Shore sport has quietened down a bit with westerly winds flattening the sea off but in settled conditions most anglers fishing the piers or beaches have seen the ever reliable whiting and various flatfish species make up the bulk of their catches. A night time session has been the best bet for success with quality whiting moving inshore for the pier angler and the odd cod showing from the low water marks and rock edges. All of the Hartlepool piers, Roker Pier and South Shields Pier have seen some nice mixed bags landed on some tides, at other times sport is a bit hit or miss but even then the odd whiting can still be relied upon. With the first real cold easterly gales of the winter forecast for this coming midweek sport should improve considerably and those who manage to fish the sheltered marks at the Pilot Pier, Middleton pier, North Gare and the sheltered river marks when the sea is at its heaviest can expect to pick up some decent fish.
The rivers Wear and Tyne however are still on top form regardless of the conditions along the open shoreline and club matches continue to be won with double figure bags of smaller cod, whiting and flounder. Hartlepool O.M.A.C. fished Saturday night just as the sea was starting to pick up and although a few members travelled to the Tyne most of the fish came from the local rock edges with 10 out of 13 anglers landing 28 fish for 40lb 10oz. Chris Smith won with seven cod weighing 11lb 11oz, including the heaviest fish of 2lb 14oz while second placed Jay Kelly weighed in five for 8lb 10oz. Third placed Steve Gibbins had four for 6lb 9oz. Ian Palmer had the second heaviest fish with a superb specimen whiting of 1lb 15oz ahead of Dave Sanderson’s cod of 1lb 13oz. Next match is Saturday November 13th from 6pm till midnight.
Cleadon A.C. saw 14 out of 34 weigh in during their last match which saw all of the top weights come from the Tyne where Chris Ryan won with eight cod for 13¾lb. Runner-up Peter Seymour had eight weighing 10lb while third placed Neil Cutler had seven for 9lb 13oz. Adam Johnson finished fourth with 9¾lb and Mark Weigmann fished the rock edges at Marsden to land the heaviest fish; a cod of 2lb 15oz. The rock edges between South Shields and the Durham beaches have seen the odd better cod winning various sweepstakes and club matches. Gary Pye won an Eastenders sweepstake from Hall Beach with one of 3lb 1oz; Paul Howard was second with a cod of 2lb 14oz from the Targets. John Williams also fished the Hall Beach and landed a cod of 4lb 14oz to win an Eastenders club match, Lee Burton was second with a cod of 4lb 3oz again from the Targets.
Ryhope A.C. fished Sunday just as the sea was starting to pick up again with whiting showing from Roker Pier and cod in the river Wear. Wayne Harriman had six cod for 3095 grams from the Glass Centre, Stan Longhorn had eight whiting for 2885 grams from Roker, and Stu Bland had eight whiting for 2770 grams. Brian McLennan had the best flatfish at 610 grams and John Robson had the biggest round fish with a cod of 1815 grams. Top junior was Thomas Rutherford with 690 grams. Next match is Sunday November 14th from 3pm till 7pm, register at the Welcome Tavern, contact Bob on 0191 5237272 for details.
Sport has also dropped off a little for the cod anglers north of the Tyne but though early winter flounders are now evident from the clean ground beaches. Alan Naisby won a Bedlington match with two cod for 5¾lb, the best of which weighed 3lb 15oz, from Newbiggin and Kevin Moffatt only needed four flounders for 2lb 5oz from Blyth beach to win an S.B.R.A.A.C. Match.
Amble A.C. had some reasonable success for their last match won by Ian Harrogate with a single cod and 16 flounders weighing 14lb 1oz. Darren Taylor finished second with 14 flounders for 11lb 3oz, including the heaviest of the day at 1lb 7oz and Norma Urwin had nine flounders for 6lb 6oz to take third.
Cod are a bit scarce south of the Tees though John Nixon did manage to land one of 6lb 11oz from Staithes to win a Redcar Navy and Gentleman’s Club match, George Goldsborough was second with two whiting weighing 1lb 2oz from South Gare. The last St. Mary’s A.C. match saw John Fairbridge scratch out a win when he landed 12 rockling weighing 3¼lb.
Saturday November 20th is the date for the Maryport Open fishing from 3pm till 7pm between Maryport South Pier to Harrington Pier (all piers excluded). There are cash prizes for the first three heaviest bags and the top two heaviest fish and a full supporting prize table. Basic entry is £12 seniors, £2 juniors plus the usual pool events. Register on the day at Glasson Rangers Rugby Club Maryport from 1pm. Contact Dave 01900 605765 or Jeff 01900 870624
