Whitby Uptiding Festival 18/11/2012.

[mick dunn]

Well lads i had the pleasure of being invited on a Fishing trip with with my mate Pierro and some West Yorks lads who he works with.
Destination was Whitby which coincided with the uptiding comp. We were on Mistress with Richy Cope as Skipper.
Arrived early and had bite to eat and drink before we boarded.
Left port at about 7 am.
We went a couple of mile South towards Robin Hoods Bay direction and dropped anchor.And kept moving after an hour or so for new ground must have only been mile-mile and half from shore as i could see the shore anglers. ( Christ knows how they got down). They use ropes etc to reach the deep water marks at the foot of the cliffs.
I think i had first fish with this fella.

My second Dogfish of my life. Hooked in the tail and felt lot bigger coming in than i thought.
We were all after big Cod. Kowing the leader at the moment was only 11lb.
Big baits were going out. I concentrated on big pennel rigs with two dirty squid on looking for the doubler. Alas i had no luck but other guys did well with some decent Cod.
Heres is Andy Peat with one.

Two other lads Graham and Arthur with nice fish.


We had lovely weather and a flat sea and the uptiding was really good this time after my last efforts in the Bristol Channel.
Rich and his first mate were spot on helping and guiding us.
I caught a keeper Ling and had plenty of bites. My mate Pierro tried his hardest using every bait under the sun but blanked. Mind we all went home with a couple of nice Cod because others shared them out.
A cracking day and best of luck to Rich and the other skippers in future 4 hr uptiding evening sessions planned over the winter period.Its a real good time to fish for resident Big COD.
Tight lines Mick.
Ps biggest fish of the weeks comp was caught today by a Doncaster lad on Never -Can-Tell-A. over 20lb. So everyone had a chance to be £1000 better off today.

[Fishingchris]

Hi Mick it's Chris (The Dolphin) you lads did much better than we did on saturday as the fish were just not biting at all. Skipper Rich worked very hard to find the fish but they just were not playing ball for us. Good report and pics Mick Tightlines Chris

[Norman]

Nice one mick, great report mate, and congrats on the great picture in angling mag

norm

[canman]

Good report and photo's Mick. Pity you never scored for a cod yourself, as there has been some nice fish reported down that way. Some days better than others eh!

[The Jester]

Great report and pics Mick, there's some nice fish coming in down there...

[Graham B]

Cracking report Mick. I am off on the Mistress in a couple of weeks time to try this up tiding mullarkey! Which were the best baits if you don't mind me asking?

Cheers,

Graham.

[pierro]

Best Baits in answer to Micks question?

Aye, well what can I say, tried big baits for that big cod but to no avail. Was putting out parcels of squid packed & wrapped with everything I had available: Tried mussel,crab,lug, blacks, bluey, and rag but nothing worked. Had the odd couple of knocks but nothing took the bait except for a solitary lobster. The day was very pleasant but a bit cold with the chilling breeze, not that I felt it in my floatation suit which kept me lovely and warm all day. The biggest taken on our boat was a cod of about 6 & half pounds with only about 20 cod coming on board in total and several dogfish a couple of whiting and a pouting. Sadly no fish for me today so next time I'll have to use smaller baits or better still stick to Seaham Hall Beach. (ha ha)
So in answer to your question Graham, I dont really know. The lads I was watching were catching on squid wrapped with lug, another was catching on mussel or squid & mussel. I did notice however that the rods were only getting small taps, like billet taps I think you call it, no big pull downs or anything. The main thing to do is to keep a big bow on your line and watch for the rod tip straightening (not that it did me any good) and watch for the taps. The skipper is a great lad and will keep you right, we couldn't have asked for a better skipper. Hope this helps; Good luck,
PS my son in law works in bomb diosposal, if all fails I could get you some explosives to take,(Ha Ha lol) Good Luck.

[mick dunn]

Graham i watched what Richy the skipper was doing as he wet a line next to me.
Its basically like fishing from the shore but your on a boat. If your lucky enough to be at the back you cast your rig out so this is downtiding and easy. I was on the side with Rich near the cab so we cast out at 45 degrees. Because you are diaganol you need to let plenty of line out so grip sinker does not get snagged. You basically have a bow in the line and Pierro hit the nail on the head when you see the rod tap or line tighten its a fish.
Best bait was squid with a unfrozen black runnydown wrapped around it. use bait elastic. Pennel rig as lot of fish caught with top hook. And baits not to big. One squid is ample.
Have a long flowing snood from the sinker- i would say 4 feet.
Tight lines Mick.

[mick dunn]

ps crab did nothing and neither did rag.
Best bait squid. Lug.
I used running ledger but Richy kept his really simple. Long snood from just above his sinker. Hook was put on wire when he cast out away from the boat. He managed fine with mono on a multiplyer. I used braid on a fixed spool but would have preffered my 525 but did not take it.

[pierro]

Tips for Whitby

I've just remembered Graham, Richy the skipper, was using pennel rigs (as was I but it did me nee good) but his had a 3/0 circle hook on the top hook which he was catching most of his fish on. So from the sound of it as Mick says Squid, wrapped with Blacks and/or lug with a fixed ledger rig about 3 to 4 ft long and with a pennel rig with the top hook being a 3/0 circle hook, all held with a 6oz gripper. That's about all you will need, Oh and of course to go with the equipment, the knowledge, best bait,weather, wind, tide etc a little bit of luck going your way. I think the lad that caught the winner of the festival (20lb 12 1/2oz) may have got it on a double squid pennel rig possiblywrapped with lug but no doubt if you go onto the Whitby forum or ask Richy he will tell you. Also a lot of people were using crab cart but whether it was any good or not I don't know. The answers no doubt lie with Richy the skipper who will have the most up to date knowledge, and after all he knows the area where he will be taking you.
Good luck m8, can't wait for the report and the photo of that pig of a cod!!

[Graham B]

Thanks for the replies lads, I really appreciate it as it is something I haven't had a crack at before.
I Have never fished out of Whitby before so can't wait.
Catch report to follow next weekend all being well!

Graham.

[mick dunn]

Its spot on Graham but makes me sad. Wish i had a boat-lived in a penthouse apartment at Hartlepool on the Marina-could go out everyday catching doublers.

Mick.