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Finally, all the repairs to Bellini that were caused by Storm Arwen back in 2021 have been completed. Many thanks to Steve at Amble Boat Services for his superb craftmanship, a far cry from the shoddy workmanship from the Scottish yard that was originally appointed and which failed over several attempts to patch her up.
Saturday was a beautiful day, blue skies, warm and sunny, the perfect day to get waterborne again. Once all the checks had been made and we were safe, it was time to hit the marks. It was a big tide though, and so Oli, who is my son and I had to wait until nearly midday before leaving Amble. We then headed north to Seaton Point, but the water was discoloured after the northerly blow a few days ago, and there was nothing biting. The good news is that the water temperature inshore was 12.7 degrees, which should bring the mackerel in once the cloudiness lifts. However, there was limited bird activity and very little by way of bait showing on the sounders which might be a reason why the fishing was slow.
We soon moved on up to Craster where the water clarity was better - perhaps 8-9 feet, compared to 4-5 feet at Seaton. The drifts were fast, at over 1 knot on the big tides, but an 8 oz lead managed to hold bottom. Oli was steadily catching small codling, and I was having a mixture of small codling and coalies of around 1lb - good fun on light tackle and with 3 fish on at once. I was switching around from imitation sandeels to hokkis, baited with cooked frozen prawn, and it was on the prawn that I got my biggest fish of the day, a codling of around 5lb.
With the tide slackening, we figured we could try some wrecks further out. Water clarity was even better, but no mackerel. Instead, we found clouds of coalies hovering over the wrecks. When we did get through them, we found codling and some pout, but nothing of any great size. That said, we didn't really go prepared. We could have used some bait as one of the coalies I caught coughed up a small squid which I was able to use to catch a codling.
On the way back in, we gave Seaton Point anouther go, but only a few small codling showed.
It was a lovely day, and apart from a RIB out of Beadnall, there was not another boat around all day. That we caught was just a bonus. It was just so nice being out on the water again.
Saturday was a beautiful day, blue skies, warm and sunny, the perfect day to get waterborne again. Once all the checks had been made and we were safe, it was time to hit the marks. It was a big tide though, and so Oli, who is my son and I had to wait until nearly midday before leaving Amble. We then headed north to Seaton Point, but the water was discoloured after the northerly blow a few days ago, and there was nothing biting. The good news is that the water temperature inshore was 12.7 degrees, which should bring the mackerel in once the cloudiness lifts. However, there was limited bird activity and very little by way of bait showing on the sounders which might be a reason why the fishing was slow.
We soon moved on up to Craster where the water clarity was better - perhaps 8-9 feet, compared to 4-5 feet at Seaton. The drifts were fast, at over 1 knot on the big tides, but an 8 oz lead managed to hold bottom. Oli was steadily catching small codling, and I was having a mixture of small codling and coalies of around 1lb - good fun on light tackle and with 3 fish on at once. I was switching around from imitation sandeels to hokkis, baited with cooked frozen prawn, and it was on the prawn that I got my biggest fish of the day, a codling of around 5lb.
With the tide slackening, we figured we could try some wrecks further out. Water clarity was even better, but no mackerel. Instead, we found clouds of coalies hovering over the wrecks. When we did get through them, we found codling and some pout, but nothing of any great size. That said, we didn't really go prepared. We could have used some bait as one of the coalies I caught coughed up a small squid which I was able to use to catch a codling.
On the way back in, we gave Seaton Point anouther go, but only a few small codling showed.
It was a lovely day, and apart from a RIB out of Beadnall, there was not another boat around all day. That we caught was just a bonus. It was just so nice being out on the water again.
On the look out for a small boat myself this summer if I can find somewhere reasonable to store it in Amble area.
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