The Winter League is back! Our annual cold weather marathon is here again to give you all something to focus on during the tougher months of the year. 

In case you don’t already know what the Winter League is, it is a UK and Ireland based lure fishing species hunt in fresh and saltwater. All lures are welcome, big and small, but you will definitely need to scale down to target the mini-species to be in with a chance of winning. 

To sign up, all you have to do is message The Big Lerf on Facebook or Instagram or comment on the Facebook group.

We are determined to keep this competition open to all, but we cannot deny it is very time consuming for us to run over the winter months. So we have decided that the competition is still free entry, but if you could spare five pounds to ‘buy us a ko-fi’ on our website, that would be hugely appreciated and would go a long way to covering our time spent logging each catch, completing spreadsheets and sourcing prizes. You can find that website here –

https://ko-fi.com/thebiglerf

If you cannot afford that, we completely understand and are still happy to have you on board!

On Sunday 30th November, we will announce your individual numbers. You can then print off the Winter League Card (shared beforehand) and write your number on it. The League runs from 1st December 2025-28th February 2026.

We will update this page with the full list of prizes and sponsors very soon.
The biggest change this year is the introduction of two leagues for Saltwater and two leagues for Freshwater. The top leagues will be called the ‘Premier League’ and will feature anyone who has ever finished in the top 5 in previous Winter Leagues. Everyone else will go into the Championship. Our aim is to let the ultra competitive anglers battle against each other, while giving the rest a great chance of winning a prize. If the format is a success, we will add promotion to the Premier League for the winners of the Championship in next year’s event.

The categories will be constructed like this:

Most Species Saltwater – Premier League
Prizes for 1st, 2nd & 3rd

Most Species Saltwater – Championship
Prizes for 1st, 2nd & 3rd

Most Species Freshwater – Premier League
Prizes for 1st, 2nd & 3rd

Most Species Freshwater – Championship
Prizes for 1st, 2nd & 3rd

For juniors the format will remain the same as previous years, but this time we have added an additional prize for 6th place.

Most Species Junior – Fresh and Saltwater Combined
Prizes for 1st-6th

King Of The North
The winner will be the first angler who catches these species – 
Dab, coalfish, cod, short spined sea scorpion, butterfish, eelpout, lumpsucker and three spined stickleback. In the event that no one manages to catch all of these by 28th February, the winner will be the angler who has ticked off the most. The Big Lerf Team will give this to the angler who catches the most of these species but doesn’t finish in the top 3. That will be at our discretion depending on how well everyone does. 

Three Longest Perch & Flounder
We are once again including a side competition for those who simply want to target specimen fish. This is focused on two classic winter species, the perch and the flounder. The winners of these categories will be the angler who records the three largest individual fish over the course of the league.
All measurements must be clear and we can only accept accurate large competition measure mats for both species. Landing mats with measures on them can’t be used because they aren’t consistent. We no longer accept measuring tapes on top of either species. The Big Lerf team reserve the right to reject any entries that do not meet that criteria. The lure the fish was caught on must be in shot, as well as the Winter League card for catches to be accepted. We will also accept clear videos.

For both perch and flounder the measure is from the tip of the snout to the point of the tail.

Each time you catch a large perch or flounder, upload it to The Big Lerf Group or send it to us on Instagram, and we will record it, as you catch larger specimens we will replace your previous catches until the 28th February when we will announce the angler who has caught the longest combined three perch, and the angler who has caught the longest combined three flounder.

Most Species On Unscented Lures – Fresh & Saltwater Combined
Following the success of last year the unscented category returns. To win this category you need to catch the most species without using artificial baits such as Isome, Gulp, Ecogear Aqua, Major Craft Biobait, Fladen Vermz or similar. The easy rule is that if they have to be kept in liquid or oil to stop them drying out, then they aren’t accepted for this category.
Soft plastics that have scent such as Keitech, Geecrack, Magbite etc are allowed. We do ask that all lures are whole as much as possible. Instead of cutting them down, try and find a smaller soft plastic to do the job. This is to provide more of a challenge and test your problem solving.

Rules
All angling must be shore only in any fresh or saltwater location in England, Scotland, Wales, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, The Isle Of Man & The Channel Islands. 

For your entry to count it must have a clear photo with your number card next to it. Your photos must include the lure in shot, preferably in the mouth of the fish but we will accept it alongside the fish. All catches must be either uploaded to The Big Lerf Facebook Group or directly messaged to The Big Lerf Instagram account. We cannot accept catches that are posted in stories or disappearing messages as these can be easily missed. 

This competition is catch and release only, clearly deceased fish cannot be accepted.  

Lure and selected artificial baits only. All metal, hard plastic, soft plastic and hybrid lures count and you can use scented artificial baits such as Marukyu Isome, Berkley Gulp, Major Craft Biobait, Ecogear Aqua, Fladen Vermz and similar. Fake sweetcorn, bread etc does not count as a lure in this competition, it is quite easy to replicate these food items with the artificial baits such as Isome though and that is allowed. No live/real bait can be used and gluten or gelatin baits do not count either. 

All rigs must be single lure only, so no sets of sabikis or feathers, or two hook Dropshot rigs. We don’t accept Stinger Rigs but you can have multiple hooks on hard plastic lures or metal jigs.

If you want to use a tipped or baited metal – where a metal has an additional soft plastic, or artificial bait lure added to it – this is accepted, but there must only be one single hook on the metal. This can be on the rear or the head of the jig.

As trout are out of season for most of the Winter League’s duration, no trout, salmon or char species will count. 

Mirror, leather and common carp all count as one species as they are varieties of king carp, crucian and grass carp are separate species so will count. Brown/ornamental goldfish are accepted, although we need clear photos to accept these.

Ornamental and hybrid species/breeds such as orfe, koi carp and F1 carp will not be accepted. Colour morphs such as golden tench, golden rudd etc do not count as separate species. Invasive or naturalised species such as bitterling, topmouth gudgeon, prussian carp, pumpkinseed, wels catfish and similar all count, although please check your venue rules in regards to returning these species. 

We cannot include the following protected saltwater species:
Giant goby, couches goby, allis shad, twaite shad and european smelt.
To make it fair we also will not include any of these species caught in the Republic Of Ireland, despite some of them not being protected there. 

The decisions have been made to try and keep the rules simple and fair for all anglers. 

At all times it is up to The Big Lerf admin team whether an entry meets the rules and we reserve the right to deny any catches where we suspect the angler may have used bait or the photo is not detailed enough to ID the species. Photos must be clear, and use of viewing tanks is recommended, especially for micro species. We recommend taking many photos of your catch from different angles and if you catch an unusual species on a lure, try and take many photos from different angles. It helps us judge whether the catch is genuine. 

Most importantly have fun and we hope you catch plenty of fish!