Heavy seas during last week scattered any mackerel shoals. Indeed, perpetual wet and windy conditions are largely responsible for a washout mackerel so far.
Seas on Friday were so heavy that scoured bait was washed up along the local Teesbay shoreline. Anglers lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time managed to collect good razor clams to freeze for the coming winter season. Rough seas also brought a flurry of cod inshore. with some anglers taking double figure bags. Most of these modest summer cod are around 1 – 08lb, but 5lb fish come off Seaham and Roker piers. Rob downey had cod to 5lb from Roker on fresh crab. Whiting also showing in big numbers on late evening tides, with odd 2-lbers among bags of up to twenty fish. Worm and crab baits for cod and whiting, with odd dabs, flounders, and plaice too. Odd bonus bass to 3lb have also been reported. Steetley Pier is flagged as a hotspot, but there are plenty of productive beach marks.
A recent Seaham AC match saw 59 fishing for the Richardson Cup. 29 weighed in with winner J.Barrass presenting 5 fish for 5.2lb. J.Clark had 4 fish for 3.77lb, P.Hellens had 4 fish for 3.48lb, and D.Borwell had 3 fish for 2.87lb.
Seaham juniors also had a recent match with 3 out of 7 weighing in 12 mackerel for 10.04lb. Top rod was P.J.King with 7 mackerel for 6.21lb, Lliam Wright had 3 fish for 2.66lb, and Kieron Newton had 2 fish for 1.17lb.
The river Wear is back on form with good numbers of flounders, coalfish, whiting, and the odd cod showing, particularly from Rathouse Corner. The last Ryhope sweepstake fished at Panns Bank saw all of those 41 fishing taking fish. Joe Grieves won zone A with a nice flounder of 1 – 09lb, John Wilson had one of 1 – 04lb, and Jack Clark had one of 1 – 02lb. In zone B Jim Dobie was a winner yet again with an eel of 1 – 06lb, and John Surtess and Jim Dobie also tied for second place each with flounders of 1 – 01lb. The last Eastenders open match saw Bobby Bland land a rare shad of 1 – 08lb from the Golden Lion.
The Tyne is also productive and seems to have more flounders showing than the Wear but fishing is very localised. Lots of small cod have also moved into the lower Tyne recently. The last Tynemouth AC retired members match saw 7 out of 11 weighing in. Winner Doug Spivey had a nice mixed bag of 8 cod, 6 whiting, and 2 flounders for 12 – 15lb, including the h.s.f. with a cod of 1 – 08lb. Dave Bentley had 8 whiting, 1 gurnard, and 1 flounder for 5 – 10lb, and Neil Garner had 6 whiting and 1 cod for 4 – 13lb.
North of the Tyne, the Northumberland rock edges have fished very well when the sea has been settled. Dave Rogers had an outstanding session at St. Abbs taking cod to 5lb, and wrasse to 4lb on fresh crab for a total of 40lb, and also had good numbers of mackerel on spinning tackle, all the fish were returned alive. The last Tynemouth Summer League match saw Dave Hayley also fishing at St. Abbs where he had a winning bag of 5 wrasse and 1 cod for 14 – 01lb. Doug Spivey had 2 coalfish, 2 wrasse and 1 cod of 5 – 10lb for a total weight of 13 – 10lb, and Steve Harper had 2 coalfish, 1 ling, and 1 pollack for 10 – 13lb.
South of the Tees Saltburn A.C. had two recent matches, in the first 7 out of 8 weighed in with winner Dave Allinson taking 3 bass for 4 – 03lb, Paul Lobley was second with the h.s.f. a bass of 3 – 05lb, and Daniel Redling had a flounder and a gurnard for 1 – 02lb. The second match saw 8 out of 16 weighing in. Dave Allinson was on winning form again taking 2 mackerel and 1 flounder for 103cm, Bernard Westgarth had 3 flounders and 1 weaver fish for 91cm, and Guy Mason had 2 mackerel for 75cm.
Boat anglers have struggled with the poor conditions but there have been a few decent fish taken out of the Tyne where Alan Black had a nice cod of 23 – 08lb, and Peter Vartley had a ling of 19lb in a 100 fish catch on the Sarah JFK. Another trip on the Sarah JFK also produced around 100 fish with the best a cod of 15lb taken by Paul Longstaff. The Warlord out of Amble fishing the productive inshore ground reports masses of mackerel and the odd bigger cod to 10lb.
