A bit of a Northerly sea during the middle of last week brought a few size cod and slightly greater numbers of whiting inshore, particularly in the Teesbay area during night time sessions, but most day’s sport was dependent on the ever reliable flounders, dabs, whiting, and the odd plaice. Small bass have shown from the clean ground beaches and this is where the majority of anglers have reported the best fishing with ragworm and mackerel baits on light gear picking up mainly smaller specimens but with the odd bigger flounder showing as a bonus. Steetly Pier has seen mixed bags of mainly smaller flatties and whiting, Roker Pier has seen similar results with coalfish also showing, and South Shields pier has seen small cod, coalfish, and various flatfish with the odd size plaice amongst them. There are plenty of smaller fish in the upper Tyne where measure and release matches are popular, and where slightly more size flounders are now showing. The river Wear however remains very quiet. North of the Tyne very little has been reported, the odd cod could show from the rock edges to crab baits, and flounders can be taken from Blyth beach, Druridge Bay, Warkworth, and Embleton beaches.
Tynemouth A.C. had a match on Tynemouth Pier on Sunday fishing for the Stephenson Cup with 3 out of 28 weighing in single fish. Dennis Welsh had a flounder of 11oz, Mick Styles had a flounder of 10oz, and George Gibson had a dab of 9oz.
Tynemouth retired members fished on Tuesday and found the fishing similarly unproductive with 2 out of 13 landing fish. Wilf Reed had a plaice of 15oz, and Dave Bentley had a plaice of 11oz.
The Eastenders sweepstake in the Wear last Wednesday saw 2 out of 15 weigh in. Steve King had a monster blenny of 29cm, and Darren Welsh had a mutant coalfish of 22cm.
The East End and Hendon sweepstake on Thursday saw a similarly spectacular disaster with 2 out of 10 weighing in a flounder each. Gavin Murray had one for 1lb 6oz taken from Southwick, and Andy Rutherford had one of 1lb 4oz from the Tyne Walkway.
Sunderland S.A.A. fished Sunday and everyone blanked, anglers fishing the Wear are starting to believe that there are very few fish left to fish for, and as such the Eastenders Sunday heaviest fish open was sensibly switched to the Business Park in the Tyne where some bigger flounders have started to show. Fourteen fished with 8 weighing-in an all flounder total. Andy Little had one for 38cm, Baz Robson had one for 35cm, Steve Rackstraw had one for 34cm, and Jimmy Gardner had one for 30cm.
Seaham juniors fished Saturday for the Bill Padget Cup with 7 out of 10 landing 30 fish for 3.75kg on a catch and release basis. Jack Stoker and Harry Richardson tied for first place each with 6 fish for 0.70kg, and there was a tie for third place with Annie Boagey and P.J.King each having 4 fish for 0.50kg. Harry Richardson had the heaviest fish with a coalfish of 0.20kg.
Seaham seniors fished the next day and things were back to a dismal normality with just 2 out of 39 weighing in one fish each for 1.43lb. Lewis Barnes had a flounder of 0.79lb from Ryhope, and Dean Monarch had a plaice of 0.64lb from the Blast Beach.
Britishseaanglers.com an internet based club had a match on the Tyne last Sunday and fishing a 20cm catch and release system all managed to weigh in 110 fish for 2538cm, mainly whiting with a few nice flounders also landed. Bill Bradley had the longest total with 360cm, Andy Copeland had 274cm, and Nicky had 197cm. Andy Copeland had the longest fish with a flounder of 39cm and Chris had the second longest fish with a flounder of 38cm.
Boats out of Sunderland Marina have had a few fish around the Black Buoy area. The Top Cat had 12 cod to 4lb on Saturday and the Brenmar Rose had 6 to 5lb on Sunday, both also report lots of pouting.
Ryhope S.A.C. have a meeting in the Village Tavern on Wednesday May 6th to arrange their summer matches.
