Shore sport remains quiet over most of the tidal cycles with whiting, flounder and dab being the most likely species to be caught. Cod are still scarce with just the occasional smaller fish reported from most of the north east marks, however, at the time of writing, a good easterly sea is running and it may produce some nice fish as it drops away into next week. The only area that has produced any bags of cod of note has been the Sunderland area where fish have been reported from Hendon Wall and Roker beach. There is still plenty of time for a big spawning female specimen to turn up and these usually move into the Teesbay area at this time of year.
Hartlepool O.M.A.C. had another good weigh in on Saturday night, at least for those who travelled to Roker pier, where Jay Kelly had a superb bag of 11 cod for 19lb 10oz, best of which weighed in at 2lb 10oz. Runner-up Chris Smith had three weighing 4lb while third placed Paul Lee had five whiting for 3 – 11lb. Steve Gibbins finished in fourth with a single cod of 1lb 15oz. The next match is on February 26th fishing from 6pm till 12 midnight.
Hartlepool Pirates fished on Friday night in gale force south easterly winds and most failed to find anything of size with only two of the anglers managing to weigh in. Bill Bradley had three whiting and a single flounder weighing 3lb 11oz and Steve Swales had a single dab of 11oz. The Club’s next match is on Sunday February 27th fishing from 3pm till 8pm, and there is a meeting on the 24th February in the Stranton Social Club at 7.30pm.
The river Wear has a good population of winter flounders but most are small and undersize. The last Eastenders sweepstake on Wednesday night saw all of the size flounders come from South Shields at Long Beach where Barrie Wright had the best of 1lb 3oz, followed by Mick Davison with one of 14oz and Phil Wright with 13oz.
The Tynemouth area and the Northumberland rock edges have been quiet with some club matches suffering blanks and others just seeing a single fish weighed in. South Shields A.C. fished the local pier and found a few cod showing, Geordie Cooper winning with three weighing 6lb 9oz, including the heaviest fish of 4lb 11oz. A Westoe A.C. match only produced a single flounder of 1lb 3oz for Trevor Davison. A Longbenton match produced a single cod of 5lb 2oz for Dave Wood, and a S.B.R.A.A.C. match resulted again in a single fish weigh-in; a cod of 4½lb to Steve Alexander from Collywell Bay. The Tynemouth retired members match saw slightly better results when Ken Robinson won with two coalfish, best 2lb 5oz, a dab and a flounder for a total of 4lb 5oz, ahead of Wilf Reed who weighed in two coalies and two dabs weighing 2lb 14oz.
South of the Tees, shore sport is very poor and with the exception of a 12lb cod reported from Robin Hood’s Bay, most anglers are reliant on the ever dependable flounders and rockling. The last Redcar Navy and Gentleman’s Club match saw two out of 13 weigh in. Dave Allinson managed to find a cod of 1lb 13oz at Runswick Bay and Peter Nelson had a 10oz flounder from South Gare.
The Saltburn A.C. Stockdale Cup match saw Richard Spaven win with 15 rockling for 2lb 5oz taken from Whitby harbour, followed by Mick Gray with a flounder and slug weighing 10oz.
The last St. Mary’s A.C. match was fished at Hartlepool where Russell Miller won with a single dab and four rockling for a total of 1lb 11oz taken from Middleton Pier. Darren Lister a one flounder and three rockling weighing 1lb 6oz to take second place ahead of John Fairbridge with four rockling for 14oz.
