Information and ticket pricing up to date as of 23rd August 2024.
Burton Waters
When I lived in Grantham a few years back I was surrounded by a wealth of different venues to try, but finding any helpful information about them was almost impossible. It became a case of getting out there and having a go blind. In this instance, it was the Fossdyke Canal at nearby Lincoln. First trip, I ended up close to Burton Waters Marina, where the canal was chocolate coloured and flowing after recent heavy rain. I only had a couple of hours to play with on the muddy bank, so I fished my Cadence CP2000 Competition Pole over to some slacker water at the edge of a slight far bank bay. Cupping in groundbait and loose feeding red maggots, I caught a good assortment of roach, rudd, bleak, perch, skimmers, and dace. A slightly strung bulk rig was best, using a 0.75g float in around 5ft of water, edging the tackle though on a tight line.
Carholme Road
A bailiff from the Lincoln and District Angling Association invited me to fish a club match at Carholme Road, which is close to the centre of the city. The stretch in question was by the golf course and had only recently been cleared, unearthing swims opposite the boat moorings that hadn’t been used for many years. Oddly enough, I walked the section a few months previously when it resembled a jungle, overgrown and littered with fallen tree branches. After much hard work, you could park up behind most pegs. Being so close to Brayford Pool in Lincoln, this was a busy place with many boaters, bikers, joggers and dog walkers, but it was also stacked with fish. To my surprise, I had to discard my normal canal rigs and user stronger pole gear to deal with a shoal of lively bream, plus a lone tench, for a mega canal haul on a steaming hot day.
Saxilby Village
Saxilby is west of Lincoln, as the Fossdyke heads towards Torksey Lock, where it links up with the River Trent. The small and quiet little village is just off the busy A57. Fishing is allowed on the grassy bank by the road, also over in the small park where the moorings are. The canal widens here and is nicely sheltered, well-known as a winter hotspot, but also pleasant to fish in summer. As with most wider stretches, bream are resident. Apart from a pole, waggler tackle or light feeder rigs are worth considering. My choice would be a 12ft Cadence Match #2 for the waggler or a 11ft Feeder #1 for a light cage or bomb rig. There are also plenty of roach, silver bream, perch, bleak, and rudd. The park gets busy in nice weather, which is why I mostly left it alone until the first frosts of winter when it really comes into its own. More about that later.
Colbournes East
Locals refer to this prolific part of the canal as Colbournes, which is the name of a popular café at the mouth of a small turning off the A57. There’s plenty of parking space, but you need a trolley or barrow to get your gear across the main road and down a small track to the canal. The long straight to the left goes back towards Burton Waters, offering a wealth of swims to explore. Club bailiffs normally strim the early pegs each year, remembering the Fossdyke is connected to several rivers and has a close season. If you explore further, a pair of garden shears are needed to clear the high vegetation along the water’s edge, next to the grassy banks and towpath. It’s worth the effort because hardly anybody ventures past the pipe bridge, where plenty of far bank tree and bush cover holds all sorts of species, despite the busy train line directly behind.
Mystery Factor
I spent many enjoyable days exploring the Fossdyke in this area, hardly ever seeing another angler, surprising considering the brilliant sport on offer. Apart from good mixed catches, tench sometimes turned up, along with big perch and bream. Another feature was the silver bream; find a nest of these, and 8oz to pound fish are common. I also caught quality roach on the pole with hemp seed and on the waggler with caster. The waggler finds lots of rudd, including big ones to over two pounds, where a Cadence 12ft Match #1 rod is ideal. Bleak, dace, chublets, ruffe, gudgeon, and skimmers can also be encountered. With plenty of small fish to target, a CP200 6m Whip is handy kit for here. The only downside can be the big cruisers that often belt through on their way to the River Trent, regularly churning the water up into coffee colour.
Colbournes West
There’s a metal gate to the right after negotiating the footpath from the café to the canal. The first dozen or so pegs along the sloping grassy banks are normally cut out each season, before the canal starts to bend back towards the busy Lincoln Road. There’s a wide area where it’s quite shallow. A local told me this spot used to be renowned for bream many years ago, before the waterway silted up. I decided to give it a go, finding the nearside and far side margins heavily weeded. Being summer there was lots of boat traffic down the main channel and the water was heavily coloured. I kept noticing patches of bubbles in gaps in the weed over on the far side. There was too much water movement for the waggler, so I set up a bomb rig, which revealed bream still inhabited the wides. A Cadence 11ft #2 Feeder Rod is perfect for this stretch.
Winter Warmer
Much of the 11 miles of Fossdyke Canal doesn’t see an angler, due to limited access or the long hikes involved, but come colder weather, this can be turned into an advantage. Huge shoals of fish migrate into sheltered areas like the moorings at Saxilby. There are fewer boats after the first frosts, plus less people about. Predators help to shoal the fish tightly too, but despite odd pike strikes, the wides are generally rammed solid. On this occasion, I had cupped in groundbait, casters and chopped worm on a long pole line. After a while, small fizzes of bubbles over my feed area signalled something was interested. I tried double red maggots and an elastic stretcher resulted in the shape of a good perch. I then had to wade my way through lots of small stuff, topping up with more groundbait occasionally, but the bites kept coming.
Finding Bream
Continuing with the long pole and groundbait approach on the Saxilby moorings, my swim started fizzing with small patches of bubbles again, only this time proper bronze bream had moved in. These tend to push out the smaller silver versions that are so common in this area. They are shy fish and despite constant fizzes of interest around a pole float, it can take time to go under. When it eventually does, Fossdyke bream are extremely lively, giving light tackle a thorough workout. With less boat traffic in the winter, generally the canal doesn’t flow very much, unless there has been heavy rain. When I fished this spot during the warmer summer months, there was lots of water movement due to heavy traffic and the pole didn’t work so well. Loose feed and occasional balls of groundbait with waggler tackle scored better for the slabs.
Perch Haven
The Fossdyke Canal has long been renowned for the big perch it can produce. You see quite a few anglers taking the mobile drop-shotting approach with small rubber lures. This helps to avoid the hungry jack pike in winter, which are always hunting around the shoals of silver fish and grab bigger metal spinners with gusto. There are also zander and double figure specimens have been reported. But it’s the perch fishing that attracts most attention because it’s possible to catch plenty of pound-plus fish, along with two-pounders, or even bigger specimens. Decent perch often turn up while you are busy catching other species, especially the roach, which also show in better numbers from autumn into the depths of winter. Many locals reckon the red fins migrate into the canal late summer from rivers that feed it, inevitably followed by the perch.
Another Way
Although the Fossdyke is thought to be the oldest canal in the country, dating back to roman times, most of the waterway has had metal piling and flood banks installed in the modern era. This has evolved a novel way of catching big perch, locals call fishing down the tins, which means dropping in tight against the nearside piling. This has come about because the weedy margins have good depth. The wash from boat traffic creates a clear channel along the metal banks, which small fry use as a safe haven in summer when weed growth is at its strongest. But as the weed dies back in colder weather, the big perch maraud into this area. Pole fishing segments of worm, casters, or red maggots tight to the bank finds lots of fish, including some proper lumps. A Cadence CP800 Margin Pole is ideal for this method, with strong tackle.
The Roadside
Moving out of Saxilby, closer towards the River Trent, the Roadside match length hosts popular winter competitions. Some pegs are a bit hairy to get your gear to, thanks to the busy Gainsborough Road being right behind them, but as regular bait goes in the fishing gets better and better. There’s easier parking on the Bridge Section, where a derelict Indian Restaurant is situated. With roads either side of the canal, all the activity makes it a winter hotspot, attracting big shoals of prey fish that feel safe from predators like cormorants. Numerous methods work here, including whip and long pole for silver fish catches, margin pole for big perch and, in my case, the waggler. The latter, combined with my favourite Cadence CS10 Match 3000 reel, won me top section points with a double figure net of roach in a league match in the depths of winter.
Drinsey Nook
As Gainsborough Road bends away from the Fossdyke further west, there are a couple of lay-bys on Lincoln Road at a place called Drinsey Nook. As the quaint name suggests, this is a more peaceful spot. There are disabled pegs close to the parking area, after which the canal is sheltered by plenty of tree and bush cover, before it meanders off into the fields. Due to its easy access, this spot gets fished regularly, so with plenty of bait going in it holds a good head of roach, rudd, silver bream, skimmers, perch, and bleak. Odd bigger bream also turn up, along with sizeable eels and jack pike. Pole, whip or waggler methods are all worth a try, along with small feeders when the canal is towing hard. Sometimes club matches are held along here and swims that stretch out into the first field are cleared, otherwise shears will be needed.
Since I started fishing the Fossdyke, Lincoln and District Angling Association has grown bigger, with even more waters added to their portfolio. Up to date information is now available on their website and Facebook pages. Day tickets for the canal cost £10, or £5 concessionary.
