Shore sport has settled down a little bit lately with the better bags of cod in the north and south of the Region. The Durham beaches and Hartlepool marks continue to be dominated by whiting and flatties on most tides. Some of the better whiting are nudging the 2lb mark to keep most anglers happy, and the odd better winter flounders are starting to show. The cod have generally only shown from the low water marks and during nighttime sessions. If you want a decent shout at a cod then you will need to travel, the rock edges at Seaham from Featherbed Rocks up to Ryhope and Marsden have all produced fish during a nighttime session. The river Tyne has plenty of codling showing with the odd better ones around the 4lb mark among them. Crab is the essential bait for the best sport but a few fish are now starting to take worm baits.
Blyth A.C. had a good weigh in with 15 out of 18 finding fish mainly around the Amble area where K. Smith won with 10 cod, a whiting and a flounder for a total of 16lb 13oz. He was followed by P. Smith with nine cod weighing 15½lb, and Nigel Howitt with eight cod for 11lb 6oz. G. Knox had the heaviest fish of 3¾lb.
A Tynemouth Sunday league match saw plenty of fish in the lower Tyne where 16 out of the 20 anglers weighed in. Alan Norman had four cod, the best 4½lb, a coalfish, a flounder and a pouting totalling 10lb 2oz. runner-up Norman Douglas had six cod and two dabs for 8lb 3oz. A Tynemouth retired members match also saw some mixed bags taken by the 14 out of 15 who weighed in. Ken Robinson won with four cod and two flounders weighing 7½lb, followed by Doug Spivey with four coalfish, two flounders, a cod and a pouting for a total of 6lb 7oz. Dave Hayley had the heaviest fish, a cod of 2lb 5oz. On the other side of the Tyne, South Shields pier continues to be reliable with plenty of quality mixed bags taken lately. Paul McIntyre won a South Shields match with 7½lb followed by R. Lees with 5lb 14oz.
A Cleadon match saw the top bags of fish come from the rocks at Marsden and Whitburn where Lee Jackson won with four cod weighing 5¾lb, Steve Taarland had two for 5lb 7oz, and Andy Brotherton had two totalling 5¼lb, including one of 4lb 3oz. The Ryhope Tuesday night sweepstake saw Wayne Harriman win with a cod of 6lb 2oz taken from Hall Beach, followed by Chris Hossack with a cod of 5lb 3oz.
The last Seaham Badger Open on Friday night saw the rock edges at Ryhope produce the fish with 14 out of 26 weighing in 29 fish for a total of 54.48lb. First place for the heaviest fish went to Dean Furness with a cod of 4.53lb, Lee Burton had one of 4.29lb, and Dean Furness also took third place with a cod of 4.09lb amongst his heaviest bag of four weighing a total of 12lb 15oz. Dave Wood fishing a pleasure session on the same night had a cod of 8.56lb at Ryhope.
The Seaham David Guy memorial open saw 76 out of the 330 entrants weigh in 125 fish for 181lb. The first prize of £1000 for the heaviest fish went to Derek Russell, fishing the North Drum, with a nice cod of 8.22lb taken on his very last cast. Lee Burton had a cod of 5.21lb taken from Ryhope, and David Sinclair had a cod of 5.05lb taken from the Chemical beach. Derek also had the heaviest bag with his two fish total of 9.38lb, P. Robinson was top junior with a whiting for 1.31lb, Marie Sardag won the ladies with a cod of 1.06lb, and Steve Smith was the disabled winner with a flounder of 0.73lb. G. Peart and S. Stevens won the team event with four fish for 10.11lb.
The Newbiggin Open saw 112 out of the 283 find fish. Anthony Eke took the top prize for the heaviest bag with six cod for a total weight of 18½lb taken from Marden Rocks. Chris Bell had three cod weighing 12½lb from the same mark, Mark Smith had six for 10¾lb, and Geoff King had four totalling 7½lb. Chris also had the heaviest fish of 5lb 10oz, Steve Ayling had a cod of 5lb 7oz, and J. Bell had a cod of 4¾lb. Lee Nyberg was top junior with two flounders weighing 1lb 7oz, Norma Urwin won the ladies section with a cod of 3lb 1oz, and there was a tie for the heaviest flatfish with Pauline Ferry and E. Buwick each having a flounder of 1lb 3oz.
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.
