After a good start to this years cod season, with good size fish being caught from the shore in the Humber area, they have seem to have disappeared. On the Yorkshire coast several matches have been held recently and not one cod has been caught. South of the Humber, on the Lincolnshire coast it is the whiting that are making up the bag weights in the matches. Boat anglers have found only the odd cod, well down on last year at this time.
One reason might be the amount of freshwater that has been flowing down the river but this should not have a marked affect on the open coast. A cold snap is expected this weekend and it will be interesting to see if that makes a difference to the cod catches afloat and on shore.
Last Sunday Humber SAC were in action at the Woods for their annual Christmas match. As expected for this match there was a good turn out. Adie Cooper managed to find an elusive cod, which at 40cm was the biggest fish of the day, to take top spot with a weight of 1lb 15oz. Runner-up was Steve McGregor with 1lb 13½oz while third placed George Smith had 1lb 12¼oz. The club’s next match is this Saturday along Courtaulds Straight fishing times are 5.15 to 9.15pm.
The members who fished the match last Sunday were horrified by the state of the wall around the Woods area, there was litter every where. Local angler Del Miles cleaned up this area a couple of weeks ago but it is now back to square one. Locals do not want to lose this venue as it is one of the best areas for fishing in the area and is perfect for disabled anglers. It seems that it is again visiting anglers who are causing the problem. They will be the first to complain if they loose the right to fish this venue, so please, if you’re fishing the Woods or any other venue take your litter home.
This Sunday is supposed to be the second match of the HCA winter league, fingers crossed that the weather does not cause another cancellation
Chas Tibble from Skegness S.P.A.C. is organising a match on the 27th December for the Help the Heroes which is a fantastic charity and anglers should go along and support this. £2 from each angler’s match fee and the money from the raffle will go to Help the Heroes. The match is a biggest fish event and is fished as a rover. The fishing times are 10am to 4pm. Booking in is at the Lakeside Leisure at Trunch Lane, Chapel Leonard from 7am on the morning of the event.
Kettering’s Dave Shorthouse was top man in the Skegness Pier Angling Club’s Christmas match held from the North Shore Road. After a ding dong battle which went right to the wire, Dave’s fifteen fish mixed bag of 8lb 13oz was enough to hold off the strong challenge of Friskney’s Mark Holmes, whose similar fifteen fish bag weighed in at 7lb 15oz. Mark just failed to make it an hat trick of wins, but partially made up for the disappointment by taking the heaviest flatfish prize with a 12oz dab. Skegness local Dave Bradley finished third with four fish for 3lb 6oz, this included the biggest round fish of the day a 1lb 4oz whiting. The prize presentation was hosted by the Lookout Pub, were all the participants enjoyed a festive buffet.
Finally this is my last lot of ramblings before Christmas, so I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hopefully sucessful fishing in the New Year.
