Oli was busy helping a mate organise a boxing tournament, so it was just me taking the boat out today. It was a last-minute decision, but seeing a beautiful sunrise I collected a few bits and headed up to Amble, leaving the marina later than I would have liked at 11.15.
It was still very mild for the end of October, and fishing in just a fleece was comfortable enough. The wind was still relatively light from the SW, but the strength built up through the day, and I was happy I had stayed local and didn't have to bash back through the swell. Water clarity was decent, at around 4-5 feet inshore, and water temp was just under 12C. Drift speed initially was 0.3 knots, but the direction and speed kept changing through the day, ending up at 1.1 knots off the Bondicarr by 15.00. Not bad for a very small tide, but the wind and tide together probably caused such a drift speed.
I started off using frozen prawns, which worked well, but I later switched to red and yellow jely sandeels which took both codling and coalfish alike. The coalies were swarming in places, and were good fun with double hook-ups. I kept a count, and ended up with 59 coalies over the course of the 4 hour session, as well as a couple of micro-pollock and 20 codling, the best being 3.5lb. I kept 3 like this as I'm visiting family this weekend, but the rest went back.
It was still very mild for the end of October, and fishing in just a fleece was comfortable enough. The wind was still relatively light from the SW, but the strength built up through the day, and I was happy I had stayed local and didn't have to bash back through the swell. Water clarity was decent, at around 4-5 feet inshore, and water temp was just under 12C. Drift speed initially was 0.3 knots, but the direction and speed kept changing through the day, ending up at 1.1 knots off the Bondicarr by 15.00. Not bad for a very small tide, but the wind and tide together probably caused such a drift speed.
I started off using frozen prawns, which worked well, but I later switched to red and yellow jely sandeels which took both codling and coalfish alike. The coalies were swarming in places, and were good fun with double hook-ups. I kept a count, and ended up with 59 coalies over the course of the 4 hour session, as well as a couple of micro-pollock and 20 codling, the best being 3.5lb. I kept 3 like this as I'm visiting family this weekend, but the rest went back.
