The WORST episodes of Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing
Every episode of Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing!
Comedians and lifelong friends Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse share their personal and hilarious life experiences while travelling around the UK fishing for elusive species.
#1 - Wrasse: Burgh Island, South Devon
Season 6 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/1/2023
The pair head to the incredible tidal outcrop of Burgh Island on the south coast of Devon, where their quarry is wrasse. A very special surprise awaits Paul and terrier Ted.
#2 - Perch: River Thames, Berkshire
Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/30/2022
Paul and Bob take trusty terrier Ted to fish for perch on the River Thames. Comedian Richard Herring joins the three of them for dinner.
#3 - Tench in Norfolk
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 6/20/2018
While in Norfolk fishing for tench, Bob tries to impress Paul with his childhood fishing rod - and fails. They share nostalgia for their younger years and reveal how they recently came face to face with their own mortality. After a brief respite in a local brewery, they reluctantly camp down in yurts before fishing again the next day where the elusive tench seems to evade them until the very last minute.
#4 - Rainbow Trout in the Monsal Valley
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 7/4/2018
In the beautiful Monsal Valley in Derbyshire, Paul teaches Bob how to fly-fish for wild rainbow trout. While fishing, they discuss their humble beginnings in show business and have a good gossip about their contemporaries. Bob cooks Paul his very personal recipe of 'tuna Melanie' on the river bank, and it soon transpires his cooking is a lot more successful than his fishing.
#5 - Carp & Barbel: Reigate Hills, Surrey
Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/7/2022
Paul and Bob visit the heart of the English countryside in the Surrey Hills, where they fish for carp and barbel. Health expert Dr Anand Patel joins them by the lake.
#6 - Crucian Carp: Great Somerford Lakes, Wiltshire
Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 9/20/2020
Paul and Bob go lake fishing in Wiltshire, and they are up before sunrise to give themselves a fighting chance of catching a crucian carp - one of the UK's most shy and elusive species that prefer the shadows of dawn and dusk and are notoriously tricky to catch. A relative of the goldfish, they have been likened to trying to catch a unicorn. Paul and Bob will need to employ every ounce of stealth they can muster, but will it be enough to net a crucian?
#7 - Brown Trout & Bream: Lough Corrib, Ireland
Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/14/2022
Paul and Bob venture to the mighty Lough Corrib, Ireland’s largest lough and one of the best places in the country to try trout fishing. Later, they meet Undertones singer Fergal Sharkey.
#8 - Ferox Trout: Loch Garry, Scottish Highlands
Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/23/2022
Paul and Bob catch the sleeper train to the Scottish Highlands to fish for ferox trout. Bob can’t resist the challenge to look for Nessie in the vast waters of Loch Ness.
#9 - Roach: River Avon, Wiltshire
Season 6 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/17/2023
Paul, Bob and Ted travel in style to the Hampshire Avon. Bob makes the most of the unique accommodation, and Ted has a blind date.
#10 - The Carp: Bentley Lake, Essex
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 8/9/2019
Paul and Bob brave the wild lakes of Essex in search of the mighty carp. They have the latest high-tech equipment and are fully prepared to stay all night if they have to, to catch the biggest fish they can. They discuss the true meaning of a mid-life crisis and decide to visit a beauty clinic to see if there are any suitable treatments available to re-capture their youth. Bob reveals his secret recipe to make the perfect scrambled eggs but it is not the only thing which shocks Paul in this episode.
#11 - Pike: Dumfries and Galloway
Season 6 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/10/2023
Paul and Bob travel to Dumfries and Galloway in search of a big pike. They stay overnight in a 15th-century haunted castle.
#12 - Bream at Burghley House
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/5/2021
Paul and Bob accept a special invitation to fish the estate lake at Burghley House, which sits on the border of Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire. Built in the 16th century by William Cecil, Elizabeth I’s lord high chancellor, Burghley House is home to some of the most majestic landscapes Paul and Bob have ever found themselves in. With a spectacular lake and stunning gardens, all designed by the iconic Capability Brown, Paul and Bob hope they can do the place justice - and net a decent catch.
#13 - Barbel on the Wye
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 6/27/2018
Paul and Bob fish for the mighty barbel in Hay-on-Wye. Passing a graveyard, they muse about the future and chat to a local vicar about death, and their own funerals. To lighten the mood back in their wooden fishing cabin, Bob promises Paul a very special treat if they are successful in their angling efforts.
#14 - Salmon: River Tay, Scotland
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 8/16/2019
Bob has harboured a childhood dream to catch a salmon so they set off for the River Tay in Scotland full of hope and excitement for this special trip. A ghillie guides them up the intimidating river in a boat and they fish using various methods to catch the elusive fish. They discuss luck and fate and the part it has played in their lives. They stay in the heart of the highlands, Bob cooks Paul a traditional Scottish breakfast and they set off for a swift round of golf before resuming their fishing. As the sun sets they reflect on their dreams – did they come true on this trip?
#15 - Wild Brown Trout: River Usk, South Wales
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 8/2/2019
Paul and Bob travel to the picturesque River Usk in Wales, where Paul’s father first taught him to fish as a young child. Their quarry is the wild brown trout. They discuss their respective childhoods and reflect on their own family lives. In their cosy cottage accommodation in the heart of the countryside they compare school photographs and Paul serenades Bob with his guitar.
#16 - Pike: Broadland, Norfolk
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/6/2020
Paul and Bob visit Norfolk to go lake fishing for monster pike.
#17 - Rainbow Trout: Derbyshire Wye
Season 6 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/8/2023
Bob and Paul return to the Derbyshire Wye and its neighbour the Derwent, this time with Ted, to revisit the place they first fished together.
#18 - The Pike: Lough Erne, Northern Ireland
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 8/30/2019
The pair fly to Enniskillen, where they take to the waters of Loch Erne in their quest to land the mighty pike, which eluded them in series one. Plus, Paul demonstrates how to perform life-saving CPR.
#19 - Sea Trout in the Hebrides
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 8/29/2021
Paul and Bob visit their most dazzling and extraordinary destination to date, the island of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides. Completely unlike anywhere they have fished before, this small, remote but beautiful island has an intricate network of tidal pools and sea lochs, making it near enough equal parts land and water and therefore the perfect place to fish for sea trout.
#20 - Roach on the Wensum
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 7/11/2018
Paul and Bob fish the beautiful river Wensum in search of the equally beautifully roach. Struggling up and down the riverbanks, they realise how age is starting to take its toll on their physicality. But Bob has a plan to help Paul recapture his youth. They stay overnight in a disused train station and visit the local pub with Paul showing off his new look, courtesy of Bob. They decide to challenge each other to a fishing competition where the winner gets a very special culinary treat, and be warned, their dinner table conversation is not for the faint hearted.
#21 - Chub: River Irfon, Mid Wales
Season 6 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/3/2023
Paul, Bob and terrier Ted travel to Wales to fish in the remote and stunning landscape of the River Irfon and the Upper Wye. It’s also Ted’s birthday, but how will they celebrate?
#22 - The Perch: Upper Tamar Lake, Devon and Cornwall
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 8/23/2019
Paul and Bob fish for the predatory perch in the Upper Tamar Lakes on the Cornwall and Devon border. The following day, they embark on another fishing adventure, this time on the open sea.
#23 - Rudd on the Norfolk Broads
Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/19/2021
It’s the start of the coarse fishing season, and to celebrate Paul and Bob are in the Norfolk Broads to fish in some of East Anglia’s most historic and celebrated waterways. They’re here to try for rudd - but who knows what other species they might catch in these rivers, which are rich in flora and fauna? As is the way with a trip to the Broads, Paul and Bob do away with the car and instead get around by boat. It’s the quintessential Broads experience, although Paul does wonder whether he should have been captain instead of Bob...
#24 - Sea Trout in Dorset
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 7/18/2018
Paul fishes at Christchurch's quintessential Bridge Pool in Dorset, hoping to catch sea trout. Bob arrives late but redeems himself by hooking the first fish of the day. After a glorious morning Paul persuades Bob to charter a boat out to sea in search of sea bass. Bob has a history of sea sickness and is not keen but eventually they venture out to the Needles where Paul makes an incredible catch. The fish is too big for Bob to handle so they head off to a local restaurant to prepare it. Bob performs a small cameo as an irritating waiter.
#25 - Brown Trout: River Test, Hampshire
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/13/2020
Paul and Bob return to the river where they first went fishing together after Bob's heart surgery - the Test in Hampshire. Famous for its gin clear water, the Test is renowned as the home of fly fishing. Paul and Bob are here during the Mayfly hatch - the peak of the trout fishing season.