Dunstanburgh Ledges 27th July 2016

Dunstanburgh is one of my go-to marks for summer fishing.  It is a beautifully scenic area that provides a lot of sport on the light gear when conditions are right.

I was due to be heading to Skegness again this weekend but following a change of plans I decided since the conditions and tides looked good to head to Dunstanburgh instead.

We headed over to Craster for around 0630.  There was forecast to be flat seas and a mild breeze which was ideal for this mark.

 We began the 1.5 mile walk up to the castle and when we arrived were surprised to find that the weather forecasters had got it wrong again....

There was a stiff wind blowing around the cliffs and the sea was far from flat.  We set up and got to work nonetheless opting to fish down on the ledges as opposed to on the cliffs where we usually fish.
We tried floats first off but the sea was just too choppy to make it worthwhile so we switched to feathers.
Neither saw any action so I switched us both to just a small rag bait that we fished on the bottom.

Once HW arrived at about 0845 we started to see bites at last.  Within the space of a few casts my mate Shaff bagged a good wrasse of bout 2lb and then a decent coalie on rag to save the blank.

Considering the conditions I was pleased to have seen any fish.

We called it a morning at around 0915 and headed back to Craster and then drove home.

I was a little disappointed that the conditions were not as forecast.  There has been a lot of fish coming in from Dunstanburgh the past few weeks and had the sea not been as rough I expect we may have had a much better day.

Roker Pier 3rd July 2016

Anyone who keeps up to date with this blog knows I am in the process of educating my kids in the joy that is fishing,
My son has learned that fishing can be something other than an opportunity to get time with dad and eat sweets.  I decided that he is now old enough to have a go at spinning for Mackerel and so as soon as I heard they were in on the local piers I planned an outing.

High Water was at 0300 today and so I had to get my son out of bed at 0145.  Much to my surprise he all but bounced out of bed and got dressed (a good start)
We arrived at Roker Pier in Sunderland for around 0240 and got our gear together and headed along the pier as the sun rose.  The conditions were perfect... flat sea and pleasant weather.

We set up with feathers on the spinning rods and got to work.  After a few casts I hit into two mackerel and soon after a few more.

As Xander had not yet had any I handed my rod, complete with two crazy fish already hooked, to him to reel in.

The fish were fighting so hard they were nearly lifting him off his feet.  Once we landed them he was "hooked" so to speak.

I had him casting himself and retrieving like a pro in no time.

After the sun broke the horizon the mackerel numbers increased notably.  Most were taking feathers that resembled the small sprat that were swimming around the pier, others took Dexter Wedges and fluorescent lures.

I switched Xander to a lure and put a few casts out at a distance for him to retrieve.  Soon after he struck into one fish but unfortunately lost it on the lift.

On his next cast he hooked into another and this time managed to land it himself!

We fished on for another 45 minutes and he landed a few more fish as did I.  We left at around 0530 with a dozen big mackerel, having released maybe half a dozen more.

Xander was so pleased with himself he couldnt wait to tell his mum when we got home.  He said he preferred this type of fishing (as I expected he would) and to be honest he was 100% focused on the fishing for a change.  Not having to wait between casts kept him engaged and the fight from the fish kept the excitement ramped up for him.

Daddy goal for this month accomplished!

2014 in Summary

As 2014 draws to a close and the winter season gets into its final few months here in the UK I thought I would run down my favourite photo/fishing moments of 2014.

Dunstanburgh 8th June 2014

Our first trip of the year to this area.  It is a yearly favourite and always provides some stunning scenery even if the fishing can be spotty.

We managed some good sport on the very light gear and enjoyed a day out in the sunshine.

Out and About in Tynemouth

I went out for the afternoon in April with the family down to Tynemouth Pier.  My kids had never seen a pier before and so they were eager to take a walk along to the end.

This gave me a great opportunity to snap some of the best Pano shots I have take to date from the pier looking inland.

First time taking my son out fishing

Having asked for months I finally made the time to take my 5yr old son out fishing to a local spot in the Tyne.

The pressure was on to have him catch something.  Eventually after several changes in bait he managed his very first fish! A small flounder which made his week (and made my month!)

He asked to get out the very next day fishing too and was rewarded by a very decent eel (his first!) of around 1.5lb on his tiny little rod

Fishing Siddick for the first time

No fish from this new mark but the photos as the sun went down were spectacular!  Well worth the 90 mile trip.

Thornback Hunt on the West Coast

A last minute decision in May saw us head West after hearing that Thornback Ray were coming in from Silloth Promenade.  Having never caught a thornie we couldn't resist the trip across.

After an all night session catching Dab and Dogfish we both ended up bagging a 10lb Ray each on our last cast at sunrise!  Truly one of those amazing strokes of luck that we are unlikely to have again.

Needless to say I will be trying my luck again in May 2015 on this mark!

Out with the Boys

I spent a few sessions this past year to attempt to get my nephews into fishing (at their mothers request)

I took them out in the Tyne in October for a few sessions with my son and I and they were delighted to catch their first few fish...

So 2014 has been a great year overall.

Being able to get the younger ones into fishing will open up some interesting opportunities this coming year to get out and about with them.

By far my favourite session was the Thornback hunt in Silloth.  I will be visiting this area for certain next year and I will be making a conscious effort to fish more new marks.

I don't get the chance to fish as often as I would like to and so I plan to make sure that when I do get out it is worthwhile.  There are many marks I have never thought to fish and I will be doing my research during the quiet period (Mar-Apr) and planning the year out.

I will be heading to Skye in July/August for 3 or 4 days so expect some tremendous fishing AND photos.  Until then I will be exploring with the ultra-light gear to see what I can catch when I fish the usual marks with the "non-standard" gear.

All the best for 2015!

St Abbs Head 12th July 2014

There had been reports of some good fishing recently at St Abbs Head.
Conditions had been settled for a few days and there was some decent weather forecast for Saturday.  We decided to take a drive up and get a few hours fishing in while we had the chance.  We could only spare the time in the afternoon and so we arrived at a little after 1500 and headed down to our mark.

We chose a mark that we had seen anglers on in the past but could not figure out how they managed to climb down (That hooked point to the right in the pic above)  A few minutes explore revealed a relatively easy path down

The view from our first mark was spectacular.

There were 3 other anglers on the other side of this mark that were not having much luck.  They had landed a few mackerel between them on lures.
We spent the next few hours exploring the features of this mark.  We put baits on the bottom, fished lures and tried floats without any luck.  I had one good take on a silver minnow early on but the fish jumped the hook on the retrieve.

There was rain forecast for early evening.  I did not want to attempt a climb back up the cliff in the wet and so we made the decision to head back up a few hours before low water.

I found the climb up reasonably easy..... my angling buddy however didn't.....

Rather than waste the last of our bait we headed for our usual mark to the south with the intention of getting a few more hours fishing in before the drive home.

This mark had never provided huge numbers of fish for us.  It had so far however never failed to give me a decent Wrasse.  We fished the north side of this mark which saw us putting baits down a 40ft cliff into a gulley among rocks.  This area is always covered with sea birds and so you need to keep an eye on your line to avoid any collisions as they take off and land.

I attempted to get a Photosphere from this mark with my phone.  Apart from a few minor issues I was very pleased with how it came out (click to rotate the view or use the control dial)

Views: St Abbs by Alan Rodmell

My second cast was put up tight to a rocky/weedy outcrop and within seconds I had a fish on.  After a brief fight I had to lift this fish up the cliff face with my spinning rod (very glad I had 30lb main line) and I was very pleased to find myself with a beautiful Wrasse of maybe 2-2.5lb.

My next cast went in the same place and I lost a fish after a good bite.  The following cast got me a small red Short-spined Sea Scorpion...

Followed a few casts later by another briliantly coloured Wrasse of around 1lb.

This poor fellow was returned and as he was recovering from the ordeal on the surface a huge seal surfaced and dragged him under!

With time dragging on we headed back to the car at around 2000hrs.

Not a bad day considering the lack of fish.  We plan to head up here again in a few weeks and by that time hopefully the Pollock will be in properly and we can put all our lures to good use.