Light winds and calm seas - it's a summer that keeps on giving.
With smallish tides (4.4m) and very light winds, we had fair expectations when we set out from Amble marina at 09.30. It was another glassy calm sea, so we headed up to Boulmer to join another 7-8 boats all widely spread out. Either there were fish all over, or they were few and far-between.
It was the latter, at least in our case. The drift was barely 0.2 knots, even around the spit, though to be fair it was almost slack water. We picked up half-a-dozen codling to 4lb, and a handful of coalies and a few Pollack. Oh, and because the tide was so slow, I got a largish scorpion fish. If I can get my lad to send me the photos, I'll post them so that the cleverer people can tell me whether it was a lesser-spined blah-blah or not.
From there, we headed up to Dunstaburgh, hoping to catch some tide. There was a bit of a flow, and we go in really close to the castle, but all small coalies and a small codling. No Mackie even.
From there we belted up to Newton and fished between the offshore islands, looking for better Pollack but they were all small. Too many seals around, basking on the islands, so any larger residents have probably been gobbled up.
From there, up to Newton Rock, and long northerly drifts up to Beadnell. Since having made the move to Amble from the Tyne last year, I've not had the chance (weather) to fish this mark before, and it reminds me of the ground around the yellow can off St Marys. Very fishable it seems, and we had some better specimens, but still nothing over 4lb.
Around 3pm we headed back south, stopping at a couple of wrecks. What a good decision. It was a fish a drop for over 2 hours on one particular wreck, with the hokkis sometimes taking 3 fish a go. The coalies were mostly between 1-2lb, with the codling being between 2-4lb. A couple of mackerel too, but not many.
We could have fished for longer on those wrecks but we had to get back to meet the missus for a meal out, making it back at quarter to seven, and in her good books.
With smallish tides (4.4m) and very light winds, we had fair expectations when we set out from Amble marina at 09.30. It was another glassy calm sea, so we headed up to Boulmer to join another 7-8 boats all widely spread out. Either there were fish all over, or they were few and far-between.
It was the latter, at least in our case. The drift was barely 0.2 knots, even around the spit, though to be fair it was almost slack water. We picked up half-a-dozen codling to 4lb, and a handful of coalies and a few Pollack. Oh, and because the tide was so slow, I got a largish scorpion fish. If I can get my lad to send me the photos, I'll post them so that the cleverer people can tell me whether it was a lesser-spined blah-blah or not.
From there, we headed up to Dunstaburgh, hoping to catch some tide. There was a bit of a flow, and we go in really close to the castle, but all small coalies and a small codling. No Mackie even.
From there we belted up to Newton and fished between the offshore islands, looking for better Pollack but they were all small. Too many seals around, basking on the islands, so any larger residents have probably been gobbled up.
From there, up to Newton Rock, and long northerly drifts up to Beadnell. Since having made the move to Amble from the Tyne last year, I've not had the chance (weather) to fish this mark before, and it reminds me of the ground around the yellow can off St Marys. Very fishable it seems, and we had some better specimens, but still nothing over 4lb.
Around 3pm we headed back south, stopping at a couple of wrecks. What a good decision. It was a fish a drop for over 2 hours on one particular wreck, with the hokkis sometimes taking 3 fish a go. The coalies were mostly between 1-2lb, with the codling being between 2-4lb. A couple of mackerel too, but not many.
We could have fished for longer on those wrecks but we had to get back to meet the missus for a meal out, making it back at quarter to seven, and in her good books.
