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Oli and I had the entire weekend free for fishing, so on the Saturday afternoon we headed south from Amble for a change, initially stopping at the different skeers as we went, but results were patchy. The tides were reasonable and the water clarity was okay, though the drifts were pretty slow as the tide had only started to flood. We each landed a handful of codling to 3lb, and a similar number of small pollack, but it wasn't exactly exciting. The weather wasn't as hot and sunny as the forecasts had led us to believe, and the westerly winds stiffened all afternoon until the seas started to break and white horses began to appear. It got quite lumpy out there.
We then headed further down to Cresswell, and it was here that the fishing started to pick up. Particularly impressive were the coalies. Around 3lb in weight they scrap really well, and there were a lot around. We also took quite a few pollack off the larger reef, but the smaller reef actually had some very good specimens. Like everything this day, all the fish went back alive. There were a lot of codling in the 1-3lb bracket too. Mackerel however were scarce, though we were not actually targetting them, and we only had a couple each. I landed around 35 fish over the 5 hour session, and Oli had almost the same, but his 6lb pollack was the best fish of the afternoon.
Jonny, I saw someone mackerel fishing from Warkworth pier on the way out, maybe that was you?
Sunday was very different. True, the sun only showed from noon, but when it did it was a gorgeous day. Moreover, it was completely calm, and stayed that way for the entire day, something which very rarely happens. We headed north, with the Farne Islands in our sights, but by around 09.30 we were off Beadnall and recalled some great sessions, so dropped in for a drift, and basically spent the entire day there. The sport was brilliant, with the fish agressively chasing everthing that we chucked at them. Maybe others have found this out too, but we feel that kelpies fight much harder and longer than regular cod, and we had several at close to 7lb quite close in that gave a great account of themselves. And there were more kelpies than regular codling too. I had around 30 codling, with hardly any smaller than a pound, and most between 3 and 5 pounds. We also came across shoals of large coalies, and out of curiosity weighed a couple, and they almost touched the scales at 4lb. There were pollack too, though not of the size we have had in the past, but still good fun at around 6.5lb.
After a while, we just stopped fishing and just bobbed along at 0.4 knots as the tide eased, soaking up the sun. It was just like boating in the Med. After an hour or so of this, we carried on up to North Sunderland, but found the fish had gone off the feed. And talking of that, there was noticeably much more baitfish on the screen up here than we had seen the previous day. You could also see the small fry at the surface, and of course all this brought out a great number of birds. Mackerel however, were strangely absent, and again, I only had a few all day. No dolphins or Minke whale this time, unlike the previous weekend.
We then stopped at Newton and Craster on the way back, but the tides were still limp and there wasn't a lot around. These conditions however favoured the wrasse as they were able to feed without the constant pressure from the cod, and we landed several at Craster.
It was a great Sunday outing. I had close to 65 fish, excluding the mackerel, and though he lost count Oli probably had between 40 and 50 fish. We ended up keeping a couple of badly-hooked codling, but the rest were all returned.
We then headed further down to Cresswell, and it was here that the fishing started to pick up. Particularly impressive were the coalies. Around 3lb in weight they scrap really well, and there were a lot around. We also took quite a few pollack off the larger reef, but the smaller reef actually had some very good specimens. Like everything this day, all the fish went back alive. There were a lot of codling in the 1-3lb bracket too. Mackerel however were scarce, though we were not actually targetting them, and we only had a couple each. I landed around 35 fish over the 5 hour session, and Oli had almost the same, but his 6lb pollack was the best fish of the afternoon.
Jonny, I saw someone mackerel fishing from Warkworth pier on the way out, maybe that was you?
Sunday was very different. True, the sun only showed from noon, but when it did it was a gorgeous day. Moreover, it was completely calm, and stayed that way for the entire day, something which very rarely happens. We headed north, with the Farne Islands in our sights, but by around 09.30 we were off Beadnall and recalled some great sessions, so dropped in for a drift, and basically spent the entire day there. The sport was brilliant, with the fish agressively chasing everthing that we chucked at them. Maybe others have found this out too, but we feel that kelpies fight much harder and longer than regular cod, and we had several at close to 7lb quite close in that gave a great account of themselves. And there were more kelpies than regular codling too. I had around 30 codling, with hardly any smaller than a pound, and most between 3 and 5 pounds. We also came across shoals of large coalies, and out of curiosity weighed a couple, and they almost touched the scales at 4lb. There were pollack too, though not of the size we have had in the past, but still good fun at around 6.5lb.
After a while, we just stopped fishing and just bobbed along at 0.4 knots as the tide eased, soaking up the sun. It was just like boating in the Med. After an hour or so of this, we carried on up to North Sunderland, but found the fish had gone off the feed. And talking of that, there was noticeably much more baitfish on the screen up here than we had seen the previous day. You could also see the small fry at the surface, and of course all this brought out a great number of birds. Mackerel however, were strangely absent, and again, I only had a few all day. No dolphins or Minke whale this time, unlike the previous weekend.
We then stopped at Newton and Craster on the way back, but the tides were still limp and there wasn't a lot around. These conditions however favoured the wrasse as they were able to feed without the constant pressure from the cod, and we landed several at Craster.
It was a great Sunday outing. I had close to 65 fish, excluding the mackerel, and though he lost count Oli probably had between 40 and 50 fish. We ended up keeping a couple of badly-hooked codling, but the rest were all returned.
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