It’s been another patchy weekend in a difficult summer for boat fishing

THE boat fishing over the weekend was very patchy. The best fish from the wrecks were Cod to 12lb and Ling to 14lb on the “JFK Two”.

They also had a few Pollock to 6lb. The baits were Rhubarb & Custard Sidewinders tipped with prawn and also hokis and daylights with mackerel strip.

Talking to Allan, the skipper of the JFK Two he said he felt it was one of the worst summer seasons for many years.

Normally he would expect a good number of Cod and Ling into the 20lb, but this year they have been few and far between from the wrecks Allan is still averaging between 40-60 per day, which is still pretty good going. The close inshore hard ground marks are still producing reasonable Cod to 7lb or 8lb and occasional Ling up to 10lb.

The best baits have been crab, squid and cooked prawns. I heard about a group of anglers travelling down to Weymouth and all they got was six fish between them – so the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence.

Amble boats are still picking up plenty of Codling between 4lb and 6lb on a variety of baits, with fish being taken from the Cresswell Skeers and the east side of Coquet Island. There are still lots of undersized Codling also being landed. Mackerel are still around in fair numbers and some of this species are going to over 2lb.

Kayak anglers, when it has been possible to get out, are having reasonable sport close in with Codling to 7lb, Coalfish, the usual Mackerel and there seems to be a lot of Wrasse around this year, with some of them going up to 5lb. Artificials and crab, worm, squid have all taken fish.

The final Whitley Bay AS Summer Competition was held last Sunday with 19 rods taking part and fourteen weighing in. The winner was Geoff King with seven fish for 9lb 10oz. Second was Gary Appleton with four fish for 7lb 3oz and third was Colin Bowman with four fish for 4lb 13 1/2oz. The HSF was taken by Steven Atkinson with a fish of 3lb 9oz.

The top three final placings after five matches are: Summer Champion - Gary Appleton with 45 lb 6oz. Second Geoff King with 26 ln 8oz and third Tony Anderson with 35lb 11oz.

The overall heaviest fish was taken by Alan OI’Neill with a fish of 6lb. The East End SAC fished a club match in which 10 rods took part and six weighed in.

The winner was Darren Gains with three fish for 9lb, including the HSF of 4lb 4oz taken from Seahouses.

Second was Nicky Robson with four fish for 8 lb 12oz taken from Alnmouth and third was Tony Baldwin with three fish for 3lb 14oz taken from Beadnell.

The final placings in the Summer League are Nicky Robson with 55lb 8oz and in the Summer Pairs were Nicky Robson and Greg Norris with 88lb 8oz