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I had my first South Shields Pier spinning/lure fishing session of the year this morning. I arrived about an hour after LW and at first light and fished through the sunrise and the flood tide until about an hour after HW. I started out half way between the blocks and the south east corner and moved all around the end for a few hours using zenith spinners and soft plastics but caught nothing, not even a knock. Then with two hours to go until high water I settled at a spot fishing over the top of the blocks and rigged up a Berkley Gulp 5" Sandeel carolina style and bang! My first Pollack at about 1lb. I had put the sandeel on a small 1/0 hook so there was just a small amount protruding from the eel to reduce the number of snags I might get and this proved to be a very effective tactic fishing one of the snaggiest parts of the pier. I was guiding my lure between and over the blocks and managed to get two hours out of the same sandeel before the inevitable snag and loss. There was plenty more action and I pulled in another four Pollack and lost a fifth one which gave a good knock but missed the hook. I switched back to a zenith 40g fitted with a weedless treble after losing the sandeel but had nothing more for the last half hour or so before I packed up. So some great sport on the pier, five sized Pollack biggest one 37cm. A good start to the summer season 
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