North Sea · England

Lincolnshire and the Humber

The Humber is a big, muddy estuary with long concrete walls where cod and whiting run in winter. Holderness is a crumbling clay coast of open beaches down to Spurn. South of the Humber, the Lincolnshire coast is flat sand that fishes best over high. Bridlington, Filey and Flamborough are in the main guide.

10 shore marks · Rules from North Eastern IFCA (Humber, Holderness) and Eastern IFCA (Lincolnshire), checked 18 October 2026

Stay safe on this coast

  • Tides. Know the time of high water and your way off before you go out. Marks that fish around high water or on the flood can cut you off.
  • Cut-offs. Sandbanks, causeways and headlands flood from behind. After storms, re-walk even a familiar beach in daylight.
  • Rock. Watch the sea for 10 minutes before you go down: big waves come in sets. Wet weed is like ice. Never fish rock alone in the dark.
  • Lifejacket. Wear a lifejacket (PFD) on rocks, piers and walls, with the crotch strap fastened.
  • Emergency. Call 999 or 112 and ask for the Coastguard. Never go in after someone: call, and throw something that floats.

More in Rules and safety.

Rules

Rules in Lincolnshire and the Humber

Last checked 18 October 2026

Regulator: North Eastern IFCA (Humber, Holderness) and Eastern IFCA (Lincolnshire). Always check its own page before you keep a fish.

  • Bass: minimum size 42cm. Catch and release only from 1 February to 31 March. In January and from 1 April to 31 December you may keep 3 bass per angler per day. No bass may be taken with fixed or drift nets. These rules apply from the shore and from boats.
  • Two regulators share this region. North Eastern IFCA covers the coast from the Tyne to a line due east of Haile Sand Fort near Humberston, so all of the Humber, both banks, plus Holderness and Cleethorpes. Eastern IFCA covers the Lincolnshire coast from Haile Sand Fort south.
  • Both IFCAs have a minimum size byelaw that applies to anglers. North Eastern IFCA lists cod 35cm, whiting 27cm, plaice 27cm, sole 24cm and mackerel 30cm. Eastern IFCA lists the same, plus bass 42cm, haddock 30cm, herring 20cm and others. Shellfish sizes differ: see the table.
  • North Eastern IFCA: you need a Recreational Shellfish Permit to take edible or velvet crabs, lobsters or whelks, from the shore, a boat or diving. It allows up to 2 lobsters, 10 crabs and 30 whelks a day, per boat if several holders are on board. Pots and nets need tags, and escape gaps of 80mm by 46mm are compulsory.
  • North Eastern IFCA: no tope, or part of one, may be taken from the district. Shad must not be fished for or kept. Salmon and sea trout must go back unless you hold the right Environment Agency licence.
  • Spurn: North Eastern IFCA's Humber Estuary Fishing Byelaw protects a bed of dwarf eelgrass on the intertidal ground at Spurn Point from fishing and bait digging. A larger boundary was proposed in 2022, so check locally for the current area.
  • Eastern IFCA bans bait digging, other hand gathering and crab tiling in an area of intertidal eelgrass on its Lincolnshire part of the Humber Estuary (Regulatory Notice 4). Check its chart before digging bait.
  • Bass nursery areas: none in the Humber or on the Lincolnshire coast. The national order (1999 version) lists none here.
  • Spurn and Gibraltar Point are nature reserves. Follow the reserve's own access rules and signs.

Rules change, usually each spring. Where a rule says check locally, ask the regulator or harbour office before you fish.

Minimum sizes

Last checked 18 October 2026

Regulator: North Eastern IFCA (Humber, Holderness) and Eastern IFCA (Lincolnshire). Always check its own page before you keep a fish.

Minimum sizes
SpeciesLegal minimum
Bass42cm
Cod35cm
Whiting27cm
Plaice27cm
Sole24cm
Mackerel (North Sea)30cm
Lobster (carapace)88mm (NE IFCA), 87mm (Eastern IFCA)
Edible crab (width)140mm (NE IFCA), 115mm (Eastern IFCA)
Velvet crab (width)65mm

Tip of the snout to the end of the tail. Use the strictest figure you know as your own minimum.

Rules change, usually each spring. Where a rule says check locally, ask the regulator or harbour office before you fish.

Headline fish

November to February

Cod

Season

The Humber walls from the first frosts. Paternoster pennel with two yellowtail lug, at dusk on a decent tide.

Species guide: Cod and codling

October to March

Whiting

Season

Everywhere in winter, often in numbers. A single worm on a small hook, or strip mackerel.

Species guide: Whiting

October to April

Flounder

Season

The upper Humber walls at Hull and Paull. Peeler crab or rag on a flowing trace.

Species guide: Flounder

June to October

Bass

Season

Lincolnshire gullies over high after dark, ragworm in the gully mouth.

Species guide: Bass

All year, best autumn and winter

Dab

Season

Holderness and Lincolnshire sand. Small hooks with lug tipped with mackerel.

Species guide: Dab

Marks

The marks below are researched from public sources and local anglers' videos. We haven't fished them yet, so each is labelled Not yet visited by us. Drive times from your postcode are on the Marks page.

Local tips

The first frosts mean the Humber cod are in. One south bank local fishes down to low and back up; the cod came at dusk on the flood once the tide began to run, on two yellowtail lug.

Huge tides over 7m can make the Humber harder, not better. If weed and rubbish keep fouling the line, cast shorter.

The Humber wall concrete is slippery, so wear studded boots. You can fish beside the van at several marks, so take your litter home. Litter once nearly got the bank wall closed.

Stallingborough has numbered bays and locals rate it on the ebb. After rain, fine river weed clogs pulleys. Crabs strip worm, so check baits every 20 to 30 minutes.

East of Stallingborough near the big jetty the bottom is rocky. Bring spare leads and use a rotten bottom. Expect lots of small whiting on worm.

Chapel St Leonards and Trunch Lane fish best two or three hours either side of high. Ragworm in the mouth of a gully took a bass after dark.

On the flat Lincolnshire beaches, scratch a line in the sand at the end of the sandbar when you arrive. It stops you casting onto the bar as you back off with the tide.

In our own words, cross-checked against local anglers. Rules always come from the regulator, not a video.

Crabbing on this coast: family spots, and the crab and lobster rules for every regulator, are on Crabbing.

Local tackle and bait shops, charter boats and clubs: we're building these lists. Run one? Add it free.

Before you go

  • Tide times for the nearest port: EasyTide (UK Hydrographic Office).
  • Wind and sea state: Met Office inshore waters forecast.
  • Access to piers, harbours and ports changes. Check with the owner or harbour office before your first visit.

Sources