Oli joined me on the boat at 08.30 after an all-nighter fishing for bass, and we set off from Amble and headed north. The winds were at last behaving themselves, though there were a couple of downpours later on. We stopped at Seaton point for a while, and there were some codling around, but they were patchy, and mostly under 3lb.
We carried on up to Craster where the sea was glassy smooth and gin-clear down to 18-20 feet. The drifts were long and slow on the flooding tide, conditions which the fish seem to favour, despite the very small tides, and we were straight away into the fish. What we noticed is that the percentage of codling in the 3-5lb bracket was noticeably greater than in previous years. I ended the day with 40 codling, of which a third were of this size, with the biggest measured at 62cm, and which weighed in at 5.5lb. What made it more enjoyable was that Oli had bought me a Savagegear lure rod for Father's Day which I used for the first time. It is super-light, with a tremendous action, bending almost in half, making even 2 pounders feel like 4 pounders. All the fish went back, except for one badly-hooked codling. Oli caught a similar number, perhaps even slightly more than me. He also had a bonus wrasse, and we both had pout and coalies. The mackerel were prolific, and looked to be on steroids, they were so big. It was an awesome session.
Lots of boats were out yesterday, and it will be interesting to hear how they all fared.
We carried on up to Craster where the sea was glassy smooth and gin-clear down to 18-20 feet. The drifts were long and slow on the flooding tide, conditions which the fish seem to favour, despite the very small tides, and we were straight away into the fish. What we noticed is that the percentage of codling in the 3-5lb bracket was noticeably greater than in previous years. I ended the day with 40 codling, of which a third were of this size, with the biggest measured at 62cm, and which weighed in at 5.5lb. What made it more enjoyable was that Oli had bought me a Savagegear lure rod for Father's Day which I used for the first time. It is super-light, with a tremendous action, bending almost in half, making even 2 pounders feel like 4 pounders. All the fish went back, except for one badly-hooked codling. Oli caught a similar number, perhaps even slightly more than me. He also had a bonus wrasse, and we both had pout and coalies. The mackerel were prolific, and looked to be on steroids, they were so big. It was an awesome session.
Lots of boats were out yesterday, and it will be interesting to hear how they all fared.
I would be wiped out.
