4ozs; 2 Chris Mawer, Boston AA, 12lbs 1oz; 3 Keith Dobson, Westwood Lakes, 10lbs 3ozs; equal 4 Kevin Wilson, Spilsby, and Bob Smith, Team Maver, 8lbs 8ozs.

After the highs of a recent match at Swineshead Bridge, a comedown for Bingham AC who found the Frith Bank Drain in a dour mood. Clear water and a cutting strong wind did not help bait presentation and the only weight of consequence was that of the winner, again pegged at Tattershall Road Bridge. Almost a case of deja vu as Paul Gilbert carried on were he left off and brought another weight of perch to scales to win at a canter, the rest struggling in the 1lb range for a few small roach. Results: 1 Paul Gilbert 9lbs; 2 Brian Matthews 1lb 15ozs; 3 Dave Hall 1lbs 13ozs; 4 Matt Wallington 1lb 5ozs.

More water about than the previous report but like conditions were against Fishtoft AC who chose the River Glen at Surfleet for the latest match of their winter series. Small roach made up the bulk of catches and Jerry Clifton returned from holiday, and back to form, by almost doubling the weight of next best angler Mark Cook. He in turn only just kept ahead of the chasing pack as Nick Mummery took third only two ounces down with Ernie Heseltine a further 3ozs back in fourth. Results: 1 Jerry Clifton 4lbs 2ozs; 2 Mark Cook 2lbs 4ozs; 3 Nick Mummery 2lbs 2ozs; 4 Ernie Heseltine 1lb 15ozs. On Sunday January 28, meet again at Sluice Bridge 7.30am.

A different story from the River Welland in Spalding where the 96 anglers involved in the Bourne MG Winter League were greeted with almost perfect conditions, these being a mainly sheltered match length, some colour and a steady flow. Good nets of mainly roach were taken throughout the pegged length but the truth is that fish are tightly shoaled. The winner, in the shape of Rob Middleton, took over 22lbs to mainly breadpunch but similar tactics at adjacent pegs proved the point as paltry weights no higher than 2lbs were produced. Likewise down at the garage second placed Darren Page also finished in the 20lbs plus range but those around made nowhere near double figures. A closer battle for third as Mark One’s Simon Godfrey just edged out Chris Jenkinson by a single ounce, and stable mate Gary Miller similar, beating Mick Kelly to fifth by 4ozs.

Teamwise a much closer result than round one that saw Essex County A open up a commanding lead with an emphatic points total, but on this occasion EMAP Peterborough pegged them back and actually won the day by 4pts. After two rounds though, on a low points basis, Essex County A have a three point cushion between themselves and their second string, with the Peterborough outfit pulling themselves back to an equal third with Wades MG. Individual results: 1 Rob Middleton, Essex County, A 22lbs 12ozs; 2 Darren Page, EMAP Peterborough, 20lbs 6ozs; 3 Simon Godfrey, Dick Clegg Mark One White, 13lbs 3ozs; 4 Chris Jenkinson, Essex County A, 13lbs 2ozs; 5 Gary Miller, Essex County B, 11lbs 3ozs; 6 Mick Kelly, Stanjay Sports, 10lbs 15ozs. Teams: 1 EMAP Peterborough 24pts; 2 Essex County A 28pts; 3 Essex County B 31pts; 4 Lincs County 42pts. After two rounds: 1 Essex County A 3pts; 2 Essex County B 6pts; equal 3 EMAP Peterborough and Wades MG 7pts.

Week ending January 14

Kevin conjures up winning method

There has been plenty more grey days and ferocious winds since this time last week. But the continuation of above average temperatures has kept most fish on the feed. An added bonus has been the reappearance of those big bream over the holiday period. And more recently, and unusually for that matter, their much smaller cousins have also appeared in the odd match last weekend.

The latest Saturday sweep on the River Steeping attracted 23 anglers from around the county and continues to produce good results to different methods. A few better fish showed their faces this week and those skimmers also made their first appearance in this series, proof, if any was needed, of the mild weather. Winning method this time around was groundbait and pinky with big bronze maggot as hookbait, giving Kevin Harrison a clear 3lbs plus advantage over second placed Mark Griggs. Last weeks winner Bob Smith took third on this occasion but a mere 2ozs down to Mark with Keith Dobson no better than fourth for the second week running. Results: 1 Kevin Harrison, Wainfleet, 13lb 10oz; 2 Mark Griggs, Boston AA, 10lb 8oz; 3 Bob Smith, Team Maver, 10lb 6oz; 4 Keith Dobson, Westwood Lakes, 9lb 0oz; 5 Chris Mawer, Boston AA, 8lb 10oz; 6 Alec Rawlings, Wainfleet, 8lb 8oz.

Midweek saw a downturn in catches on the River Witham as no one reached double figures in Wednesday’s Kings Arms match at Tattershall Bridge. Some such as Graham Worley decided to put all his eggs in one basket and filled in his swim with groundbait laced with maggot and caster and then sat with a whip feeder throughout. This approach nearly worked but for Andy Scott who stuck mainly to his trusty small fish tactics and won the day with more than a pound to spare over Graham. Rod and line with both stick float and waggler brought third place for Ted Burks as Ted Rowe took fourth and agonising single ounce behind. Results: 1 Andy Scott Boston 7lbs 10ozs; 2 Graham Worley Lincoln 6lbs 7ozs; 3 Ted Burks Lincoln 5lbs 14ozs; 4 Ted Rowe Lincoln 5lbs 13ozs.

Saturday’s normal sweep was cancelled after most anglers decided to give a swollen R. Witham a miss, some choosing a more amenable – as they thought – River Welland in Spalding. Unfortunately anglers were faced with much the same problem of highly coloured fast flowing water, but the good news is that double figure catches were taken from all parts of the 60-pegged length. These nets were mainly of roach to the usual pole, groundbait and pinky tactics but Pete Jays decided otherwise and took 26 eels to add to around 4lbs of roach to clinch second spot behind his team-mate. This was none other than Mick Edwards who took the honours just 5ozs ahead of his travelling companion. Yet another travelling pair took the next two places as Mark Pollard held on to third by the smallest of margins, a mere half ounce in front of ex-world champion Bob Nudd with Lincoln’s Chris Elsom clinging to fifth. Results: 1 Mick Edwards, Peterborough, 14lbs 7ozs; 2 Pete Jayes, Peterborough, 14lbs 2ozs; 3 Mark Pollard, Essex VDE, 12lbs 11½ ozs; 4 Bob Nudd, Essex VDE, 12lbs 11ozs; 5 Chris Elsom, Lincs County, 11lbs 13ozs.

A brief respite for Sunday anglers as the wind finally decreased to below gale force and the sun reappeared, albeit air temperatures being way down on the previous day. Much more water in the Frith Bank Drain this week and Fishtoft AC’s latest match on this venue saw weights increase accordingly. In almost a complete reversal from last week, the ‘youngsters’ gained revenge over their older counterparts as a double figure net of decent roach gave Ben Brighton an emphatic victory. Gary Shinn had to settle for second place with a little under 10lbs, as did last week’s winner Barry Hudson, even with a higher weight than then. Results: 1 Ben Brighton 13lbs 10ozs; 2 Gary Shinn 9lbs 10ozs; 3 Barry Hudson 6lbs 9ozs; 4 Gordon Manning 4lbs 8ozs. Next Sunday meet as usual Sluice Bridge 7.30am.

The fourth round match of the East Coast Junior League series was fished on the Money’s Bridge section of the River Glen last Sunday. A cold but bright sunny morning greeted the 32 young anglers and although a fall in temperature and strong winds caused problems, the youngsters were up to the challenge as everyone had a few roach to show for their efforts. Top rod on the day was Boston Red’s Joe Paton who fished at 4m and 11m with pinky over ground bait throughout the four-hour match for 6lbs 14ozs. Boston lads made a clean sweep of the individual places as Nicholas Wright followed up with 5lbs 14ozs for second and Reece Dillamore third on 5lbs 3ozs.

Section winners were: A, Luke Morley, Boston Red, 4lbs 9ozs; B, Kirsty Reed, King’s Lynn Gold, 4lbs 2ozs; C, John Houlton, Lincoln A, 4lbs 15ozs; D, tie between Tyrell Dawson, Boston Green, and Steven Hillman, King’s Lynn Blue, 3lbs 11oz.

Teams: 1 Boston Green 10pts; 2 Boston Red 13pts; 3 Holbeach Red 16pts; equal 4 King’s Lynn Gold and Lincoln A.

After four rounds: 1 Boston Green 41pts; 2 King’s Lynn Gold 51pts; 3 Holbeach Red 62pts; 4 Boston Red 67pts; 5 Lincoln A 72pts.

Next Junior club match is at Swineshead Bridge on Saturday January 20. Details from Dave Rance on Sleaford 461415.

Week ending January 7

Bob pulls well clear of rivals with redfins haul

A few short showers and more gales arrived at the weekend, but nothing compared to other parts of the country that saw heavy and prolonged rain putting most rivers into dangerous flood conditions. It was virtually just the opposite on most of our local waterways and particularly the Frith Bank Drain which has currently no more than a few inches or so depth on any one part of it, but more of that later.

Saturday’s round of matches started with the regular sweep on the Steeping River at Wainfleet where 20 hopefuls turned up for this latest sweep. The river continues to surprise everyone in that the vast shoals of small fish are staying within the pegged area. However, Bob Smith emerged the winner this week with a new series record as he found much better specimens and ran out an easy winner with more than a stone of quality redfins. For the first time this season, John Panter featured in the prize list with a similar catch, these top two finishing well clear of the others. Chris Mawer had over 300 of those smaller specimens for his third place, all weights falling to the usual pole, groundbait, squatt and pinkie combination. Results: 1 Bob Smith, Team Maver, 14lb 14oz; 2 John Panter, Wainfleet, 12lb 2oz; 3 Chris Mawer, Boston AA, 9lb 9oz; 4 Keith Dobson, Westwood Lakes, 7lb 12oz; 5 Martin Riding, Wainflleet, 6 lb 14oz; 6 Pete Harker, Wainfleet, 6lb 4oz.

The River Witham showed two different faces last week as firstly the Wednesday sweep at Tattershall Bridge was a real struggle for most as they had to contend with heavily coloured and fast flowing water throughout much of the five hours. Consequently those big bream battened down the hatches in the main, three in number being the best for Rob Johnson who easily took the honours using ground bait feeder and worm. He finished a street ahead of Alan Houlton who did likewise but could only boast a single specimen of 5lbs to add to a few bits for his second placed weight. Results: 1 Rob Johnson, Bourne MG, 22lbs 5ozs; 2 Alan Houlton, Lincs County, 7lbs; 3 Lee Wright, Grimsby, 4lbs 14ozs; 4 Roger Woolhouse 4lbs 10ozs.

Much kinder conditions came on Saturday and a complete switch of tactics brought another victory for Rob Johnson with a good net of roach and hybrids. Pole and maggot was the telling method and team-mate Brian Harding used similar for his second placed catch of mainly roach, together with a sprinkling of small perch, last weeks winner Chris Elsom coming home third this time, over two pounds down. Results: 1 Rob Johnson, Bourne MG, 16lbs 4ozs; 2 Brian Harding, Bourne MG, 14lbs 15ozs; 3 Chris Elsom, Lincs County, 12lbs 11ozs; 4 Maurice Thacker, Lincoln Whisby AS, 11lbs 9ozs.

Still very windy but apart from that, Sunday brought better conditions as the Swineshead Bridge section of the South Forty Foot Drain again showed its true form. Bingham AC was the club to take full advantage this week as Martin Fielding won the day with nearly two stones of perch to pole and bronze maggot from the middle of the stretch. In contrast Matt Wallington elected to fish the Bolognese style and came home second with another good catch, one that included a good percentage of roach to go with the usual perch. Most others brought double figures to scales and the lowest weight of over 7lbs boasted perch to nigh 2lbs. Results: 1 Martin Fielding 27lbs 15ozs; 2 Matt Wallington 23lbs 3ozs; 3 Paul Gilbert 16lbs 2ozs; 4 Steve Hulme 15lbs 2ozs; 5 Brian Matthews 13lbs 14ozs.

Finally back to the Frith Bank Drain where Fishtoft AC tackled the mid-section around the Tattershall Road Bridge and found very clear and dangerously low water levels, which when plumbed were found to be no more than a few inches deep. If nothing else the huge shoals of good roach are under stress, a fact borne out by catches which only include their very small cousins of around the ounce mark at best. Having said that, this match was very competitive as a little over a pound covered the top four, Barry Hudson taking the top spot ahead of another experienced angler in the shape of Ernie Heseltine. Results: 1 Barry Hudson 6lbs 8ozs; 2 Ernie Heseltine 6lbs; 3 Gary Shinn 5lbs 14ozs; 4 Ben Brighton 5lbs 7ozs.
Sunday January 14, meet Sluice Bridge 7.30am.

The opening round of the Bourne MG winter league on the River Glen on Sunday (January 7) produced much better weights than was first envisaged. Most of the 90 competitors throughout the match length had good nets of roach to show for their efforts, with the winner being pegged in the high numbers for a change. Boston angler Steve Winter, fishing under the Harlequins banner, was that very man as he used pinky over ground bait and hemp to winkle out over 14lbs of mainly small roach. Mark One anglers Alan Lemmon and Rob Hewitt filled the next two places with similar nets whilst 6th placed Ian Chesney still needed over 11lbs to maintain his lofty position. Despite two appearances in the individual list the Mark One team had to give best to the Essex VDE superstars, and Wades MG for that matter, so finishing way down in total points and 4th behind those mentioned. That 13 point gap, already opened up between the leaders and the chasing pack is not decisive as anything can, and probably will happen, in the remaining four rounds, but the others have it all to do. Individuals: 1 Steve Winter, Harlequins, 14lbs 7ozs; 2 Alan Lemon, Dick Clegg Mark One, 12lbs 12ozs; 3 Rob Hewitt, Dick Clegg Mark One, 12lbs 8ozs; 4 Chris Jenkinson, Essex VDE A, 11lbs 14ozs; 5 D Stones, Wades Match Group, 11lbs 10ozs; 6 Ian Chesney, Wades Match Group, 11lbs 2ozs. Teams: 1 Essex VDE A 17 points; 2 Wades MG, 30pts; 3 Essex VDE B 32 pts; 4 Dick Clegg Mark One White 40pts; 5 MAP Peterborough 45pts.