The heavy seas of last week produced slightly disappointing results in the south of the region with only the odd codling evident among the whiting and dabs from the various Hartlepool pier marks and Durham beaches. A good southeasterly sea seems to have pushed a lot of floodwater from the Tees into the bay and put the fish off feeding. The unusual orange yellow tint to the water and lots of fine debris is usually a good sign that this is happening. Elsewhere shore sport continues to be good, and for the best chance of any bigger bags of cod, you need to travel to the river Tyne and further north onto the rock edge and beach marks up to Amble where double figure bags continue to be taken. The rock edge marks down to Whitby are also productive with at least one double figure cod reported from Whitby pier. Most anglers are reporting that the bigger bags of cod are being taken on crab and lugworm baits, and fresh crab remains the essential bait to fish the local rivers, although there are of course always exceptions.
Ivan Stott had one of the better club match weights with eight cod for a total of 17lb 3oz, the best weighing 4½lb, to win a Seaton Sluice match, Mal McIntyre had 12 totalling 15lb 1loz, with plenty of bags around the 8lb to 9lb mark landed. Paul Brown won a Whitley Bay match with a nine bag of 12¾lb taken from the Haven, followed by Chris Stringer with eight weighing 10lb 1oz from the Sumps. Brad Hill won a Tynemouth match with eight fish for 14lb 2oz taken from the Haven, and Tony Anderson had a three fish total of 8lb 5oz, including one of 5¼lb from Rocky Island. Phil Smithson had five weighing 7lb 14oz in an S.B.R.A.A.C. match. B. Smith had 10 for 13lb 5oz from Hadston to win a Blyth match followed by Chris Kell with 11 totalling 12lb 15oz, and Nigel Howitt with six for 12lb 11oz, including the heaviest of 5lb 1oz, all taken from Amble.
Nicky Robson had seven cod and a single flounder for 11lb to win an East End match, Vince Gates had the heaviest fish of 4½lb taken from the Haven. Down at Seaham Ritchie Carr had one of the better pleasure sessions with eight cod for a total of 25lb taken from the Spiles. The Ryhope Tuesday evening heaviest fish sweepstake also saw some nice cod caught with all of the better fish coming from the rocks at Marsden where Dave Mould had one of 5½lb, Steve Carr one of 5lb 1oz, and Ritchie Carr one of 4lb 10oz.
The Bedlington Station Friday Night Mini Open saw 55 out of the 78 entrants weigh in mainly smaller cod, a few flounders and a single coalfish for a total weight of 285lb. Willy Foster fished the Flat Rock to win with nine cod weighing 16lb 9oz, Scott Davidson had nine for 15lb 10oz from Hadston, Chris Potts had seven totalling 13lb 15oz, and Steve Williams had the heaviest fish, a cod of 5lb 10oz.
South of the Tees Ranji Dastidar had a cod of 10¼lb taken on a crab and mussel bait at Port Mulgrave. John Nixon won a Redcar N &G match with a cod of 5¾lb from Boulby. Dan Redling only needed two cod and a rockling weighing 3lb 15oz to win a Saltburn match.
The next two Seaham Badger Friday Evening Opens will be on November 29th and December 20th with fishing from 7pm until 11pm. Basic entry £10 plus optional team and pools. Contact Seaham club on 0191 5810321 for details.
