Relatively settled conditions mean undersize whiting and flatties continue to dominate shore sport in daylight. There’s better action at night, and some venues have produced big bags of whiting and odd better cod. Late plaice and pollack have been evident all around the North East region, while bass continue to be taken in a heavier surf conditions. A bit of inshore coloured water has seen some surprisingly good bags of cod taken from the rock edge marks south of the Tees. At Boulby several double figure bags and fish to 5lb have been reported. And north of the Wear around Whitburn, at least one double figure fish has been landed.
The Teesbay area has been quiet with Steetly pier once again being the most reliable venue. the Durham beaches are fairly predictable with a few cod over low water from the sandbars and lots of whiting on the flood. Roker pier has produced cod to 4lb among lots of whiting. Flounders, whiting, coalfish, and the odd smaller cod from the lower river Wear. The Tyne has settled down a bit with cod not showing in previous numbers, but odd fish to 4lb on worm baits which are out-fishing crab according to reports.
North of the Tyne sport has been relatively quiet though Tony Anderson won a Sea League match with a cod of 6 – 06lb from North Crab Hill.
Boat anglers have taken advantage of the calm conditions. Dave and Benny Watts fishing in the private boat “five star” just off Church Point at Newbiggin landed 30 cod to 10lb. With good numbers of cod reported just offshore along the weed beds, so the next Northerly winds should produce some good sport for the shore angler.
The last Blyth A.C. match was fished in calm conditions and results reflected this with only 3 out of 11 weighing in. Keith Armstrong had a cod of 1 – 11lb from Hauxley; Dave Todd had a coalfish of 0 – 14lb from Amble; Peter Smith had 2 whiting for 0 – 12lb from Blyth.
Cleadon A.C. saw similar results with 6 out of 32 weighing in. Martin Bailey had 4 whiting for 2 – 08lb from Roker pier; Bert Grey had 1 pollack and 1 whiting for 2 – 01lb from S.Shields pier; Terry Wood had a single cod of 1 – 15lb from Whitburn; Ryan Thompson had a whiting of 0 – 12lb from the Tyne.
Tynemouth A.C. had three recent matches. In the winter league match 4 out of 13 weighed in. Kenny Patterson had 1 cod and 1 pouting for 2 – 10lb; Dave Hayley had a cod of 2 – 06lb; Steve Harper had 1 cod and 1 dab for 1 – 04lb. The retired members match had better results. Tony Taylor had 10 coalfish and 1 pouting for 10 – 02lb; Dave Bentley had 5 coalfish, 2 whiting, 1 cod, and 1 dab for 6 – 06lb; Dave Hayley had 5 whiting for 2 – 15lb. The Sunday league saw 9 out of 29 weigh in. Doug Spivey had 6 coalfish and 2 whiting for 5 – 15lb; Alan Norman had 1 cod, 1 whiting, and 1 dab for 2 – 15lb; Darren Wood had a pollack(h.s.f. 2 – 01lb), and 1 whiting for a 2 – 11lb total.
The Ryhope Tuesday evening sweepstake saw some better cod moving inshore on the night when Steve Coverdale won with a fine specimen cod of 11 – 05lb from Whitburn; Dave Turnbull had a cod of 3 – 05lb also from Whitburn; John Surtees had a cod of 1 – 09lb from Ryhope; Bob Surtees had a cod of 1 – 08lb also from Ryhope.
The Ryhope club match on Sunday saw 17 out of 100 weigh in with many struggling in the very windy conditions. Sean McAvoy had the h.s.f (wrasse) of 1670 grammes from Souter Ligh; Alan Marsh fished Marsden and had 2 flounders and 3 plaice for a 1440 grammes- this included the best flatfish of 580 grammes; lan Burton had 3 coalfish for 1165 grammes.
Whiting were out in force in the Eastenders h.s.f. sweepstake on Wednesday night with large numbers from Roker pier. As a h.s.f. match however only 12 anglers had bigger fish to weigh. Chris Hossack had first and fourth h.s.f. with cod of 2 – 08lb and 1 – 07lb from Roker; Billy Dunlop was second with a cod of 2 – 01lb; Eddie Knightly was third with a cod of 1 – 08lb.
The East End and Hendon sweepstake on Thursday saw the whiting almost non existent. Andy Rutherford fished the Walkway for a single cod of 4 – 03lb; Tommy Tate had a cod of 3 – 05lb from the Walkway; Carl Foote had a cod of 2 – 08lb from Souter; Jim Ford had 1 pouting and 1 sole for 1 – 06lb from Roker.
Friday night saw the Seaham Badger Open with 12 out of 25 weighing in 28 whiting, 5 cod, 2 pouting, 2 plaice, 1 eel, 1 dogfish, and 1 sole for 40.77lb. Gary Pye won with a single cod of 4.11lb; George Heron had a cod of 1.94l; Neville Ridley had a dogfish of 1.81lb. Heaviest bag went to Jack Clark with 15 fish for 9.46lb, while Jason and Rita Clark won the team event with 22 fish for 13.56lb.
Seaham juniors fished for the Silver Salver trophy on Saturday. Steve Dixon won with 2 fish for 1 – 00lb; Paul King had a single fish for 0.68lb; and Keiron Newton had a single fish for 0.60lb.
The Eastenders club match on Saturday saw 9 out of 28 weigh in 17 flounders and 1 pouting. Bill Jackson had 4 fish for 2.47kg from the High Ledge; Gordon Ord had 5 fish for 2.27kg from the same venue; Chris Hossack also fished there, taking 2 fish for 1.20kg.
South of the Tees the Redcar Navy and Gentlemans A.C. match was won by Kevin Hewitt with a Pollack of 4 – 15lb taken from Whitby; Dave Allinson had 2 whiting for 0 – 15lb from S.Gare; and there was a tie for third place with Andy Bunn having a single pouting, and Ross Taylor a single whiting for 0 – 10lb each.
