With just a little bit of lift on the sea, the beach and rock edge marks continue to produce a few decent bags of cod for those in the right place at the right time. Most areas have seen the odd bigger specimen around the 6lb mark landed, but most are much smaller, around 1lb to 2lb. The Hartlepool piers have started to produce more of these smaller fish and there are very small undersize specimens showing on some tides. Whiting seem to have thinned out a lot thereby giving any cod a chance to find a bait first and there are some big winter dabs starting to show from the piers. However the best chance of any cod has been to fish the promenade over high water or the low water marks during a night time session. The Durham beaches have been much the same, quiet at most times but with the chance of a bigger fish for those anglers who can cast at distance. Odd cod up to 6lb have been taken between Roker and South Shields. Anglers should be very wary fishing the cliff top marks as some recent rock falls have been reported. There are plenty of smaller cod in the lower Tyne where most club matches have been won with mixed bags of cod, whiting, dabs, flounders, and the odd late plaice.
The Seaham Open last week saw 36 out of the 392 anglers weigh in 41 fish for a total weight of 56.27lb in difficult conditions including gale force Westerly winds. With anglers fishing all down the Durham beaches there is always the chance of a bigger cod showing and it was Wayne Harriman fishing at Cinderella Rock at Easington who found it. He managed to land two cod for 6.40lb to take the heaviest bag and his best fish of 4.59lb took the first prize of £1000 for the heaviest fish Kenny Newton had the second heaviest fish, a cod of 2.50lb from the North pier just ahead of Danny Swan with a cod of 2.43lb taken from Noses Point. The junior prize was drawn for and Harry Moyle was the winner, the ladies prize was also drawn for and Sue Hope was the first name out of the hat. Disabled winner was Pat Carroll with a flounder of 0.56lb.
The first Friday night Seaham Badger Open of the winter produced a few more cod in better conditions with a decent swell hitting the beaches which saw nine out of 22 weigh in 33 fish for 56.63lb. First prize for the heaviest fish went to Dean Turnbull with a cod of 4.56lb taken from the Chemical beach, Dean Ambler had a cod of 4.46lb from Ryhope, and Dean Turnbull also took third place with a cod of 4.37lb. Marie Sardag had the heaviest bag with five cod for 14.27lb taken at Ryhope.
If the sea continues to run the Whitley Bay Night Time Open on Saturday November 8th should be productive. Fishing is from 8pm until midnight between Lynemouth Pipe to the North and Tynemouth pier (excluded) to the South. Basic entry is £10, register from 6pm until 7pm at Whitley Bay clubhouse, St. Mary’s Island approach road. Top prizes are £250 each for the heaviest bag and heaviest fish and cash prizes for the top 10 heaviest bags.
Sunday November 9th is the Sunderland Open with fishing from 2pm until 6pm between South Shields pier (included), to Seaham North pier (excluded), and up the river Wear to Queen Alexander Bridge. Basic entry is £12; juniors are free if accompanied by a paying adult. Register at the Welcome Tavern, High Street, Sunderland. Top three prizes for the heaviest fish are £500, £300, and £200; there is a Conoflex rod for the heaviest flatfish with a supporting prize table of £2000. For details contact Bob Surtees on 07940 565491 or Rutherford’s Angling 0191 5654183.
