All of the Hartlepool piers continue to produce mackerel though in reduced numbers, a little bit of movement on the sea pushed shoals to the inside of the Pilot and Banjo piers. Whiting have shown after dark, plaice have been taken on ragworm baits and Parton and Crimdon beaches have produced various flatfish species, the odd bass, and whiting on a late evening low tide.
Roker pier has been very productive for big bags of mackerel which are taking lures from the round end, and float fished baits along the pier side. As always there is the bonus of a decent pollack, coalfish, wrasse, cod and the rarer shad or herring taking both lures or float fished worm and fish strip baits. On a late evening tide huge bags of quality whiting to 2lb have been taken as the night shift replaces the day time mackerel anglers. Cod to 5lb have been reported by those anglers fishing an all night session, and most of the Region’s piers have seen similar results for those wanting a more peaceful and productive night time trip out.
The river Wear has the usual flounders, eels, coalfish and whiting showing, but the last big tides have pushed a lot of undersize fish into the river. The Ryhope Tuesday evening sweepstake saw all 20 anglers fishing trying to avoid the undersize specimens. Jim Dobie managed an eel of 1lb 5oz on his last cast of the day to win ahead of Derek Ross with a flounder of 1lb 3oz and Wayne Harriman with a flounder of 1lb 2oz. The Ryhope Sunday match saw Bob Surtees win zone A with 12 fish measuring 242cm, Alan Burton had 11 for 222cm, the best measuring 34cm, and John Surtees had 10 for 200cm. Zone B was more productive, Bill Bell won with 28 totalling 530cm, Lee Burton had 20 measuring 483cm, Wayne Harriman had 10 for 355cm, and Bob Bland had the longest fish in the zone, a flounder of 34cm. Top junior was Daniel Tate with 262cm.
The Northumberland rock edges seem to have quietened down a little with few cod reported though some anglers have reported taking pollack up to 7lb, and the clean ground beach marks have produced some specimen turbot to over 3lb amongst the flounders and plaice. Tynemouth had a match at Seahouses where Paul Forster only needed two coalies and a flounder for a total 3lb 6oz to win. The Whitley Bay league match at Newton saw better results with 12 out of 18 finding fish. Ian Crombie had nine weighing11lb 1oz, Geoff King had four for 10lb 5oz and Steve Williams had three totalling 9lb 15oz including a fine specimen cod of 7lb 10oz.
The river Aln continues to be popular for flounder anglers and Tony Cook won an Amble match with 12 flounders for a total of 8lb 11oz, the best weighing 1lb 5oz, ahead of Jim French whose seven weighed 5½lb. The river Tyne has lots of different species showing with dogfish once again making a reappearance. Bob Gascoigne won a recent Tynemouth match with a mixed bag of nine whiting, four dabs, a plaice and a flounder totalling 8lb 11oz, followed by Tony Taylor with a similar mixed bag weighing 7lb 15oz, including a specimen three pound plaice, and Tom Sawyer with 7¾lb. Chris Stringer won a Rutherford’s league match in the Tyne with 15 fish measuring 293cm, and Dave Wood won a Longbenton match with a mixed bag of 5lb 2oz.
Ian Thomas fishing on the private boat Jenny Anne out of Amble landed a fine pollack of 12¼lb from an inshore reef. Kayak anglers fishing the reefs off Amble, Craster and Boulmer have taken cod to 8lb on various lures.