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We managed to find some quality fish yesterday, despite the tough conditions. The strong SW winds confined Oli and I to inshore marks where we could get find slightly smoother water, but it was choppy all the same. We went north from Amble. Best cod of the day we weighed, and it came in at just over 11lb, which is my best so far this year. It came from a mark just a couple of hundred yards from the shore on a yellow gummi mac. In fact, Oli's best pollack of the day, at 7.5lb, and his best codling at 5.5lb came from the same stretch.
Despite the winds, the drifts were not as fast as expected, probably because of small tides, and light lures and weights were fine. In fact, where we found a bit of current, the fishing was intense, but there were plenty of slow spells. It was frustrating as we could see plenty of fish on the sounders, but getting them to bite was difficult. We discovered that small was best in terms of lure size, possibly matching what the fish were feeding on, and a spell with sabikis produced good results. However, colour was important too, and we had to keep switching around, experimenting with most of the the gear that we had on board. Bait just produced smaller fish, or pout. The problem with fishing small meant that the mackerel, which had appeared in their thousands were an unwelcome pest.
I landed close to 20 codling, of which half were under 2lb, but I had some nice pollack, and the coalies were of a decent size and fought well. Oli had half-a-dozen pollack, and the rest were codling. We let the larger fish go back alive, but ended up keeping 3 decent codling.
It was good to see so many birds throughout the day, signifying plenty of baitfish around, and indeed, perhaps too much bait that the fish were being picky. We also encountered 2 porpoises close in to Dunstaburgh castle, while off Alnmouth we were treated to a display by some dolphins that came alongside.
Despite the winds, the drifts were not as fast as expected, probably because of small tides, and light lures and weights were fine. In fact, where we found a bit of current, the fishing was intense, but there were plenty of slow spells. It was frustrating as we could see plenty of fish on the sounders, but getting them to bite was difficult. We discovered that small was best in terms of lure size, possibly matching what the fish were feeding on, and a spell with sabikis produced good results. However, colour was important too, and we had to keep switching around, experimenting with most of the the gear that we had on board. Bait just produced smaller fish, or pout. The problem with fishing small meant that the mackerel, which had appeared in their thousands were an unwelcome pest.
I landed close to 20 codling, of which half were under 2lb, but I had some nice pollack, and the coalies were of a decent size and fought well. Oli had half-a-dozen pollack, and the rest were codling. We let the larger fish go back alive, but ended up keeping 3 decent codling.
It was good to see so many birds throughout the day, signifying plenty of baitfish around, and indeed, perhaps too much bait that the fish were being picky. We also encountered 2 porpoises close in to Dunstaburgh castle, while off Alnmouth we were treated to a display by some dolphins that came alongside.
. Hope to see some dolphins from the pier next weekend when giving the mackerel a go
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