The recent easterly to north easterly seas did not quite bring the expected numbers of cod inshore, the sea was not quite heavy enough on most tides for the Region’s piers to fish well, but with the better movement along the shoreline a lot of the beach and rock edge marks did at least produce a few fish. The promenade and the Staincliffe at Hartlepool produced cod around the 2lb mark with some anglers taking bags of up to six fish on fresh crab baits. The local piers by comparison were full of whiting and dabs with a night time tide producing the best results. The Durham beaches saw similar results with some cod amongst the larger numbers of whiting. Cod sport improved further north of Seaham with bigger fish to 6lb showing from Roker pier, South Shields pier and the various rock edge marks in between. The river Tyne has a lot of smaller fish present, and the rock edges north of the Tyne and into Northumberland have again been the best marks to fish for a chance of some bigger specimen cod.
Club matches have generally been won with double figure mixed bags, often with some better cod around the 6lb mark amongst them. Phil Smithson won a Tynemouth retired members match with nine whiting, two coalfish, two flounders and a dab for a total of 12lb 3oz, Neil Garner had the heaviest fish, another typical Tyne cod of 1lb 12oz. Andrew Stanford had five cod for 15lb 8oz, the best weighing 5lb 6oz to win a Seaton Sluice match. D. Hall had three cod weighing 12lb 5oz to win a Cleadon match, Tommy Tate had three totalling 10lb 6oz, the best at 6lb taken at the Green Wall, and J. Brennan had a single cod of 6lb from Hill 60. On South Shields pier Ian Elliott won a monthly sweepstake match with eight cod weighing 9lb 12oz. Seventeen out of 62 weighed in for the Seaham A.C. Dillon Trophy match won by Brian Dobson with five fish for 6.20lb taken at the Chemical beach. David Bond had four for 6.03lb at the South Drum, and Anthony Price had the heaviest fish with a nice autumn pollack of 4.82lb from the South pier.
The Bedlington Station Night Time Open was fished in relatively settled conditions just before the sea picked up but the cod still showed on the night with 34 out of the 85 anglers weighing in 83 fish for 162lb 14oz. First place went to Frankie Oldham with seven cod weighing 15lb 15oz, K. Bowen had four for 14lb 12oz, Darren Swan had four also weighing 14lb 12oz, and Chris Stringer had two for a total of 9lb 6oz including the heaviest fish of 7 – 01lb.
The Seaham David Guy Memorial Open is on Sunday October 25th with fishing from 12 noon until 5pm between Hendon Groyne and Dene Holm pipe at Horden. Basic entry is £10 plus optional pools and sealed weight. Top three prizes of £1000, £500, and £350 are for the heaviest fish one prize only per angler. Ladies, junior, and disabled winners receive £100. There is a full supporting prize table plus raffle prizes. There will be 100 pegs on the North pier and 80 pegs on the South pier weather permitting. Register at the Seaham clubhouse from 9.30am until 11am. You can pre register at Rutherford’s Angling, N.E. Tackle Supplies, Coast Road Tackle, and at the clubhouse during normal working hours.
The Bedlington Station Northumberland Shore Open is on Sunday November 1st with fishing from 9.30am until 1.30pm between Tynemouth pier and Craster South pier. All piers and rivers excluded except Blyth pier. Basic entry is £12 seniors, £6 juniors, register at the Bank House Club, Newbiggin from 7am until 8.30am. First prize is £500 for the heaviest bag, the top two heaviest fish are a cash prize plus a percentage of entry money. Heaviest flatfish wins £50, plus junior and ladies prizes, spot place prizes, and the usual full supporting prize table. Edible crab and cart bait is banned by law.
