Tweet
I was at last able to take Bellini out, my first trip out on her since end September last year. But it was not a great day for fishing. A residual SE swell had not died away, so when Oli and I got to Seaton Point around 10am, the tide still had a couple of hours to ebb. The wind was a lot stronger wind than had been forecast, and with the tide acting together, combined with a 1.5 metre swell, it was not a healthy place to linger. No wonder nobody else was around, and in fact there were only a couple of private boats and one charter boat that had ventured north of Amble. The drift ranged from 1.5 knots to just over 2 knots making it completely unfishable. With hindsight, I should probably have anticipated this, but I was in such a hurry to get out on the morning tide that I overlooked this possibility. 9.30 am was the cut-off time to get out of Amble, otherwise I would have had to wait until 2 hours past low water before getting out, which would have cut short the trip.
We retreated to the rough ground off Alnmouth, and started taking a few mackerel and a couple of codling up to 3lb. Until slack water that is, when everything stopped. As did the boat as the wind veered westerly, and with the tide on the flood, we were motionless for over an hour. We tried going back to Seaton, but there was just a lack of fish (and very little bird activity, and definitely no dolphins). We tried the kelp beds off Boulmer, usually a haven for coalies and pollock. I took one small coalfish, but that was it. There was simply no movement. It was as though we were anchored.
From there, we cut through the chop back to Seaton Point for an hour, but there was nothing biting. From there we motored back down to end up on the south side of Coquet island, trying for what had now become elusive mackerel for dinner. Even they were thin on the ground, and although the water clarity was better than further north, there was just no tide. We eventually located a patch, just behind a kelpy reef off Hauxley and took half-a-dozen for the table. But no codling, nor wrasse.
It was a disappointing day. 5-6 codling each, a small coalie for me and just some mackerel to show for it. To rub salt in the wounds, a couple of lads came in behind us and they had gone further south for a couple of hours on the afternoon tide, and had caught 5-6 keepers and a bunch of smaller stuff.
I had expected to go out today too, but the weekend weather gods had other plans, and the promised light westerlies turned into moderate northerlies which kept me at home. That's fishing!
We retreated to the rough ground off Alnmouth, and started taking a few mackerel and a couple of codling up to 3lb. Until slack water that is, when everything stopped. As did the boat as the wind veered westerly, and with the tide on the flood, we were motionless for over an hour. We tried going back to Seaton, but there was just a lack of fish (and very little bird activity, and definitely no dolphins). We tried the kelp beds off Boulmer, usually a haven for coalies and pollock. I took one small coalfish, but that was it. There was simply no movement. It was as though we were anchored.
From there, we cut through the chop back to Seaton Point for an hour, but there was nothing biting. From there we motored back down to end up on the south side of Coquet island, trying for what had now become elusive mackerel for dinner. Even they were thin on the ground, and although the water clarity was better than further north, there was just no tide. We eventually located a patch, just behind a kelpy reef off Hauxley and took half-a-dozen for the table. But no codling, nor wrasse.
It was a disappointing day. 5-6 codling each, a small coalie for me and just some mackerel to show for it. To rub salt in the wounds, a couple of lads came in behind us and they had gone further south for a couple of hours on the afternoon tide, and had caught 5-6 keepers and a bunch of smaller stuff.
I had expected to go out today too, but the weekend weather gods had other plans, and the promised light westerlies turned into moderate northerlies which kept me at home. That's fishing!
Comment