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Being confined to weekend fishing only, it was the usual case of watching the weather forecasts during the week to see what would happen. Sunday looked more promising but Saturday was a definite non-starter and I used the time to pop over to Royal Quays to look over an Arvor 230 AS that was up for sale, as well as to drop in to Billy's to pick up some tackle and bait.
The Sunday forecast steadily got more favourable, with the strong westerlies expected to ease through the afternoon. The only problem was the tide - a real monster and one of the biggest of the year. Still, I really wanted to be out so my son Oli and I got up to Amble marina for 8 am. Heading north, it was a lot calmer than expected and we zipped along flat out. Yes, the tide was strong, and the drift was a quick 1.5-1.7 knots off Seaton Point, but within 45 minutes I'd landed 15 codling, none of which was bigger than 1.5lb. There were lots of mackerel around, and really big ones too which is good to see.
With low water at 11.30, we hopped upped to Craster to see if there were any more pollock around. Oli had one of around 4lb, but the water was discoloured and we couldn't see any fry or small sandeels on the screens, and we wondered if the big tide had pushed them off the reefs.
Thereafter, it was up to Dunstanburgh and do some exploring. The drift was too fast though for any wrasse in the kelp, but we did find some codling on one of the big drop-offs there.
From there we motored up to Newton. The area screams fish, and there are some big boils and rips just off some of the little islands up there, with pinnacles that suddenly drop off from 20 feet to 50 feet. We'd been here once before in a smaller tide and had done well on coalies and pollock, and though we had a few takes we found most of the fish to be close in on the uptide side of the cliff walls and were impossible to get to without getting snagged every time.
By now, the winds had eased but thunderstorms surrounded us, so we worked our way back, stopping at all the various marks for 20-30 minutes at a time, but the bites were less frequent, and even the mackerel had disappeared. Overall, I had had something like 30 codling, and Oli perhaps a few more than that, as well as a dozen coalies each and his decent pollock, so it wasn't a bad day, just slow at times. And the conditions were much better than either of us had expected, given the forecast, and anyway, the coastline is just stunning whatever the weather. I didn't bother taking pictures of the smaller stuff, but have added a couple of the castle.
The Sunday forecast steadily got more favourable, with the strong westerlies expected to ease through the afternoon. The only problem was the tide - a real monster and one of the biggest of the year. Still, I really wanted to be out so my son Oli and I got up to Amble marina for 8 am. Heading north, it was a lot calmer than expected and we zipped along flat out. Yes, the tide was strong, and the drift was a quick 1.5-1.7 knots off Seaton Point, but within 45 minutes I'd landed 15 codling, none of which was bigger than 1.5lb. There were lots of mackerel around, and really big ones too which is good to see.
With low water at 11.30, we hopped upped to Craster to see if there were any more pollock around. Oli had one of around 4lb, but the water was discoloured and we couldn't see any fry or small sandeels on the screens, and we wondered if the big tide had pushed them off the reefs.
Thereafter, it was up to Dunstanburgh and do some exploring. The drift was too fast though for any wrasse in the kelp, but we did find some codling on one of the big drop-offs there.
From there we motored up to Newton. The area screams fish, and there are some big boils and rips just off some of the little islands up there, with pinnacles that suddenly drop off from 20 feet to 50 feet. We'd been here once before in a smaller tide and had done well on coalies and pollock, and though we had a few takes we found most of the fish to be close in on the uptide side of the cliff walls and were impossible to get to without getting snagged every time.
By now, the winds had eased but thunderstorms surrounded us, so we worked our way back, stopping at all the various marks for 20-30 minutes at a time, but the bites were less frequent, and even the mackerel had disappeared. Overall, I had had something like 30 codling, and Oli perhaps a few more than that, as well as a dozen coalies each and his decent pollock, so it wasn't a bad day, just slow at times. And the conditions were much better than either of us had expected, given the forecast, and anyway, the coastline is just stunning whatever the weather. I didn't bother taking pictures of the smaller stuff, but have added a couple of the castle.
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