A general concensus req team

[snatcher]

Honest to God I am a keen sea fisherman.Have fished off the NE coast of England for about 50 years both boat and shore.Used to love winter fishing off Whitley beach.Used to bag up after 2/3 hours fishing.

As most of you know I am retired and have a static caravan in Drummore,Mull of Galloway.There ,in the summer I can wake up in the morning and decide what type of fish I want to catch.

Pollack
Wrasse
Mullet
Conger
Mackerel
Tope
Flatfish
Basically I am spoilt for fish over there.I did bring back all of my sea gear and have been reading the catch/no catch reports every day.I honestly would love to cast a bait off the shore on our coast but - is it worth the effort/bait???

Input required lads,is the fishing now pants? I know the "odd" biggie appears but the normal posting to me seems to be "well a small whiting" saved me from blanking.

I am full of drink posting this but am I close to the mark???

 

[Gaverick]

Sounds about right to me, I caught more fish last season and I only started last summer, this season I've had hardly anything worth speaking about and when I think back to last season I really didn't have a clue what I was doing.

 

[paulthespark]

Pants.

 

[Topfly]

John, the fishing is absolutely rubbish at the moment. I think most anglers are just going for the social side of it and if they catch, it's a bonus. I say "at the moment" in the hope that things get better. At least you can get some good sport on the mull.

 

[codmaster]

propper s**t !!!!!!!

 

[snatcher]

Aye I really feel for you lads.Think you would be better off saving a few pennies up and have a few weekends over on the Mull of Galloway.At least you should never blank there!

 

[fozally]

I fished Roker Pier end Thursday along with 7/8 others and saw 1 small flatty and 1 size whiting all night. I had no bites whatsoever and only had one bait chewed up a bit. Baits used were crab,rag,lug,squid,razor and macky.

Had a few sessions like this. Veryy poor year.

 

[Fishygone]

Carnt remember having such a s**t season in my life and i have fished from being a lad, we think our Cod stocks are in trouble i watched that Billy Connerly program through the week he was at what used to be the Cod banks in Newfoundland & Novascoasha and other areas that were heaving with Cod not so long ago They are totaly wiped out and theyve banned Trawling ect. A bit late me thinks theres no Cod left in there waters and our fishing days for Cod are numbered infact i think the number has come up the fishing is Knacked up good and proper.

john.

 

[snatcher]

Just been "trawling" through a couple of local forums looking at catch reports and basically its zippo all over.Really depressing reading.

 

[The Great Wallsendo]

It's only been my second winter season and even I can see that it's been crap...last season I managed half a dozen Codling in a dozen trips - which for a newbie I took as a pretty good haul.

This season my third session in yielded a 6lber - a new PB - great I thought...it's going to be a bumper season...

...how wrong I was

However I don't think it's because the fish aren't there; I think it boils down to the fact that there has been no reason for the fish to venture as close inshore as normal - we have not had sustained winter storms crashing into our coastline that have created a food haven for the fish. Instead (and I've been reliably informed) they have chosen to sit just out of casting range where the food is plentiful.

I've written this year off now....maybe fish a couple of club matches but I won't be going out for "kicks" until the boat fishing starts up

 

[Codcodcod!]

There has been good seas running mate at times. The fish are just not there. At one time there used to be 10 or so marks that could produce good bags of fish in certain sea conditons, now u'll be lucky if one of them 10 marks produce a fish never mind a decent bag!

Just a thought has anyone heard of a decent fish caught from Tynemouth or cullercoats this year?

Past years these were always big fish marks that produced fish.

 

[basswrasse2]

I totally think this winter has been totally pants

 

[snatcher]

DO NOT contemplate suicide,drink is a good alternative !!!!!!!! It works for me

 

[kela66]

speaking as a newcomer to the sport i think the last 2 nesa comps are a good example as to what everyone is saying .there were lots of good experienced anglers fishing marks they know well with baits that should catch fish but come the weigh in very little to show . everytime i have been out fishng or in a tackle shop all i have heard is people moaning its the worst season /year they have had . i only hope this is rock bottom and thing's will only get better in the north east . (or next year we can put coach trip's on to dungeness )

 

[snatcher]

As I said above the Mull of Galloway is a good alternative and it aint too far away!! In the summer every other angler I speak to seems to be a Geordie/Mackem/Smoggie. Here are the logistics of it for those who have never been but are contemplating it.

From Whitley Bay to our caravan on the Clashwhannon site in Drummore its 180 miles.

Average driving time for the journey is 3.5 hours

The route I prefer is A69/Brampton/Longtown/Gretna/A75. The A75 goes all the way to Stanraer.A few miles short of Stranraer,just after Glenluce there is a big sign on the left Mull of Galloway/Drummore.From there its about 15 miles.

A lot of lads who go over for a weekend either just fish all the way through or kip in their cars.A good alternative is camping.There are not too many places to camp but our caravan park does have a small area by the shore which will take 4 or 5 small tents.This is a picture of it taken from out caravan.

The site owner,Martin,was charging about £4 per man per night.There is a pub on the site though that does great bar food and carry outs.He also hires out caravans to anglers - here is the link

Home

The site is on the edge of the village of Drummore.Drummore has two more pubs,a cafe,shop,post office and thats it.

This is the view of Drummore from the caravan Park - it overlooks Luce Bay

You will catch fish there now but it really starts to pickup from May.We will be there from about the end of April till Sept/Oct with just the odd fleeting visit back to Whitley Bay.If you are in the area and need advice on marks just pop in to see me - unless I am out fishing myself.

To those who have never been to the area and would like to catch fish I highly recommend it.Giz a shout if you want any more info

John

 

[jonesey]

personally, its been a good year for the cod. not big bags but generally one or two a session. Good fish mainly in the 3-5ib range.

Last yer and the year before I spent loads of time and effort, freezing my nuts off with a good sea on and got sod all.

 

[snatcher]

personally, its been a good year for the cod. not big bags but generally one or two a session. Good fish mainly in the 3-5ib range.

Last yer and the year before I spent loads of time and effort, freezing my nuts off with a good sea on and got sod all.

Nice one.You seem to be the exception rather than the rule !!

John

 

[snatcher]

Just bringing this back to the top of the pile in case anyone missed it first time around.To those who have read it already I do apoligise.Suppose I could add a few fish on that you may catch on the MOG

Managed to hook up two tope on consecutive casts on a toby at this spot.This was me playing one of them.Both fish took about 90 mins to snap me!!

Even the wife catches fish there

Its well worth the trip over,even if its just for the day.Will give you species marks no bother

John