upper witham clubs

OK guys,ive been having a few sessions roving on parts of the upper witham around bassingham and auborn after the chub and roach.
Had some good results broken my chub pb twice so im pleased with that.
On my travels ive spotted a few barbel in various places only small and so far only hooked one which snagged me up under the bank and got away!
I have heard various whispers of good size fish around claypole and long bennington so went for a reccy and all seems to be private club fishing.Anyone know of any clubs that i can join and how to contact them? Any free stretches would be good to.They dont have to hold massive fish but i really enjoy this kind of fishing and love to beout anywhere on my local river.
Thanks in advance for any help.

boston have a stretch of the witham not sure which bit though.

http://www.bostonanglingassoc.co.uk/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

yeh as far as i know thats on the lower witham from lincoln to bardney lock then bardney to boston.Was after something upstream of lincoln.Thanks for the input though.
I have found out that scunthorpe have a stretch around long bennington so i might look into joining that.From what i can make out alot of the clubs on the upper to join you have to just about wait til someone dies!
Best get reading the obituaries!/forum/smilies/wink_smiley.gif
If anyone else knows of any clubs with available membership or day ticket stretches please let me know! thanks

Scunthorpe Police took over the fishing at Long Bennington from Grantham Angling Association and King William AC this season, but if it's barbel you're seeking along this stretch, then you may struggle as I've never caught one or heard of anyone else catching any on the SPAC stretch in the many years that I've fished it. That is not to say they're not there,because there are small pockets of barbel further upstream towards the Foston area and the only barrier is the weir to stop them travelling further downstream. Has far as I'm aware GAA still control the fishing around this area and their book is open to all.

You can also find the occasional barbel downstream fom Long Bennington. Newark Federation have a stretch down to Dry Doddington bridge, but to become a member you have to live within a certain radius of Newark.

There are also a number of private stretches around Long Bennington anddownstream towards Claypole.

If you look through some of the older threads, you will also find that the Upper Witham was a favourite river many years ago for the late great John Ledger who had a few noteable catches along these stretches.

Thanks for that Steve, thats just what i was after.i have seen a couple of barbel and hooked one and lost it.That was quite far down stream of the places you mention but like you say there isnt many of them and the chub get there first.
I went for a look last weekend at Claypole and was gutted it was all private around there,looked a really nice stretch.
Im not exclusivley after barbel,would love some nice roach fishing or a spot of roving for chub.I live just outside lincoln and the lower witham was where i grew up learning to fish but forsome reason i never fished the upper until last year and now i cant get enough but so many private clubs on it!
I will look into the Newark feds & GAA clubs Thanks for your help
This is why FM is so much better than any printed media out there!

If it helps I have a small stretch of private fishing on the Witham at Claypole.

I'd be happy to rent it out as we don't use it.

Ali

Are you just above the bridge at clay pole Ali?

The footbridge goes over my stretch. It's at the end of Welfen lane.