MY FISHING DIARY
Junior rod Harley’s angling exploits.
JUST BEFORE the Covid-19 outbreak occurred and we were all suddenly locked down, preventing us from going fishing, I got out to my local River Tyne to target smelt.
The best time to catch this fascinating species is during their spawning season from February to April. They turn up in huge numbers in the River Tyne, in readiness to lay their eggs.
Smelt love a bit of tidal flow, which is why the Tyne is the perfect habitat to catch them.
My dad and me chose a venue upstream, close to Newcastle. The tides were building, and the weather was finally settled after some storms, so it was looking promising for some success.
I decided to fish a two-hook flapper rig with short hook snoods made with 12lb mono and carrying size 6 Kamasan hooks. The top bait to use is lug tipped off with a little sliver of mackerel strip. This is a great bait because it also attracts other species too, especially flounders.
My first cast was lobbed out around 40 yards into the flooding tide. Fish can often be caught close in at your feet here, but the smelt are generally found feeding further out.
It wasn’t long before my first customer began tapping at the rod tip. I chose to leave it to develop into a more significant bite and began baiting another rig. The bite was still tapping away, and I was hoping that this could be my first smelt of the season.
While reeling in, I felt the occasional light tap through the rod, and then I saw a big smelt suddenly appear on top of the water. I was really happy because this is a great fish to enter into the species league that I now compete in.
At more than 30cm, it was a big smelt too. The current world record is only 6.7oz. I decided to release it back into the water, leaving its curious smell of cucumber on my fingers.
Over the next couple of hours, time just seemed to fly by, but I was having some terrific sport, landing plenty of double shots of smelt and flounders.
When high tide arrived, the bites dried up, but as soon as it began to ebb, the fish came back on the feed, although not as prolific as they were on the flood tide.
The sun was now dropping low in the sky and it was time to call it a day. My total tally of smelt was 14 and I lost count of the small flounders I caught.
It was a brilliant afternoon fishing with my dad. By the time you read this, I may have been abel to get out fishing again. ■