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Oli and I slipped out of Amble at 08.30, figuring that the winds would be lighter in the morning. We went north, with the ebb tide, straight up to Craster, and pretty much immediately were into codling. They were a nice size of fish, typically 2-3lb, with a couple of chunkier specimens. Bites were aggressive and in the strong tide the fish fought hard. They all went back as we planned to keep a few before we headed for home.
It was a biggish tide, and the drift was fast almost 2 knots, but this seemed to bring the fish onto the feed. The drifts were perfect too, more or less due north, and the winds remained light with just a few showers. No thunderstorms thank goodness. After about 4 hours of steady sport, we went shallow, and then the fun really started. It was hectic, with a fish every drop, either pollock, codling or coalies, and then some large mackerel showed up.This was very close to Dunstanburgh in 20-25 feet of water. I lost count of the fish I'd had by that stage, but in that half-an-hour I must have landed 30 fish, mostly 1-2lb.
But then things were horribly wrong, running back for a second drift I ran over a floating pot rope. It was a good distance away from the marker, and surprised me as most potters around here use sinking rope. We managed to eventually free ourselves, but something had clearly wrapped around the rudder. We made it back to Amble at a slow 5 knots all the way, by which time the wind had picked up considereably, as forecast. We never did get the codling for the table, but did keep 3 mackerel for the BBQ. I will need to lift the boat to inspect what has happened. Fingers crossed, nothing too serious.
It was a biggish tide, and the drift was fast almost 2 knots, but this seemed to bring the fish onto the feed. The drifts were perfect too, more or less due north, and the winds remained light with just a few showers. No thunderstorms thank goodness. After about 4 hours of steady sport, we went shallow, and then the fun really started. It was hectic, with a fish every drop, either pollock, codling or coalies, and then some large mackerel showed up.This was very close to Dunstanburgh in 20-25 feet of water. I lost count of the fish I'd had by that stage, but in that half-an-hour I must have landed 30 fish, mostly 1-2lb.
But then things were horribly wrong, running back for a second drift I ran over a floating pot rope. It was a good distance away from the marker, and surprised me as most potters around here use sinking rope. We managed to eventually free ourselves, but something had clearly wrapped around the rudder. We made it back to Amble at a slow 5 knots all the way, by which time the wind had picked up considereably, as forecast. We never did get the codling for the table, but did keep 3 mackerel for the BBQ. I will need to lift the boat to inspect what has happened. Fingers crossed, nothing too serious.
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