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Day off work today to take my lad to a football tournament in Whitley Bay , dropped him off at the playing fields and went down to the lighthouse on my way to find somewhere to park , the sea didn't look too bad till I looked at it through binoculars and the "little" boat that I had been watching some way off turned out to be a 30ft cat and was rolling all over the place 
Anyway , went and watched his game which was finished by 2pm , back home I looked on the interweb thingy and it said the winds would ease and the sun would get out this afternoon/evening , looking at the rest of the week I decided to go for it and have a couple of hours out.
By the time I'd dropped my lad off in morpeth , got back home ,sorted my gear out and got to the boat it was 4pm and the tide was at it's lowest ebb.
Set my gear up on the boat and headed out past the island ......ooer! I thought , this isn't very "smooth"
I wanted to fish a certain spot that I had an inckling would produce the goods and even though it was a long way out I decided to have a run out there and test my seamanship if nothing else.
It was pretty rough with some biggish swells but I felt safe enough and carried on to my mark , more than once on the way considering turning back
Eventuall , arriving at the mark I put a rod over the side with mackerel lures on and set it at about mid water whilst I opened my frozen mackerel to bait up my cod rod ........ there was only one side of mackerel in there along with a couple of little herring we caught last week
I though it was all mackerel when I got it out of the freezer !!
Ah well down went the baits and within seconds I was into a fish , and it was a cod , good start
, back up the drift and another take but bumped off , back up the drift and another take ....... another cod , but now I was down to my last strip of mackerel and there was no sign of any on the mackerel rod.
Back up the drift and another take , bumped off and no more mackerel so I decided to try with unbaited lures , just as I was setting them up the mackerel arrived and I pulled in a string of lovely fresh tigers.
The sky in the distance was getting ominously dark and angry looking and the sea was picking up even more but I desperately wanted to have a go at these fish with some fresh mackerel .
With my reply to Ritchys post ringing in my ears I decided on one more drift with the fresh bait and then I was going to get the hell out of there , back up the drift and over the fresh baits went ......... snapped off
One more go I thought .. back up the drift and over they went again but by now the wind was picking up as well and the lead I was using wouldn't hold bottom properly.......... I really should have called it a day , the sky was blackening , the white horses were galloping the boat was rolling , but I simp;y had to put that rig back down there one more time.
I changed the lead to an heavier one and went back up the drift telling myself this simply MUST be the last one , over the baits went , hard on the bottom , two bounces and ............... BANG!...... If this is a fish I thought , it's going to be a whopper. It was..... it had to be a ling , it was pulling so hard it was taking line off the drag several times , I was praying for it to stay on , don't come off , don't come off ........ PLEASE !!! don't come off ...
It didn't , and when it neared the surface and I realised it was a cod I didn't know how quick to get the net ( not easy on your own lol)
I got the fish in the boat , it was obviously a double but the hooks were tangled in the net , the boat was pitching all over the place the sky was black as a black thing and I couldn't sort it all out so I left it in the net , started the motor and headed for home , it got blacker and blacker and then it started to rain and rain and RAIN like I've never experienced in my life before , I couldn't see a thing , the rain was pinging off my eyes , if I took cover in the cuddy I was driving blind if I stood up I was driving blind , it was horrendous . The it happened , a huge flash of lightening and the crack of thunder simultaneously directly above my head ........... I looked at the cod on the deck and thought.........( I can't remember what the hell I thought lol)
I could smell the electricity in the air from the lightning , I was steering by plotter as visibility was zero and I remember thinking "this is mad"
But I was enjoying it , eventually I saw the light on the piers and headed towards it , only to realise it was the island I was heading for
At last the rain passed and the piers were in full view (bathed in sunshine would you believe) and I put the hammer down and got back safely into the harbour.
I weighed the fish in the marina , it went 14lb 3oz on my scales , I was like a dog with two tails , I don't know what was more exciting , catching the fish or navigating the storm , either way it was excillerating to say the least.
Ok it's nearly a book........ but it was my first double
Ray
Anyway , went and watched his game which was finished by 2pm , back home I looked on the interweb thingy and it said the winds would ease and the sun would get out this afternoon/evening , looking at the rest of the week I decided to go for it and have a couple of hours out.
By the time I'd dropped my lad off in morpeth , got back home ,sorted my gear out and got to the boat it was 4pm and the tide was at it's lowest ebb.
Set my gear up on the boat and headed out past the island ......ooer! I thought , this isn't very "smooth"
I wanted to fish a certain spot that I had an inckling would produce the goods and even though it was a long way out I decided to have a run out there and test my seamanship if nothing else.
It was pretty rough with some biggish swells but I felt safe enough and carried on to my mark , more than once on the way considering turning back
Eventuall , arriving at the mark I put a rod over the side with mackerel lures on and set it at about mid water whilst I opened my frozen mackerel to bait up my cod rod ........ there was only one side of mackerel in there along with a couple of little herring we caught last week
I though it was all mackerel when I got it out of the freezer !!Ah well down went the baits and within seconds I was into a fish , and it was a cod , good start
, back up the drift and another take but bumped off , back up the drift and another take ....... another cod , but now I was down to my last strip of mackerel and there was no sign of any on the mackerel rod.Back up the drift and another take , bumped off
and no more mackerel so I decided to try with unbaited lures , just as I was setting them up the mackerel arrived and I pulled in a string of lovely fresh tigers.The sky in the distance was getting ominously dark and angry looking and the sea was picking up even more but I desperately wanted to have a go at these fish with some fresh mackerel .
With my reply to Ritchys post ringing in my ears I decided on one more drift with the fresh bait and then I was going to get the hell out of there , back up the drift and over the fresh baits went ......... snapped off
One more go I thought .. back up the drift and over they went again but by now the wind was picking up as well and the lead I was using wouldn't hold bottom properly.......... I really should have called it a day , the sky was blackening , the white horses were galloping the boat was rolling , but I simp;y had to put that rig back down there one more time.
I changed the lead to an heavier one and went back up the drift telling myself this simply MUST be the last one , over the baits went , hard on the bottom , two bounces and ............... BANG!...... If this is a fish I thought , it's going to be a whopper. It was..... it had to be a ling , it was pulling so hard it was taking line off the drag several times , I was praying for it to stay on , don't come off , don't come off ........ PLEASE !!! don't come off ...
It didn't , and when it neared the surface and I realised it was a cod I didn't know how quick to get the net ( not easy on your own lol)
I got the fish in the boat , it was obviously a double but the hooks were tangled in the net , the boat was pitching all over the place the sky was black as a black thing and I couldn't sort it all out so I left it in the net , started the motor and headed for home , it got blacker and blacker and then it started to rain and rain and RAIN like I've never experienced in my life before , I couldn't see a thing , the rain was pinging off my eyes , if I took cover in the cuddy I was driving blind if I stood up I was driving blind , it was horrendous . The it happened , a huge flash of lightening and the crack of thunder simultaneously directly above my head ........... I looked at the cod on the deck and thought.........( I can't remember what the hell I thought lol)
I could smell the electricity in the air from the lightning , I was steering by plotter as visibility was zero and I remember thinking "this is mad"
But I was enjoying it
, eventually I saw the light on the piers and headed towards it , only to realise it was the island I was heading for At last the rain passed and the piers were in full view (bathed in sunshine would you believe) and I put the hammer down and got back safely into the harbour.
I weighed the fish in the marina , it went 14lb 3oz on my scales , I was like a dog with two tails , I don't know what was more exciting , catching the fish or navigating the storm , either way it was excillerating to say the least.
Ok it's nearly a book........ but it was my first double
Ray
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