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I had the afternoom off, and Oli was able to join me, so we set off from Amble marina as the tide was rising. And it was a big tide too, 5m, coinciding with the super-moon. Conditions were fair, with the wind dropping away all the time. We got to Seaton Point and fished the rough ground. Like last week, bait was the preferred choice, with frozen prawns the best of the bunch. And water clarity was surprisingly good at around 10 feet, which should have clinched it for lures.
In the first hour, I had 8 codling, all of which were of a decent size, and in great condition. Even the 2 pounders gave a good scrap in the fast current. The next hour however saw things slow down so we felt it time for a move. The tide had also slowed at this point, so we struck out for the wrecks. In fact, we ended up doing drift after drift on just a single wreck for the next 2 and a half hours. The codling were a bit larger out there, with quite a few in the 4-6lb bracket. The slack tide at the start of the session also saw a small ling come to the boat, and surprisingly, once its swim bladder was popped it swam back down again. At this stage we hadn't any mackerel, having released the ones we'd caught inshore, so improvised with the frozen prawns until we'd got a stock of mackerel, and this ling actually took a frozen prawn on a hokki!
We kept 4 of the largest codling as we've a family get-together coming up. It was interesting to examine the contents of their stomachs. One had an edible crab that was in its peeling process, and was about the size of a saucer. Quite a big mouthful. Another had a dragonet of about 25cm in length, which is a species we don't see much of.
All too soon it was time to leave and catch the tide over the bar at Amble. With large swells of 1 metre that day, it's not advisable to leave crossing the bar to the last minute. All in all, the forecasters had got it wrong, and the winds were light, it didn't rain and we even saw the sun.
In the first hour, I had 8 codling, all of which were of a decent size, and in great condition. Even the 2 pounders gave a good scrap in the fast current. The next hour however saw things slow down so we felt it time for a move. The tide had also slowed at this point, so we struck out for the wrecks. In fact, we ended up doing drift after drift on just a single wreck for the next 2 and a half hours. The codling were a bit larger out there, with quite a few in the 4-6lb bracket. The slack tide at the start of the session also saw a small ling come to the boat, and surprisingly, once its swim bladder was popped it swam back down again. At this stage we hadn't any mackerel, having released the ones we'd caught inshore, so improvised with the frozen prawns until we'd got a stock of mackerel, and this ling actually took a frozen prawn on a hokki!
We kept 4 of the largest codling as we've a family get-together coming up. It was interesting to examine the contents of their stomachs. One had an edible crab that was in its peeling process, and was about the size of a saucer. Quite a big mouthful. Another had a dragonet of about 25cm in length, which is a species we don't see much of.
All too soon it was time to leave and catch the tide over the bar at Amble. With large swells of 1 metre that day, it's not advisable to leave crossing the bar to the last minute. All in all, the forecasters had got it wrong, and the winds were light, it didn't rain and we even saw the sun.
Glad you managed a trip and connected with some nice fish 
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