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They were small tides, but the forecast was for light winds all day long, so Oli and I headed north from Amble with the tide. It was good to see so many boats out too, all taking advantage of the settled conditions. There were 5 or 6 boats clustered around Seaton Point. There were fish there too, mostly codling between 2-3lb, but also some smaller specimens, so after a while, a couple of boats made a break for the wrecks to see what was doing, ourselves included. A couple of inshore wrecks produced a few codling, but again of around 2-3lb in size, so we pressed on. Boats were already on two of our favourite wrecks, so rather than muscle in we kept going further out. It wasn't a good decision as the deeper water made it hard to keep in touch with the wrecks, despite the small tide.
Heading back inshore, we stopped off at Cresswell skeers. A few more codling were caught, but it was also where we latched into a shoal of large mackerel, all measuring 37-39 cms in length, so we kept 10 for ourselves and for sharing with neighbours.
We finally fetched up close to Craster, on the rough ground, and the sport really started. The codling hit the lures with aggression, and despite none being bigger than 3lb they were still able to put up a great scrap in 35-45 feet of water. It was a fish a drop too, and this went on for an hour or so, until the tide changed. I ended the day having landed 35-40 codling and a couple of pout, and Oli had a similar score. All were returned to fight another day.
It was a decent outing, and the rain stayed inland. It was also a good occasion to test the prop after the incident with the floating pot rope. Interestingly, I read in the Chronicle today that another boat from Amble, a big Arvor had the same problem off Cresswell, but they had to call out the RNLI to free themselves. We'd been lucky!
Heading back inshore, we stopped off at Cresswell skeers. A few more codling were caught, but it was also where we latched into a shoal of large mackerel, all measuring 37-39 cms in length, so we kept 10 for ourselves and for sharing with neighbours.
We finally fetched up close to Craster, on the rough ground, and the sport really started. The codling hit the lures with aggression, and despite none being bigger than 3lb they were still able to put up a great scrap in 35-45 feet of water. It was a fish a drop too, and this went on for an hour or so, until the tide changed. I ended the day having landed 35-40 codling and a couple of pout, and Oli had a similar score. All were returned to fight another day.
It was a decent outing, and the rain stayed inland. It was also a good occasion to test the prop after the incident with the floating pot rope. Interestingly, I read in the Chronicle today that another boat from Amble, a big Arvor had the same problem off Cresswell, but they had to call out the RNLI to free themselves. We'd been lucky!
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