Recent windy conditions might have put some anglers off from venturing out, but those who did were rewarded with some nice mixed bags of cod, whiting and flatties, with night sessions producing the best sport. The beaches and rock edges north of the Tyne are still on top form with plenty of double figure bags reported. Darren Shields won a Bedlington Station match with thirteen cod for 21lb 2oz from Blyth. Ron Forest won a Seaton Sluice match with ten cod for 19lb 8oz from Lynemouth, followed by Chris Guthrie with nine cod for 16lb 10oz; Paul Stephenson had the best single fish at 6lb 10oz from Collywell. At Amble Ian Harrogate won a recent match with seven cod for 9¼lb from Seaton Point.
The river Tyne has good numbers of smaller cod in the lower river, the rock edges at Whitburn have produced cod to 6lb and the Hendon area has seen similar results. The Durham beaches are improving all the time with cod showing from the low water marks even in calm seas. The Hartlepool piers, Roker and South Shields piers have all seen the odd cod showing but whiting have been the dominant species on these marks. Any cod seem to be staying close in along the shoreline.
Hartlepool Pirates had a recent sweepstake match which saw Dave Crowther take the heaviest fish with a cod of 2lb 14oz and Chris Coxon had the heaviest bag weighing 5lb 7oz. Their last winter league match saw Chris Coxon take the heaviest single fish prize with a cod of 1lb 3oz and Barry Patterson had the heaviest bag with 5¼lb.
Horden Buffs Surfcasters fished a match at Lynemouth beach which produced plenty of cod and a new club record for the heaviest total catch with over 77lb of fish weighed in. Top rod was Mark Thompson with nine cod and an eel for 16lb 5oz, Darren Thompson in second had seven cod for 15lb 11oz. Third placed Eric Williams had nine cod for 15lb 3oz while in fourth Paul Robinson weighed four cod and a whiting for 8lb 5oz. Steve Moyle in fifth had two cod and two whiting for 7lb 5oz ahead of Ron Smith with three cod for 6lb 10oz. Darren Thompson had the heaviest fish at 5lb 9oz followed by Steve Moyle with 3¾lb.
Horden Mechanics last match on the local beaches saw Sean Stephenson win with three cod and two whiting for 8lb 2oz ahead of second placed Ged Barker who weighed in three whiting and a cod for 3lb 14oz and John Bourne in third with two whiting and one cod for 3lb 12oz.
St. Mary’s A.C. fished a Night Hawk match with most anglers travelling to Steetley Pier where the whiting were out in force. Winner Andy Burton was the best of fourteen out of eighteen who weighed in with twenty-eight whiting and fourteen dabs for 21½lb. In second was Mick Smith who weighed in twenty-one whiting and six dabs for 17lb 8oz while third placed George Wilson had thirteen whiting and nine dabs for 12lb 13oz. The heaviest fish went to Grant Greenland with a coalfish of 1lb 6oz.
The Ryhope Tuesday evening sweepstake saw twenty-four fishing with most anglers picking up a few small cod from the piers and rock edges. Mick Davison had a nice cod of 2630 grams from Featherbed Rocks to win ahead of Grahame Peart with a cod of 1355 grams from Hill 60. Gary Warwick had a cod of 1305 grams from Ryhope and Mick Davison also took fourth place with a cod of 1045 grams.
The Ryhope club match on Sunday saw eighty-eight fishing with Roker pier and the Wear producing the fish on the day. Scott Brown braved the gales on Roker to land a mixed bag of two cod and two whiting for 2115 grams; Joe Lemon fished the Wear and had nine eels and one flounder for 1805 grams for second place. Alan Burton had one cod and two whiting for 1480 grams in third and Ken Hailey had the heaviest fish with a cod of 1065 grams, Lauren Hailey was top junior with 435 grams, and Stu Bland had the best flatfish at 665 grams.
Blyth A.C. had two recent matches, the first saw J. Patterson win with four cod for 13lb 6oz, best 7lb, from Blyth, followed by S. Clark with a single cod of 2lb 10oz from Hauxley. The second match saw P. Smith win with a cod and two flounders for 4lb from Cresswell and L. Rutherford had a single cod of 2lb 5oz.
Cleadon A.C. saw fourteen out of thirty-seven find fish, mainly small cod from the Tyne, however winner Phil Turnbull travelled to Whitley Bay to land a mixed bag of cod and coalfish for 8lb 7oz, which also included the heaviest fish of 3lb. Second placed John Taylor fished the Tyne and weighed in four cod for 6lb 7oz. Gav Hall had two cod for 4lb 5oz in third and fourth placed John Newcombe had two for 3lb 10oz and Norman Spour had two for 2lb 10oz.
The last Tynemouth A.C. winter league match saw nine out of twenty-two each weigh in single fish. Dave Keiler had a cod of 5lb 2oz from Crescent Skeer, Dave Craig had one of 4lb 11oz and Steve Elliott had one for 3½lb.
S.B.R.A.A.C. saw six out of fourteen weigh in a total of ten fish. Winner Phil Smithson had two cod, best 1¾lb, and a pouting for 4lb 5oz. Jockey Wilson in second had a whiting and a flounder for 1lb 13oz and Bob Wilson had two whiting for 1lb 9oz in third.
South of the Tees bass seem to be regularly turning up in club matches. The Jim Maidens Memorial beach match saw Steve Lowe win with a bass of 3lb 1oz, Dave Turner had a bass of 1lb 10oz and third place was shared by John Phillips and C. Dalton, each with a coalfish of 1lb. Top lady was Edna Lethbridge with a 6oz flounder.
Lots of undersize bass were caught in a recent Redcar N&G match but only one size fish was weighed in when Dave Allinson landed a coalfish of 1lb 1oz.
The South Shields Open last Sunday saw a good turn out of three hundred and six seniors and fifteen juniors with seventy-four weighing in two hundred and forty-one fish for 256lb 9oz. First prize of £500 for the heaviest fish went to Chris Hossack with a cod of 3lb 9oz, followed by Tony Grant with a cod of 3lb 1oz and Ian McLaughlin with one of 2lb 14oz. The heaviest bag prize was taken by Paul McIntyre with 14½lb followed by Gavin Owen with 12lb 2oz. Top junior was Kalvin Dunn with 3lb 11oz and top lady was Pauline Ferry with 12oz.
The 42nd Seaham Open Shore Championship to be fished on Sunday November 29th sees a prize table of £10,000 – the biggest open in the country this year. Sea Angler magazine have donated a complete fishing tackle collection worth £1500 for the main raffle prize. Fishing is from 11am till 4pm between Hendon Groyne and Dene Holm Pipe. Basic entry is £15. Top prizes for the best 3 heaviest fish are £1500, £600, and £400. Total cash fund is £2500 with a huge prize table of £7500. Registration on Saturday is from 10am, and on Sunday from 8am. There are pegs available on Seaham North Pier and if the sea remains settled as forecast, this is where any winning fish may come from. For all enquiries contact joseph.gibson@btconnect.com
