Double figure cod continue to be reported from the north of the Region where they are being taken even in calm conditions. Trevor Green and fishing partner Stu Carr fished the Wear estuary taking numerous cod between 2lb and 5lb with the best weighing 10lb 5oz taken by Trevor, and another fish of 5½lb landed by Stu, all the fish fell for worm baits.
Whiting are moving inshore in large numbers with all of the lower river marks, piers and clean ground beaches producing double figure bags to worm and mackerel baits. The Seaham and Hartlepool piers are still producing mackerel on some tides. Ryhope A.C. organised a “dads and lads” match with local youth groups, fishing the lower Wear they found the whiting showing in huge numbers with some nice specimens amongst them. Darren Welldon had one of 1lb 7oz, Luka Atkins had one of 1lb 6oz and five year old Kai Atkins had one weighing 1lb 5oz.
Ryhope A.C. fished the first of their winter league matches on Sunday with 30 out of the 81 anglers finding fish, mainly in the rivers. Chris Telford however, decided to go for the cod from the rock edges and managed one of 1.43kg from Marsden to win ahead of Bob Surtees with two flounders totalling 1.25kg from the Tyne and Anthony Lowther with two flounders for 1.23kg. Top junior was Nathan Stevenson with two flounders weighing 0.67kg.
The Tynemouth Sunday League match saw 18 out of 21 weigh in contesting for the Billy Elliott Cup. Steve Elliott won with 15 whiting, a plaice and a dab for a total bag of 9lb 11oz, followed by Dave Hayley with seven whiting, one coalfish, a flounder and a cod weighing 8lb 11oz and Steve Harper with 13 whiting, two dabs and a coalie for 8½lb. Dave Hayley had the heaviest fish with his lone cod of 2¾lb.
The Club’s retired members match saw 13 out of the 14 fishing land fish, with Tony Taylor taking seven whiting and five coalfish weighing 10lb in top spot. Second placed Bob Gascoigne had seven coalies and two whiting for 8lb 12oz and Ken Robinson had six coalfish and a codling weighing 7lb 13oz including the heaviest fish, a coalfish of 1lb 11oz.
Longbenton and Seaton Burn A.C. had a match on Tynemouth pier on Sunday and also found the whiting out in force with plenty of specimens over the 1lb mark landed and 15 out of the 19 entrants weighed in. Paul Batey had a nice mixed bag of whiting, coalfish and flounders weighing 17lb 8oz to finish ahead of Les Harris with a similar bag of 13lb 13oz which included a fine coalfish of 2lb. Third place went to Chris Barrass who had a bag of 11¾lb which included the only cod of the match weighing 1lb 8oz. Top junior was Josh Laydon with 13oz.
The Whitley Bay Open last Sunday saw a lot of anglers struggle to find anything of size, and as such, all those who managed to weigh in got among the prizes, with only 43 out of 196 weighing in. Ken Robinson won with two cod weighing 9lb 4oz from Howick, including the third heaviest fish at of 5lb 9oz, Runner-up Dave Milne had three weighing 9lb 2oz while Colin Todd fished Newbiggin and landed two for 8lb 5lb, including the second heaviest fish of 6lb 3oz. Bob Ferguson finished fourth with two weighing 8lb 2oz and Ian Hall’s single fish weighing 6lb 10oz from Beadnell was the heaviest of the match. Top junior was Connor Spratt with three flounders weighing 2lb 7oz from Cresswell, he was the only junior to weigh in. Top lady was Pauline Ferry with three weighing 2½lb.
The Seaham Beach and Boat Supplies heaviest fish open match also held last Sunday saw those fishing unexpectedly struggled to find any size fish, with whiting in particular in short supply, only four out of 32 landed four cod, three mackerel, a coalfish, and a plaice weighing 12.11lb. Darren Welsh won with a cod of 3.34lb taken from the Manholes, ahead of R. Parnaby whose cod of 1.20lb came from the Green Wall. In third K. Longstaff had a plaice of 1.14lb from the Blast Beach; Darren also had the heaviest bag with three fish weighing 6.80lb, followed by L. James with three for 2.17lb taken from the Spiles.
