A grand day’s fishing for winner Richard

WITH only a few days left in the Whitby charter skippers spring festival left, Richard Horobrov made the relatively short journey, compared to some anglers who had come from far and wide, from Barnsley and fished aboard SHY TORQUE 111 where he is a regular.

He caught a cod of 13lb 14oz which was enough to hold onto the lead and give him the £1,000 first prize and yet another festival win for SHY TORQUE 111.

Carl Farrar of Wakefield fishing from Trot On with his ling of 10lb 14oz was second with Gordon Yates of Bolton fishing from SHY TORQUE 111 was third with his ling of 10lb 7oz. The best pollock of the festival of 7lb 11oz was taken aboard Trot On by Hayley Worthington of Preston.

With a few charter skippers away on busman’s holidays to Norway no charter boats have been out that I know of and the few private boats that have been out have had to stay close inshore where they have taken reasonable numbers of cod to around 4lb with cocktail baits taking most fish.

The upper reaches of the Tyne must be layered with flounder. Liam Muizelaar who is still on his quest for smelt found it even harder to get through the flounder on his latest trip, taking no less than 51 plump flounder, the best session he has ever had.

The Wear has also produced good numbers of flounder along with whiting and the odd codling. With the sea calming down Druridge has again started to produce decent catches of flounder with anglers taking over a dozen a session with the best around 35cm, Warkworth, Embleton and Blyth have also started to give decent Richard Horobrov with the winning fish in the Whitby charter skippers spring festival catches of flounder. Seaham pier has seen quite a lot of Tommy codling during the day with a few dogfish turning up during darkness along with the odd codling.

South Shields pier has seen a few codling from the end with most being taken at distance. The rock ends all along the coastline have only produced a handful of codling with the best around 2lb.

The ray fishing from the Solway marks has gone quiet with only a few being taken along with a few dogfish. Marks around Workington, Maryport and Port Carlisle producing a few flounder and the odd plaice and the chance of a bass.