Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
Free fishing at its finest
Top quality fishing doesn’t always have to cost a fortune to experience, as Phil Taylor shows on a neglected stretch of river offering big roach, perch and chub
IT DOESN’T necessarily come as much of a surprise when you see a big fish slide over the net at a heavily pressured fishery. After all, the sheer volume of anglers means that large quantities of bait are thrown in and the resident stocks pack on the pounds as a result.
With that in mind, you’d expect the complete opposite to be the case on sparsely- fished waters, with the fish susceptible to poor growth resulting from the miserly amount of grub on offer. But there are venues where stocks are thriving in every way possible in spite of angling neglect.
The River Bain in the Lincolnshire town of Horncastle is one such gem, with only a few anglers in the know fully aware of its potential.
Narrow enough to jump across in places, it is featureless over large swathes of the stretch. A few fallen trees and a couple of weirs are the only spots that catch the eye.
At first glance, it hardly oozes big- fish potential. Speak to local expert Phil Taylor, however, and he’ll soon change your opinion.
“I’ve fished down here for a number of years and despite the good head of big fish, I rarely see another angler fishing,” Phil told us.
“It’s a free fishing section on the edge of the town centre which is instantly dismissed by many people. But I’ve had some very special catches over the years.
“If a personal best roach or perch takes your fancy, your dreams could quite easily come true here.”
Mystery specimens
Phil’s favourite stretch of the water runs between two weirs on the outskirts of town. Over the years he has explored just about every inch of it and the results have been breathtaking.
“My biggest roach is exactly 2lb and I’ve lost count of the number of fish I’ve caught between 1lb and 1lb 12oz.
“It’s also home to lots of quality perch to 3lb, with a healthy sprinkling of chub to 5lb thrown into the mix.
“If you’re a predator angler there are also good numbers of pike and a double- figure specimen is a real possibility.
“How all of these fish have become so big despite a lack of bait from anglers is a bit of a mystery,” he said.
Such a blockbuster list of inhabitants is bound to whet the appetite for a session. While something special could certainly be your reward, it won’t come without putting in the hard yards.
The weirs and the occasional fallen tree offer a little sanctuary, particularly for perch and pike, but when it comes to roach it is anyone’s guess where they’ll be.
“They swim up and down in shoals but there are plenty of groups of them.
“It’s impossible to predict where they’ll be on any given day and it is important to travel light so that you can cover plenty of ground.”
Finding the lumps
Although the big fish are the centre of attention for anglers that have latched on to the venue’s potential, they have got to contend with a raft of tiddlers first.
Thousands of small roach swim along with the specimens and if you use baits such as maggots, casters and pinkies, you will most likely be inundated by them.
In order to avoid the juveniles, Phil uses a reasonably big bait, relying on a couple of loaves of bread to deliver his hard- won rewards.
“A large piece of breadflake or punch is ideal because it is big enough to stop you being pestered by small fish on every cast and appeals to big roach.
“I feed small balls of liquidised loosefeed on a regular basis to create a column of attraction. I use a Korda Krusha as this blends it unevenly leaving bread pieces of all sizes.
“This gives the big roach a few scraps to feed on without filling them up.”
On the tactical front, a two- rod approach helps cover your options. A light stick float enables the hookbait to trickle through the peg covering lots of water, while a link leger nails it stationary in one spot.
It’s impossible to work out which will be most effective on the day and, more often than not, they have different success rates in different swims.
“How all of these fish have become so big despite a lack of bait from anglers is a bit of a mystery”
Explore every inch
Despite the winter having firmly set in, the number of anglers on the banks has remained higher than average for this time of year due to the surreal circumstances that 2020 has presented.
Yet Phil remained adamant that his local haunt would have been barely troubled by anglers. Indeed, that was certainly the case when IYCF met up with him.
There were a couple of predator anglers working their lures methodically around the weir for pike, but once on the bank heading out of town, Phil had the stretch completely to himself.
“I’ve caught fish all the way along here,” he said as we headed towards his first spot.
“It only takes a short while to work out whether they are present in your swim or not. A few runs through with the float and 10 minutes with the link leger in place is enough to suss out its potential for the day.”
Nestling himself in just beyond the end of the swimming pool building, a small nugget of bread was fed, with the float tripping down just in front.
The link leger rig was set just upstream to prevent the two set- ups becoming tangled. After 10 minutes of inaction, Phil picked up his kit and was on the move.
He only shifted around 20m downstream before he settled himself down in a different swim and repeated the process once more.
“I’m now sitting at the spot that was effectively the end of the glide in my previous peg,” he said, explaining his choice of location.
“Hopping along the bank like this makes sure I don’t accidently miss any pockets of tightly shoaled fish.”
Spot two proved more productive than the first swim and Phil got the action underway with a couple of roach to 6oz, both falling to the float.
Encouraged by the presence of these fish, Phil decided to stick it out in the swim for a few minutes longer. Unfortunately, the bigger specimens he was hoping for never materialised.
Another half dozen zones were investigated over the next hour and while some produced several more smaller roach, the big ones continued to prove elusive.
His patience was eventually rewarded, however, when sat in a peg with a sunken tree to his right, the float dipping on the second trot through. This time the resistance was much more noticeable. The rod jagged as the fish angrily shook its head. Despite making several attempts to dive into a clump of nearside weed in the final stages of the fight, Phil soon had a 1lb redfin on the bank.
“That’s the sort of fish I am after! There are lots of them in here and I wouldn’t be surprised if I caught more from here,” he predicted.
A roach that was a touch smaller came on the next run through, before he was on the move yet again.
The final two swims also produced quality roach to around the 1lb mark and while none of the true giants had showed up, Phil had caught fish that would put a smile on any angler’s face.
“When it comes to free hotspots, there can’t be many better than this in the UK. Last year may have been full of doom and gloom but a visit to the Bain could make sure 2021 starts on a high.”