Took the Friday off. Forecast was for very light SW winds, but a bit of rain. Smallish tides too, so had a leisurely start from Amble, dropped by Coquet Island for some mackerel and headed out to a wreck. Flat calm and very promising. Straight into cod to 6lb and a ling of about 4lb. Drifts were nice and slow but by the 8th drift the tide was running at close to 1 knot, the winds were gusting and Mr Seal showed up. His appearance seemed to spook the fish, so we figured we'd try for some flatties off Alnmouth. Here it was much calmer with almost no drift. We'd got some ragworm in anticipation, but just couldn't tempt any flaties. Masses of mackerel though.
So back up to Seaton Point. By now, the winds had really picked up, and they became cyclonic, precedeing the heavy squalls. It was very uncomfortable. Some decent codling around, but patchy. A few coalies too, and loads of mackerel still. As Oli was landing a decent codling of around 3lb, a very hungry Little Gull soared in and tried to snatch it from him. It's not a common species of seagull and digging around the web, it says less than 1,000 Little Gulls pass through the UK annually on migration. Without this sounding like a bird-spotting blog, last week we were followed by a Sooty Shearwater which is also a rare visitor, and would have been heading back down to the southern ocean to breed.
Chatting to another angler at the marina, they'd had codling to 6lb and a few other decent fish from Seaton, including a pollack, but not in great quantity, so mirroring what we'd experienced.
So back up to Seaton Point. By now, the winds had really picked up, and they became cyclonic, precedeing the heavy squalls. It was very uncomfortable. Some decent codling around, but patchy. A few coalies too, and loads of mackerel still. As Oli was landing a decent codling of around 3lb, a very hungry Little Gull soared in and tried to snatch it from him. It's not a common species of seagull and digging around the web, it says less than 1,000 Little Gulls pass through the UK annually on migration. Without this sounding like a bird-spotting blog, last week we were followed by a Sooty Shearwater which is also a rare visitor, and would have been heading back down to the southern ocean to breed.
Chatting to another angler at the marina, they'd had codling to 6lb and a few other decent fish from Seaton, including a pollack, but not in great quantity, so mirroring what we'd experienced.
we were plagued by seals. 
