Record number of entrants take to seas in boat competition off Amble

THE Bob White Open Boat Competition, which was held out of Amble last Saturday, had a tremendous entry of 159 rods, which was their largest number of competitors to date.

Of these, 112 competitors weighed in and anglers fished from charter boats, kayaks and private boats.

This was a heaviest single fish competition and the winner was kayak angler Ken Howard, with a cod of 7lb 9.25oz. Second was Graham Bell with a ling of 6lb 8.25oz.

The women’s winner was Liz Nichol with a pollock of 5lb 7.5oz, and the junior winner was Calvin McDonald with a cod of 4lb 9.75oz. So far, the competition has raised £2,020, but there is still money to come in. The organisers would like to thank everyone who took part and to all who donated prizes. ■■A NUMBER of decent fish have been taken from the boats, although some boats are complaining about lack of fish. The best ling I have heard of came from the “JFK Two” and was caught by crewman Keith Ryder and weighed in at 18lb.

Also from the same boat, Theresa Hepplewhite landed a ling of 15.5lb. Ross Alexander caught a cod of 15.75lb and Davey Collinson landed a ling of 15.5lb.

All of the fish were taken on Hokis and Daylights baited with mackerel and squid. Contact skipper Allan on 07808 684358.

Tyne wreck boat Predator also had some good fish. Twelve-year-old William Bulman used an artificial squid to land an 11lb 8oz ling.

John Beattie used Daylights baited with squid to take a 16lb ling. For bookings on the Predator contact Simon on 07795 675355.

On Tuesday afternoon the Sapphire had a five-hour trip between noon and 5pm and fish played their part well.

The best fish was a ling of 15lb taken by Paul Reay from Gateshead.

Chris Flemming from Seghill took an 11lb ling, while the best cod weighed in at 8lb and was taken by Jim Redding from Cramlington.

The top baits were fresh mackerel and squid. Contact skipper Peter on 07854 819924. ■■A SMALL commercial boat netting only a few hundred yards off Blyth last weekend had a surprise catch among the usual codling, coalfish and mackerel.

The surprise was five tuna all about 5lb in weight. What they were doing off the North East coast I have no idea, but over the years there have been the unusual visitor or two.

Last week a youngster fishing with his father on Seaham North Pier lost a fish estimated between 20lb and 30lb.

The fish was seen by other anglers who tried to help and everyone agreed it was a sun fish.

Anglers fishing Rat House Corner in the Wear are taking bags of mackerel and good-sized herring and also twaite and allis shads.

The two latter species are protected and must be returned alive to the water. A black bream was also taken recently from South Shields.

So there do seem to be changes for the good. ■■MY SPECIAL guest on CVFM’s Gone Fishing radio show this week is one of Britain’s top angling journalists and photographers, Mike Millman from Plymouth.

Mike will be recalling the days when Plymouth was the wreck angling capital of this country.

The show is broadcast each Saturday from 8am to 10am, with live reports from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales on all angling disciplines.

You can tune in live on www.cvfm.org. uk “Listen Live”.

The programme is also available on Mix Cloud from the following Monday, where it can be heard at any time.