Seeing the weather forecast, Oli took the day off work and joined me for a trip out on the boat from Amble. We didn't go far, but it was a perfect day, with hardly any wind, blue skies and actually quite hot in the afternoon. Not the usual weather you'd expect at the end of October.
It was a tremendous session. In the 5 hours we were out, we landed close to 90 codling. Nothing of great size, they were all between 1lb and 3.5lb, with the 3 fish we kept for the table measuring 50, 51 and 53cms in length. There seemed to be a carpet of them, and they were all feisty fighters. Checking the stomachs of the 3 fish kept, only 1 had anything in it (a rockling), the other 2 were empty. It's possible they've come inshore to fatten up. At one stage, Oli was fishing with little more than a jighead, the rest of the lure having been gradually bitten off, yet even this small stump of a lure managed to keep catching.
The banks were the most productive for codling. We took half-a-dozen pout from the same ground. The reefs produced pollock, and we had around 20 between us, with Oli's best at 8lb, and with several more at 5-6lb. We also had around 20 coalies off the reefs. We could have done a lot better too, had the daylight lasted a little longer.
The only sour note of the day was when another boat decided to move from the reef it had been fishing to come over to where we were fishing, almost literally coming alongside, and casting his lines no more than a few yards from us. Strange behaviour, considering we were the only 2 boats for miles around, and there was plenty of good ground all around. Anyway, we left him to that spot. It hadn't been that productive anyway.
It was a tremendous session. In the 5 hours we were out, we landed close to 90 codling. Nothing of great size, they were all between 1lb and 3.5lb, with the 3 fish we kept for the table measuring 50, 51 and 53cms in length. There seemed to be a carpet of them, and they were all feisty fighters. Checking the stomachs of the 3 fish kept, only 1 had anything in it (a rockling), the other 2 were empty. It's possible they've come inshore to fatten up. At one stage, Oli was fishing with little more than a jighead, the rest of the lure having been gradually bitten off, yet even this small stump of a lure managed to keep catching.
The banks were the most productive for codling. We took half-a-dozen pout from the same ground. The reefs produced pollock, and we had around 20 between us, with Oli's best at 8lb, and with several more at 5-6lb. We also had around 20 coalies off the reefs. We could have done a lot better too, had the daylight lasted a little longer.
The only sour note of the day was when another boat decided to move from the reef it had been fishing to come over to where we were fishing, almost literally coming alongside, and casting his lines no more than a few yards from us. Strange behaviour, considering we were the only 2 boats for miles around, and there was plenty of good ground all around. Anyway, we left him to that spot. It hadn't been that productive anyway.
