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Oli and I had been wanting to visit the Farnes since our first trip there a couple of years back when we'd have a great day. Conditions were favourable on Saturday so we set off from Amble at 8 am to take advantage of the ebbing tide and planned to arrive at the Farnes when the tide (a big one - 5 metres) would have abated since the currents up there can run very fast.
It was a lovely day and only took us a couple of hours at a steady 14-15 knots. We headed to the Outer Farnes and tried to get among the fish at the Fang, a decent drop-off on the southern side of Crumstone, but the tide had other ideas and we kept getting pushed out. We skirted around and with the tide still flowing north we fished between Crumstone and Longstone. Here we started to pick up a few codling, most being under a pound, with one touching 3lb, a few small pollock and some coleys. .
Towards slackwater, we picked up several very large launce which we kept alive, in the hope of float fishing for pollock as we had done in the past on Ian Burrett's excellent On Yer Marks off Port Logan. Kevin Murphy, owner of the superb Bellavista hotel in Cobh, Ireland had taught us to target launce and sandeel at slackwater which we had used to good effect, catching blonde rays in the harbour. Back then, hotel guests had the use of self-drive Warrior 175's and had free reign to go anywhere with them. If he's still doing those offers, it's worth pursuing as Cobh is an angler's paradise.
Anyway, I digress. Next we tried the gap between Clove Car and Longstone. There were masses of coley's but very little of anything else. By now, the dive boats were appearing and were understandably anchoring in the better spots as that was their livelihood and they have had a short season as it is. But it did mean we couldn't get to our preferred marks. We managed a short time on the northern coast until the tide was too strong and pushing us onto the shore, so it was back around to Clove Car where we could use the floats. The area screamed pollock, but aside from one take that left its teethmarks in the launce there was nothing. So back to Callers and Crumstone. Potentially nice marks but there were masses of seals. At one point, there were 30 in the water in front of me. With more tour boats threading around us, we decided to give up, a bit frustrated.
We then visited a couple of large wrecks not too far away. Surprisingly, there was very little on them. with just a few mackerel and coleys.
From there we moved over to Beadnall where we'd had a superb session the week previously. Again, big disappointment. Very little around. So it was back to Craster and despite a really drift there was very little on the rough ground.
At around 6 pm we called it a day and motored back. A lovely sunny day, nice and warm. Lots of bird activity, and sensational scenery, looking back across the Farnes to Bamburgh castle and the Cheviots rising up in the distance. But very few fish. I managed 15 codling all day, a couple of pollock, a pout, dozens of coleys and just a handful of mackerel. And the launce of course. That's fishing!
It was a lovely day and only took us a couple of hours at a steady 14-15 knots. We headed to the Outer Farnes and tried to get among the fish at the Fang, a decent drop-off on the southern side of Crumstone, but the tide had other ideas and we kept getting pushed out. We skirted around and with the tide still flowing north we fished between Crumstone and Longstone. Here we started to pick up a few codling, most being under a pound, with one touching 3lb, a few small pollock and some coleys. .
Towards slackwater, we picked up several very large launce which we kept alive, in the hope of float fishing for pollock as we had done in the past on Ian Burrett's excellent On Yer Marks off Port Logan. Kevin Murphy, owner of the superb Bellavista hotel in Cobh, Ireland had taught us to target launce and sandeel at slackwater which we had used to good effect, catching blonde rays in the harbour. Back then, hotel guests had the use of self-drive Warrior 175's and had free reign to go anywhere with them. If he's still doing those offers, it's worth pursuing as Cobh is an angler's paradise.
Anyway, I digress. Next we tried the gap between Clove Car and Longstone. There were masses of coley's but very little of anything else. By now, the dive boats were appearing and were understandably anchoring in the better spots as that was their livelihood and they have had a short season as it is. But it did mean we couldn't get to our preferred marks. We managed a short time on the northern coast until the tide was too strong and pushing us onto the shore, so it was back around to Clove Car where we could use the floats. The area screamed pollock, but aside from one take that left its teethmarks in the launce there was nothing. So back to Callers and Crumstone. Potentially nice marks but there were masses of seals. At one point, there were 30 in the water in front of me. With more tour boats threading around us, we decided to give up, a bit frustrated.
We then visited a couple of large wrecks not too far away. Surprisingly, there was very little on them. with just a few mackerel and coleys.
From there we moved over to Beadnall where we'd had a superb session the week previously. Again, big disappointment. Very little around. So it was back to Craster and despite a really drift there was very little on the rough ground.
At around 6 pm we called it a day and motored back. A lovely sunny day, nice and warm. Lots of bird activity, and sensational scenery, looking back across the Farnes to Bamburgh castle and the Cheviots rising up in the distance. But very few fish. I managed 15 codling all day, a couple of pollock, a pout, dozens of coleys and just a handful of mackerel. And the launce of course. That's fishing!
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