It was an early start for Oli and me, grabbing the chance of perhaps the last trip out this year. It was at least a glorious sunrise over Coquet Island.The forecast promised mostly light winds, and this was certainly the case till mid-morning. The problem was the relatively small tide. It was slackwater until 10.30, and with no wind and no tide, there was almost no movement through the water. We tried Northern Hill, but the tide was just 0.2 knots, and I only had a codling of 2lb, so we pushed on to White Bank, in case the fish were there, but the southerly flood tide had not yet started. We thought about anchoring and uptiding there, but were not convinced the fish were present. Anyhow, water clarity was not bad for the time of year, and Oli was happy to use lures, while I stuck to frozen baits on various rigs.
We headed down to Cresswell, and here, we found codling and pollock, as well as some small coalies. By now however, the wind had really picked up, and with wind against tide there were choppy conditions. The wind was dominant however, and the drifts all ended up going in a northeasterly direction at over 1 knot, making it hard to hold bottom with light leads, and almost impossible for Oli to fish his lures. We tried in close to Cresswell and Brig Point, but the relief from the wind was minimal. He ended the day with 4 nice pollock, half-a-dozen codling and a handful of coalies, but had missed many more fish, having takes on the lure but was unable to convert those to landing the fish. I had 12 codling and around 10 coalies. Everything went back this time.
There was only 1 other boat out from Amble, and it too had a disappointng day with just 9 fish landed.
We headed down to Cresswell, and here, we found codling and pollock, as well as some small coalies. By now however, the wind had really picked up, and with wind against tide there were choppy conditions. The wind was dominant however, and the drifts all ended up going in a northeasterly direction at over 1 knot, making it hard to hold bottom with light leads, and almost impossible for Oli to fish his lures. We tried in close to Cresswell and Brig Point, but the relief from the wind was minimal. He ended the day with 4 nice pollock, half-a-dozen codling and a handful of coalies, but had missed many more fish, having takes on the lure but was unable to convert those to landing the fish. I had 12 codling and around 10 coalies. Everything went back this time.
There was only 1 other boat out from Amble, and it too had a disappointng day with just 9 fish landed.
