Roker with the family

I got out for a few hours down to Roker Pier in Sunderland with the family today.  No fishing but I took the camera and made the most of the sunny weather.

Panoramio Photos

The majority of my photography these days is done on or near the coastline.  Over the years I have captured many other great shots that I have shared on my Panoramio profile and Google Earth (If you have the Photo layer enabled)

Feel free to take a look and leave a comment or two if you wish!

You can also take a look at some more recent Photospheres that I have taken lately by clicking the relevant tab at the top of this page.

Photospheres

My latest photosphere taken on Blyth beach this afternoon.

Still can't get it perfect.....

There is always one straight line that..well....isn't straight.  I will get there eventually!
My other photospheres can be found on Google Views by clicking the "Photospheres" tab at the tob of this blog.

Views: Blyth Beach by Alan Rodmell

Tyne 18th Oct 2014

I had a spare few hours today and so I took my son and my nephew out for a while in the Tyne.  I was hoping to bag a few Cod as they are in the river in numbers this time of year.

I opted for our usual spot that is well out the way in case the boys decide to have a run around.
Bites were plentiful but the fish were very tough to hook.  I suspected that most were small stuff and I was proven right when each of the boys caught a small Whiting each (much to their delight)

We caught nothing else after the tide turned and the boys wanted to go home so I dropped them off and headed downriver to use the last of the bait.  I had a small flounder on the first cast and then nothing much after that.

Still a worthwhile day on the whole and as always I took some pictures.... and a photosphere!

Oh and did I mention I snapped my rod tip? :/

Views: River Tyne down from the Ouseburn by Alan Rodmell

St Marys Island 14/09/14

I headed out this afternoon for a "long shot" session at St Marys.  As I expected there was little in the way of fish but I did manage to mess around a bit with the cameras.  

It was not the best day for photos as it was bright but overcast.  I still managed a few decent shots that I was able to stitch into some decent panoramic shots.

I also captured a reasonable photsphere from this mark (see bottom of this post)

Views: St Marys Island from West Bay Skier by Alan Rodmell

Cambois 16th August 2014

I went out for a few hours on my own last night. Despite being pretty windy it was a lovely evening. I headed up to Cambois and fished behind the Alcan plant for a couple of hours and then fished the north end of the beach.
Conditions were not as they had been forecast (as seems usual this year for some reason) and as such there was little water movement (which you need on this mark for it to fish well)

I did manage to catch a small red codling to save the blank.

Photosphere: Click in the image to rotate

Views: Cambois behind ALCAN by Alan Rodmell

On this mark you fish from the remains of an old jetty at the bottom of some boulders.  The wood has been weathered into some fantastic shapes and textures.  I only wish I had a proper camera with me.

Tynemouth / Cullercoats Photosphere

While at the beach with the family this afternoon I found time to shoot a few photospheres.  I managed to get one I was happy with.

As always click in the image to rotate and you can roll your mouse wheel to zoom.

Views: North Shields, Tyne and Wear by Alan Rodmell

South Shields Pier 3rd August

After an unsuccessful trip to South Shields pier a few weeks back I decided to head back today with the heavy gear.
Conditions were favourable and we planned to fish up to and over High Water (2109) and into darkness.

It turned out to be a lovely mild evening even though it was a bit windy.

We fished several marks throughout the evening.  The scenery was fantastic as the sun set.  I even managed another photosphere (although still not perfect!)

Views: South Shields Pier by Alan Rodmell

We ended up fishing from the lighthouse at the end of the pier as darkness fell.

A few cod to 4lb had came in earlier in the evening from further down the pier.  Over the session I managed 4 fish to about 1.5lb which I was very happy with.

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.