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Early start (as ever 
) but this week the plan was to try and beat the change in wind direction that was forecast...
...which we did...ish
I'll start the report with pictures because these best portray the sense of optimism that we felt on our arrival to RQ pre-dawn
Beautiful coloured sky setting the tone as we wait on the fuel pontoon waiting for....erm...fuel!
So with that image in our minds we set off up the river and were met with a lovely glass smooth(ish) sea – awesome we thinks, plan paid off...a couple of hours of this, bag up on K.E.R.D. back in for mid morning and job done
Met up with Bert, Keith on Jim on Shady H – who were out there BEFORE us
(must have been more keen than we to see that sunrise I'm guessing 
)
We exchanged breakfast and shared ideas as to where might be fishing and decided that, very much like the open and expansive football that one local team plays, we'd punt for seeing if their fishing was up to much also (going off recent reports as well also nudged our thinking
)
So into deep and darkest Mackem waters we went – luckily for the two Tyne boats we had Keith on board (fan of this local village team) to help us with the lingo in case of pirates
Note by this point we had yet to see the bloody sunrise (often the main reason we get up soooo early)...however when it did it looked as glorious as ever
Now up to now it's all been picture postcard fishing with gentle westerlies and slight seas...
*abrupt record scratch*
We knew it was going to happen at some point but were hoping it was going to happen later rather than sooner. Like a tap the north east winds came in hard and fast and the sea just turned into an ugly maelstrom
(note lack of pictures from here on in)
The air temperature dropped, the wind speed picked up and the drift became lightning fast
Without thinking too hard it was decided to head back north
After a few stop offs on route on hard ground and also some inshore wrecks we had managed a couple of codling for the box – so the blank had been saved and pride salvaged at least.
We kept plugging away at few other spots but had resigned ourselves that the few fish that we did have were probably as much as we could have hoped for given the way the conditions had deteriorated
Well, as often happens, we hit a purple patch and for a 30-40 minute spell we managed to bring smiles to our faces with a manic spell which included double headers and fish every drift!
This also included the best fish of the day to Norman of about 6lb...try and figure out what he caught it on
So we managed to turn a fairly average trip into a respectable one and had a dozen fish in the box when we finally conceded defeat. No trace of any mackerel today, there were lots of coalies though!
Here's a picture that at one point didn't think we'd have enough fish to justify...
Met up with Graham B and Micky later at the marina and had a bit of craic over a beer (after I'd done my chores) so got to say that the day was a good one overall!
Looking forward to the next trip already, but would like to have warm weather and flat seas that the weekends have been bereft of lately!
Cheers Norman
Until next time
) but this week the plan was to try and beat the change in wind direction that was forecast......which we did...ish
I'll start the report with pictures because these best portray the sense of optimism that we felt on our arrival to RQ pre-dawn
Beautiful coloured sky setting the tone as we wait on the fuel pontoon waiting for....erm...fuel!
So with that image in our minds we set off up the river and were met with a lovely glass smooth(ish) sea – awesome we thinks, plan paid off...a couple of hours of this, bag up on K.E.R.D. back in for mid morning and job done
Met up with Bert, Keith on Jim on Shady H – who were out there BEFORE us
(must have been more keen than we to see that sunrise I'm guessing )We exchanged breakfast and shared ideas as to where might be fishing and decided that, very much like the open and expansive football that one local team plays, we'd punt for seeing if their fishing was up to much also (going off recent reports as well also nudged our thinking
)So into deep and darkest Mackem waters we went – luckily for the two Tyne boats we had Keith on board (fan of this local village team) to help us with the lingo in case of pirates
Note by this point we had yet to see the bloody sunrise (often the main reason we get up soooo early)...however when it did it looked as glorious as ever
Now up to now it's all been picture postcard fishing with gentle westerlies and slight seas...
*abrupt record scratch*
We knew it was going to happen at some point but were hoping it was going to happen later rather than sooner. Like a tap the north east winds came in hard and fast and the sea just turned into an ugly maelstrom
(note lack of pictures from here on in)
The air temperature dropped, the wind speed picked up and the drift became lightning fast
Without thinking too hard it was decided to head back north
After a few stop offs on route on hard ground and also some inshore wrecks we had managed a couple of codling for the box – so the blank had been saved and pride salvaged at least.
We kept plugging away at few other spots but had resigned ourselves that the few fish that we did have were probably as much as we could have hoped for given the way the conditions had deteriorated
Well, as often happens, we hit a purple patch and for a 30-40 minute spell we managed to bring smiles to our faces with a manic spell which included double headers and fish every drift!
This also included the best fish of the day to Norman of about 6lb...try and figure out what he caught it on
So we managed to turn a fairly average trip into a respectable one and had a dozen fish in the box when we finally conceded defeat. No trace of any mackerel today, there were lots of coalies though!
Here's a picture that at one point didn't think we'd have enough fish to justify...
Met up with Graham B and Micky later at the marina and had a bit of craic over a beer (after I'd done my chores
) so got to say that the day was a good one overall!Looking forward to the next trip already, but would like to have warm weather and flat seas that the weekends have been bereft of lately!
Cheers Norman
Until next time
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