Norman
Well-known member
At Last ...... a day out fishing ....
After waiting so long for a decent weather day it was a great relief to see the sea was ... err workable on Sunday.
Out early as predicted not quite 4.30am start but 4.45am after a little time for a quick look at the coastline at Tynemouth. The rollers were crashing over the north pier and running speedily down the south pier but as forecast it was more of a large roll than a violent sea, richies comment of "lazy roll" was spot on.
It did feel a bit chilly as I walked the pontoon to slinky and when I tried to wash the window to remove what looked like a few drops of dew obscuring the view it instantly turned to ice ....
see the picture below, which resulted in bit of extra cleaning to remove it.
Out alone today so scenery pictures only as I had no tripod with me for any fish pictures, still, didn't miss anything special as the biggest was only about 4-5 lbs. (mind you if there was any monsters I'm sure I'd have found a way to photograph it
.
Alone today as Tony had other bank holiday duties to perform, I had thought long about inviting other crew for the day but with the uncertainty of the conditions and also uncertainty of the catch I decided it would be unfair to expect anyone to be up at 3.00am only to be told it was a no go, or worse still up at 3.00 out in freezing conditions only to go home empty handed (not as it happenned)
Anyway out and down river through the piers for about 5.15am (hampered by a large vessel ahead of me) and off to a few wrecks to "check em out".
This was a scouting excercise being the first proper trip of the season and I needed to find where the fish were (and were not) ahead of the trip with my VIP guest next weekend.
The sea, especially after the past few weeks was stunning with a roll so slow it was more akin to an undulating field.
Fishing wise the catch rate was not high, I took three codling about 3 or 4lb the best at maybe 4.5lb and a hard fighting pollack of about the same weight.
I visited about 6 or 7 wrecks doing some 35miles round trip fairly spread out so I have a feel now for next week where the best bet will be to start.
I think the catch could have been a lot better as I lost several fish today certainly 4 that I took almost to the top one of which I lost on the surface as I brought it to the boat (A Pollack I think as it fought hard and swam a distance away from me). Not sure why my loss rate was high, maybe due to still using some of last seasons "used" traces or maybe It's me thats just a bit rusty.
One fish caught on a blue shad (yes shads worked as well as rag and squid) was a real fat greedy fish as it came to the boat with the shad hooked nicely deep in the cheek but with FOUR flattys in its mouth, they were partly digested but all were in the mouth with head or tail sticking out (flatties about 4 or 5 inches long - or 10-13cm ) no idea how it got the shad past the flatties
All in all a great day to start the season, not a big catch but three cod and a pollack is fine by me. The weather forecasts (XCWeather) were so amazingly correct to within the hour as the wind dropped the previous night, went west for me in the morning then by 10.30am (my time to return) the winds begun to turn easterly again......
Fingers crossed for next weekend...
a couple of pics of the day scenery only
Instant Ice on the windscreen .....
My view of a perfect Dawn ....
Down the river to sea .....
A Fantastic Sea .....
Thanks for reading, hope you all have a good un next weekend
norm
After waiting so long for a decent weather day it was a great relief to see the sea was ... err workable on Sunday.
Out early as predicted not quite 4.30am start but 4.45am after a little time for a quick look at the coastline at Tynemouth. The rollers were crashing over the north pier and running speedily down the south pier but as forecast it was more of a large roll than a violent sea, richies comment of "lazy roll" was spot on.
It did feel a bit chilly as I walked the pontoon to slinky and when I tried to wash the window to remove what looked like a few drops of dew obscuring the view it instantly turned to ice ....
see the picture below, which resulted in bit of extra cleaning to remove it.Out alone today so scenery pictures only as I had no tripod with me for any fish pictures, still, didn't miss anything special as the biggest was only about 4-5 lbs. (mind you if there was any monsters I'm sure I'd have found a way to photograph it
.Alone today as Tony had other bank holiday duties to perform, I had thought long about inviting other crew for the day but with the uncertainty of the conditions and also uncertainty of the catch I decided it would be unfair to expect anyone to be up at 3.00am only to be told it was a no go, or worse still up at 3.00 out in freezing conditions only to go home empty handed (not as it happenned)
Anyway out and down river through the piers for about 5.15am (hampered by a large vessel ahead of me) and off to a few wrecks to "check em out".
This was a scouting excercise being the first proper trip of the season and I needed to find where the fish were (and were not) ahead of the trip with my VIP guest next weekend.
The sea, especially after the past few weeks was stunning with a roll so slow it was more akin to an undulating field.
Fishing wise the catch rate was not high, I took three codling about 3 or 4lb the best at maybe 4.5lb and a hard fighting pollack of about the same weight.
I visited about 6 or 7 wrecks doing some 35miles round trip fairly spread out so I have a feel now for next week where the best bet will be to start.
I think the catch could have been a lot better as I lost several fish today certainly 4 that I took almost to the top one of which I lost on the surface as I brought it to the boat (A Pollack I think as it fought hard and swam a distance away from me). Not sure why my loss rate was high, maybe due to still using some of last seasons "used" traces or maybe It's me thats just a bit rusty
.One fish caught on a blue shad (yes shads worked as well as rag and squid) was a real fat greedy fish as it came to the boat with the shad hooked nicely deep in the cheek but with FOUR flattys in its mouth, they were partly digested but all were in the mouth with head or tail sticking out (flatties about 4 or 5 inches long - or 10-13cm
) no idea how it got the shad past the flatties All in all a great day to start the season, not a big catch but three cod and a pollack is fine by me. The weather forecasts (XCWeather) were so amazingly correct to within the hour as the wind dropped the previous night, went west for me in the morning then by 10.30am (my time to return) the winds begun to turn easterly again......
Fingers crossed for next weekend...
a couple of pics of the day scenery only
Instant Ice on the windscreen .....
My view of a perfect Dawn ....
Down the river to sea .....
A Fantastic Sea .....
Thanks for reading, hope you all have a good un next weekend
norm
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but yours did have ice 
, that sea looks pretty good, bet Tony wishes he had gone insted of doing the chores....
