It wasn't a great start to the day. Fog blanketed the marina at Amble upon our arrival, but the forecast suggested it might lift, and with only 15 minutes to decide whether to risk it or not, or be trapped in the marina until the afternoon tide, Oli and I decided to risk it. We were the only boat to do so, which was rather concerning at the time.
We plodded north to Seaton Point, with visibility down to 20 metres. Conditions at the Point were excellent. Water clarity was great, at least 15 feet, and a nice steady northerly drift of 1 knot. And rarest of all, flat calm. Apart from a few mackerel, and an occasional tommy, it remained strangely quiet.
Dispirited, we ended up at the entrance to Boulmer Haven at slackwater, where we got the floats out, and it was about then that the fishing really took off. I've posted some drone images of us as the fog melted away. The start of the flood brought out the fish, and we were catching kelpies, coalies, pollock, mackerel and even a wrasse. And nothing in water deeper than 30 feet.
For me, best pollock of the day weighed in at 6lb, and my biggest codling was also 6lb, but I had several more codling between 3lb and 5lb, and also pollock of the same size. Oli probably caught more quality fish than me and probably would have had prize for biggest fish but he was smashed. He had caught a coalie of around 3lb, in itself a decent fish, but as he steered it up to the boat this "thing" appeared, seemingly intent on snaffling his coalie. It was a pollock, at least a metre and a half in length. Oli landed the coalie and immediately dropped down, and this monster pollock grabbed his lure and all hell broke loose. It took off, stripping line from the reel, and in 12 foot of water it snagged him in the kelp and he lost it. He was gutted.
It was one of those days where we just didn't want to stop, but the fog was threatening to engulf us, so we headed back to Amble, and it was great timing as we were treated to a display of dolphins just off the harbour mouth. I've posted those photos too.
We had between us around 35-40 codling, around a dozen pollock, countless coalies, maybe 60 or 70 up to 3lb, the wrasse and 15-20 mackerel. We ended up keeping 2 pollock that had inhaled the lures and a couple of mackerel. The rest all went back to fight again another day.
We plodded north to Seaton Point, with visibility down to 20 metres. Conditions at the Point were excellent. Water clarity was great, at least 15 feet, and a nice steady northerly drift of 1 knot. And rarest of all, flat calm. Apart from a few mackerel, and an occasional tommy, it remained strangely quiet.
Dispirited, we ended up at the entrance to Boulmer Haven at slackwater, where we got the floats out, and it was about then that the fishing really took off. I've posted some drone images of us as the fog melted away. The start of the flood brought out the fish, and we were catching kelpies, coalies, pollock, mackerel and even a wrasse. And nothing in water deeper than 30 feet.
For me, best pollock of the day weighed in at 6lb, and my biggest codling was also 6lb, but I had several more codling between 3lb and 5lb, and also pollock of the same size. Oli probably caught more quality fish than me and probably would have had prize for biggest fish but he was smashed. He had caught a coalie of around 3lb, in itself a decent fish, but as he steered it up to the boat this "thing" appeared, seemingly intent on snaffling his coalie. It was a pollock, at least a metre and a half in length. Oli landed the coalie and immediately dropped down, and this monster pollock grabbed his lure and all hell broke loose. It took off, stripping line from the reel, and in 12 foot of water it snagged him in the kelp and he lost it. He was gutted.
It was one of those days where we just didn't want to stop, but the fog was threatening to engulf us, so we headed back to Amble, and it was great timing as we were treated to a display of dolphins just off the harbour mouth. I've posted those photos too.
We had between us around 35-40 codling, around a dozen pollock, countless coalies, maybe 60 or 70 up to 3lb, the wrasse and 15-20 mackerel. We ended up keeping 2 pollock that had inhaled the lures and a couple of mackerel. The rest all went back to fight again another day.
