Not many reports

[northeast1]

Not seen many reports on here nar in papers for the boat fishing, I take it not many people have been out due to weather or the poor fishing.

I seen Normans report but Valatie’s (spelling) the boys and all the others been none existent for a while.

Has anyone tried Souter? Few haddock, codling,colie,whiting and 4 mackerel recorded about last time I fished it in Late April of 2005.

The water seems so clear for this time of year and when fishing shields pier on Sunday I lost count of how many shoals of small herring (1"-2") and sandeel I seen swimming past.

[mickthefish]

we were out last week from whitby and it was very quiet.
the water was like pea soup until 20 miles out . we ventured nearly 30 mile out (wrecks and ground) all for a handfull of small codling between 7 of us,(biggest mebbes 6lb on boat) , but plenty good sized pouting.
shame really as we had fantastic weather and it seemed to be fishing ok all week until we turned up.

[Norman]

I think the seasons about to start in the next week or so, easter was very early this year so I reckon threw us a bit but nevertheless the fish are becoming available, at least on hard ground, not yet sure how the wrecks will be.
Fingers crossed for another good weekend but thats going to be dependant on the weather , and it`s a 50/50 at the moment.
(ps got yer text steve, will speak friday)

good luck lads and lasses

[SIXFOOTSTEVE]

OK Norman, cheers mate.

[davem2005]

Reading this thread sets me thinking and would others please care to comment on their expectations of boat fishing in April.

The reason I ask this is a report I read today from the NSFC which IMHO is tied in very closely with the conversations I have had with two charter skippers this evening.

The question I asked was " How good would you expect the fishing to be in April/ early May going back as far as you have been involved as charter skippers?" The answer was that it is the worst month of the year in both cases.

I would rather not say why I want this info for now...but anyone posting their experiences will get a PM explaining why I asked the question in the first place.

Is april the worst month of the year in our area?
Where (roughly) do you fish?
How many years experience of fishing this region is your opinion based on?
Are you a charter skipper, pleasure angler or even a commercial?
Have you any thoughts of why April should be such a bad month for fishing? If in fact you agree that it is.

I could do with this info/opinions by 7am tues morning in preparation for a meeting later that day..so no rush

Cheers
Dave.

[Norman]

Hi Dave,

April . . the worst month . . . . NO WAY

April is the start of the season the run of small fish inshore (2 mile or so)
I Always have a good month in april , for codling anyway.

Usually on lures rather than bait but I do tend to add a rag or sliver of squid to the bait.

Last weekend proved true for me with a first time "friends from work" crew who I lined up with daylites all day, lol they outfished me by a mile, end result (as posted) was bags of small codling.

I hope this helps

[northeast1]

I am sure everyone is different depending on what type of fishing they do but I feel March and October are the 2 worst months of the year.

I have 22 years experience fishing the north east and south west coast and think fishing in April has improved in my time as the "summer species" come in sooner but the sizes have dropped alot.

I have some pics of when I was about 7 with my mam and dad on Shields pier, my dad had a 4lb plus colie and I was holding up 1 around 2lb, chatting with my mam about it, it used to be a regular thing catching colie in good numbers around the 2lb mark from shields, now its around the 6-12" mark

Haddock off the rough ground has dried up abit and we don’t need to go on about the codling anymore, bass fishing has improved, launce fishing has gone down hill, Pollack fishing has improved with more/bigger fish showing up every year.

Flounder fishing has gone down hill,whitng have increased, ling have increased and after the odd poor year with mackerel seem to come in good numbers again.

All of the above is my opinion or of my experiences.
p.s all colie go back

[braine]

Fish reports

Hi Lads,
Had a competition last week at Seaham Harbour boat club. I am not saying the fishing was good but we did break the average bag weight per competitor/boat with an average weight of 51lb - 5oz per man. 8 boats and 18 competitors weighed in a total of 341lb - 5oz with the heaviest fish a 10lb - 14oz cod. Next in line were fish of 6lb - 7oz and 6lb - 1oz with a canny few around the 5lb mark. All the info is on the club Website:- www.seahamharbourboatclub.co.uk.
It was misty so dont know exactly where the lads were fishing but they launched and came back to harbour in 6 hours! A wrasse, catfish and a couple of flatties were in the bags, couple of coalies and a couple of whiting with a few blegs but mostly codling.