Patchy cod sport from the shore on the whole, but low water marks have seen double figure bags, with plenty of fish to 6lb and several doubles caught by anglers in the right place at the right time. Steetly Pier at Hartlepool gave cod to 6lb and whiting to 1lb, but large numbers of smaller whiting are everywhere and difficult to avoid. Some fat winter dabs to 1lb also coming to worm and mackerel baits. Surprised Daryl Ashcroft fished one of the Hartlepool piers and caught a double-shot of cod on a pennel rig – a 2lb fish on the top hook and a 10-02lb lump on the bottom hook! The Durham beaches have seen similar results: Hendon Wall area has seen double figure bags of cod, while Roker Pier has fished well on some tides for bigger cod, with one of 14lb reported. Rock edges at Whitburn and Marsden producing cod. The Tyne has the usual smaller cod showing from all marks, while rock edges North of the Tyne have produced the odd double figure fish. Kenny McCoy fished for whiting with small hooks at Hendon and did well to land a fine cod of 15 – 07lb. Gareth Gardner fishing an East End and Hendon match at Souter, dropped a good fish on the lift which was later retrieved at low water and weighed 11 – 04lb. The match was won by Joe Greaves with a smaller cod of 5 – 07lb. Earlier in the week a cod of 12lb was reported being landed from the Wear. Craig Rundle had a cod of 6lb from Marsden, and Stephen Brown had one of 6 – 09lb from S.Shields beach.
South Shields Open on Sunday was won by Gary Pye with 3 cod, 1 pouting, 1 coalfish, and 1 whiting for 14 – 04lb from the Blocks on S.Shields Pier. Gary also took the h.s.f. with a cod of 6 – 03lb. Full details next week.
Whitley Bay Evening Open on Saturday night saw 28 out of 105 weigh in a total of 105lb. First place went to Mickl Clark with 12 – 04lb taken from Haven Rocks. Second-placed Colin Bell had a mixed bag of cod and whiting for 7 – 15lb from Whitley Bay Beach, Steve Williams was third on 2 cod for 6 – 07lb from the Tyne, followed by Geoff King on 6 – 07lb. Mick Clark’s cod of 8 – 15lb was heaviest fish. Les Moffat was next with a 6 – 03lb cod from Collywell Bay, followed by Steve Williams with a cod of 4 – 05lb. Top junior was Jordan Crozier with 1 – 04lb.
North of the Tyne: John Jennings won a recent Newbiggin match with a single 8 – 02lb cod from the Quarry Hole. Gordon Grear fished Cambois and had 5 cod for 31lb – best 10lb and 9lb. Steve Parr had cod to 6lb, and Steve Cochran had cod to 8lb. Blyth Pier has produced fish to 9lb: Steve Hardy taking 5 for 12lb. Blyth Beach has also produced fish. Lew Marsden had cod to 6 – 08lb, and Kelvin Martin had cod to 5lb. Tony Thompson fished Whitley Bay beach and had 4 cod – best 4 – 14lb. Ralph Gray won an Amble S.A.C. match at Whitehouse Sands with 3 cod for 10 – 01lb, while Ian Stewart had the h.s.f. with a cod of 9 – 02lb from Swine Dene.
Ryhope Sweepstake saw some nice cod landed with 20 out of 33 weighing in. First two places for the h.s.f. went to Kevin Brown with cod of 2585 grammes and 2565 grammes taken from Whitburn, Darren Tipling had a cod of 2355 grammes from Hendon Wall, and Gary Warwick had a cod of 1330 grammes from Whitburn.
Tynemouth A.C. Winter League match on Thursday saw Norman Douglas win with a single cod of 3 – 03lb from Rocky Island. Steve Harper had 1 cod and 1 pouting for 2 – 12lb, and Roy Clark had 1 coalfish for 0 – 15lb.
Tynemouth match on Sunday saw 19 out of 40 weighing in mainly whiting and dabs. Steve Harper had 7 whiting for 4 – 09lb; Dave Hayley had 3 whiting, and 3 dabs for 4 – 01lb; Mick Styles had 3 whiting, 1 coalfish, and 1 dab for 3 – 14lb. The h.s.f. was a cod of 1 – 14lb for Ian Brown.
Horden Mechanics fished on Saturday and found a few decent cod showing on the ebb tide as well as odd bass to 2lb. Shaun Stephenson had 3 cod for 9 – 10lb – best 6 – 04lb; Mick Edwards had 3 cod for 9 – 06lb – best 5 – 07lb; Paul Raison had 2 cod for 3 – 06lb.
Ryhope club match on Sunday saw only 15 out of 88 weighing in despite the good swell running. Wayne Callaghan had 2 cod for 2140 grammes – best 1235 grammes from the Manholes; Gary Warwick Jnr had 1 bass, 2 flounders, and 1 whiting for 1605 grammes from Roker; Bob Charlton had 1 cod for 975 grammes from Hill 60. Kevin Bewick had the heaviest flatfish with a flounder of 425 grammes from Roker.
Seaham Open last Sunday produced some big cod and some big mixed bags but sport was very localised. 491 fished with 83 weighing in 99 fish for 310.58lb. The £1000 first prize for the h.s.f. went to Mick Davison with a cod of 10.26lb. Alan Stothard had a cod of 8.99lb, and Les Williamson had a cod of 8.71lb. Junior winner was Jack Robson with 1.42lb; Andy Softly was the disabled winner with 0.49lb; lady winner Sue Hope had 0.51lb. The heaviest bag went to Brian Lee with 5 cod for 21.27lb; Baz Blakeman had 6 fish for 13.8lb; Paul Lee had 4 fish for 11.66lb; Gary Pye had 6 fish for 9.57lb; Dean McGlen had 3 fish for 8.61lb. Brian and Paul Lee won the team event.
Pictures submitted by Alan Charlton
