kayos
Well-known member
Well after Lynn and I watched the storms you were having on Thursday, which we saw on TV, the last thing we thought we would be doing today was charter fishing........However that is exactly what we did on Mistress out of the Tyne.
For those of you who don't want to read my epistle of the heroes and villans, antagonists and protagonist, the lucky and the unlucky, plus the downright hapless, here is my estimation of the stats for the day:
Whiting - loads. Mackerel - plenty. Coalies(Saithe) - quite a lot. Pouting - a few.
Ling - 18, best 14.5lbs. Another 4 over 10lbs.
Cod - 20, best 9.1lbs, 8.3lbs. 3 between 6-8lbs.
So Lynn, myself and our borrowed TomTom(a godsend), set off from Crimdon Dene at 0645 for the trip to South Shields, where Tony, Skipper of the Mistress picked us up and we joined 9 guys on a work day out.
It was a bit breezy and lumpy, but nothing to worry about. We headed out a couple of miles and joined JFK on the drift.
Everyone started with baited daylites or hokkies, apart from me who went with the new shads hoping for a big cod. Drifts were fast, but catching was slow, with a few small codling coming to the boat, along with a few whiting.
The water was really dirty so we moved to another wreck and two good 5-7lb cod came to the boat.
After about 2 hours and not a touch on the shads, I gave in gracefully and changed to the baited daylites! By this time Lynn had boated a cod of about 2.5lbs which she kept and a fair few whiting, which went back.
Next move produced a mackerel, whiting and coalie fest which for me, who had caught nothing by then, was a great deal of fun!
By this time the wind and swell had died and we had a lovely warm sunny spell.
Another move saw a wreck filled with big ling, but stangely and frustratingly they were all taken on the other side of the boat from where we were fishing
After the other side of the boat caught all the ling off the wreck we moved again and stiil "the other side" were picking up ling and cod. Then the weather changed from this:
To this in the blink of an eye.
By this time we had been told we were visiting our last wreck before home, so Lynn and I being a bit dejected with the lack of good fish, stripped our rods.
Fifteen minutes later, the weather cleared and Tony said "OK lads, back to the fishing." So there we were with no rods set up..........aarrgh. Being the gent that I am I said to Lynn that we should rig her rod first. This we did and down her baited hokkies went. I started setting up my rod.
Anyone who knows our fishing trips knows what's coming next. I am desperately rigging my rod, Lynn hits the wreck...................... and immediately into a great fish!.............................. Up comes a 8.3lbs cod.
Gutted!
So finally down goes my rig to the wreck...........snagged! Last lead gone!
Lynn passes me her rod and the guy to my left and the guy to my right, who hadn't caught a cod all day, boat a 9.3lb and a 6.5lb cod at virtually the same time................ Yours truly, in the middle, gets precisely nothing!
So in conclusion, the only person out of 11 fishing, who didn't catch a cod or a ling all day was Moi! I'd like to say there is a pattern developing here, but it has gone way beyond that. Four charter blanks in a row, spanning Easter until now.
Two more charters in the coming week before I can end my humiliation and go home. Unfortunately, we have already booked a week back here in October, so the abject haplessness of my fishing efforts are set to continue for a good while yet!
PS If there are any spelling or grammatical errors it's because I am sitting in the caravan writing this, while drinking cans of Carling to drown my sorrows!
PPS A big thanks to Skipper Tony, who is not shy to horse along at 20mph and do however many miles it takes to find the fish.
For those of you who don't want to read my epistle of the heroes and villans, antagonists and protagonist, the lucky and the unlucky, plus the downright hapless, here is my estimation of the stats for the day:
Whiting - loads. Mackerel - plenty. Coalies(Saithe) - quite a lot. Pouting - a few.
Ling - 18, best 14.5lbs. Another 4 over 10lbs.
Cod - 20, best 9.1lbs, 8.3lbs. 3 between 6-8lbs.
So Lynn, myself and our borrowed TomTom(a godsend), set off from Crimdon Dene at 0645 for the trip to South Shields, where Tony, Skipper of the Mistress picked us up and we joined 9 guys on a work day out.
It was a bit breezy and lumpy, but nothing to worry about. We headed out a couple of miles and joined JFK on the drift.
Everyone started with baited daylites or hokkies, apart from me who went with the new shads hoping for a big cod. Drifts were fast, but catching was slow, with a few small codling coming to the boat, along with a few whiting.
The water was really dirty so we moved to another wreck and two good 5-7lb cod came to the boat.
After about 2 hours and not a touch on the shads, I gave in gracefully and changed to the baited daylites! By this time Lynn had boated a cod of about 2.5lbs which she kept and a fair few whiting, which went back.
Next move produced a mackerel, whiting and coalie fest which for me, who had caught nothing by then, was a great deal of fun!
By this time the wind and swell had died and we had a lovely warm sunny spell.
Another move saw a wreck filled with big ling, but stangely and frustratingly they were all taken on the other side of the boat from where we were fishing
After the other side of the boat caught all the ling off the wreck we moved again and stiil "the other side" were picking up ling and cod. Then the weather changed from this:
To this in the blink of an eye.
By this time we had been told we were visiting our last wreck before home, so Lynn and I being a bit dejected with the lack of good fish, stripped our rods.
Fifteen minutes later, the weather cleared and Tony said "OK lads, back to the fishing." So there we were with no rods set up..........aarrgh. Being the gent that I am I said to Lynn that we should rig her rod first. This we did and down her baited hokkies went. I started setting up my rod.
Anyone who knows our fishing trips knows what's coming next. I am desperately rigging my rod, Lynn hits the wreck...................... and immediately into a great fish!.............................. Up comes a 8.3lbs cod.
Gutted!
So finally down goes my rig to the wreck...........snagged! Last lead gone!
Lynn passes me her rod and the guy to my left and the guy to my right, who hadn't caught a cod all day, boat a 9.3lb and a 6.5lb cod at virtually the same time................ Yours truly, in the middle, gets precisely nothing!
So in conclusion, the only person out of 11 fishing, who didn't catch a cod or a ling all day was Moi! I'd like to say there is a pattern developing here, but it has gone way beyond that. Four charter blanks in a row, spanning Easter until now.
Two more charters in the coming week before I can end my humiliation and go home. Unfortunately, we have already booked a week back here in October, so the abject haplessness of my fishing efforts are set to continue for a good while yet!
PS If there are any spelling or grammatical errors it's because I am sitting in the caravan writing this, while drinking cans of Carling to drown my sorrows!
PPS A big thanks to Skipper Tony, who is not shy to horse along at 20mph and do however many miles it takes to find the fish.
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Better luck on the next trip out, there must be a good one with your name on it just sitting waiting.
