SEA ANGLING
SOMETIMES I hear things which really annoy me. A charter boat skipper told me he had a booking from five anglers who asked him to get the bait for them, which he paid for out of his own pocket.
He was on board the boat waiting for the party when he received a call from them saying they had changed their minds and were not going out.
This is despicable – this skipper had gone to the trouble and expense of collecting their bait and taking the boat off its moorings.
In most ports in this country, especially in the south, you either book the boat and leave a deposit from a kiosk on the sea front or at a local tackle shop. It is not the first time I have heard of a local charter boat skipper being let down like this.
Boat fishing over the weekend was hampered by strong winds and four and five metre swells, so sport was pretty quiet. About the only boat with any fish was Allan Skinner’s “JFK Two”, who fished some inshore wrecks and managed a few cod to 8lb and ling to 10lb.
Allan told me that mackerel were hard to come by, so it looks as if we may be seeing the last of them for this season.
There are still a few codling from Cresswell, Lynemouth, and at night Blyth beach. The average size was 2lb to 2½lb mainly on worm baits.
A young lad fishing the River Tyne, Jack Welsh, had four codling about 3lb each and two good flounders on ragworm from The Gut. South Shields pier has given a few codling 2lb to 3lb, with the same from Whitburn and Marsden.
Roker Pier could open by the end of November, just in time for the winter cod for the shore anglers.
The Whitley Bay Open last Sunday saw 109 rods fish, 27 weighing in. Anthony Eke won with five fish for 12lb 6oz from Newbiggin. Second was Steve Coverdale with three for 10lb 5oz and third Michael Aitchison with four fish for 9lb 11oz. The HSF of 5lb 6oz was taken from Latch Dyke by Dave Turnbull.
There are two major Opens on Sunday, October 22: the first is the Bedlington SAC (9.30am-1.30pm). Entry £12 all-in for this Penn Points match. Boundaries: Tynemouth Pier (excluding pier) to Craster, all rivers and estuaries out of bounds. The wooden pier at Blyth can be fished.
On the same day the Seaham SAC is between 1pm to 6pm. This is a heaviest single fish match with £1,000 for the heaviest fish, £500 second and £350 third. Entry £10 all classes. Further details on both these matches next week.
My guest this Saturday on CVFM “Gone Fishing” Radio programme (8am-10am) on www.cvfm.org.uk or on Mix Cloud from the following Monday, is the editor of a French angling magazine called Fishing & Travel, which is available in English and the photography is stunning.
Next Saturday, especially of interest to the coarse angler, is ex-England team manager Dick Clegg. The following Saturday (October 28) is Bill Brazier, a fish ecologist from Ireland.