FISHING THE HUMBER

The River Humber is a great venue for boat angling and has several charter boats at Grimsby. Being an estuary, it affords a lot of shelter and a quick journey to the marks.

The fishing is easy and you will catch most of the species here on squid baits, although mixing it up with worms and shellfish can pay dividends.

Uptiding is a favourite method and, depending on the tide strength, you should use a fairly long hook trace, say, 6ft. Reduce the length to a couple of feet during stronger currents.

A decent sized hook is required, especially if you are using a full unwashed squid. A 7oz sinker should be fine when uptiding, as long as you put out a decent bow of line. On the reel, you need something like a 30lb braid. Use fluorocarbon line for the hook trace.

There are two main docks that the boats use at Grimsby – the Fish Dock, which is the base for the Humber Cruising Association, and the Royal Dock. These are both governed by the lock gates.

You can launch a smaller boat at Cleethorpes beach too. The gates are locked, but you can get a key from the beach safety staff at Cleethorpes sea front. With a 4x4 you can launch about three hours before high tide. There is also the Humber Mouth Yacht Club, which has a compound and a tractor to launch the boat.

Humber Cruising Association: www.hcafishingclub.com

Humber Mouth Yacht Club: www.humbermouthyachtclub.co.uk