With a decent northerly sea running during the middle of last week some big bags of cod have been taken from all areas and fish have at last moved into the Teesbay area where the Hartlepool piers have produced bags of up to seven or eight fish. Most are small, around the 1lb to 2lb mark, but with the odd bigger specimens to 5lb amongst them. Whiting continue to be in short supply and any cod present now have a resonable chance of finding a bait first.
The better catches have again been in the north of the Region with the river Tyne now producing cod all along its tidal range, and the various rock edge marks producing plenty of double figure bags. Big tides have pushed the cod well upriver where the better bags have been taken on worm and mackerel baits whereas the lower river has seen crab producing the better numbers of fish.
Before the sea built up the clean ground Northumberland beaches had started to produce some better bags of winter flounders with the odd bass also reported. C. Pye won an Amble match with eight for 5lb 6oz.
Tony Anderson won a Tynemouth match with 12 cod, the best weighing in at 6lb 3oz, and two flounders for a total weight of 32lb 14oz. Dave Rae had seven cod weighing 10lb 7oz, and Daryl Bell had five for 9lb 13oz. Dave Delanay won an East End match with five cod totalling 14lb 10oz at Cullercoats followed by J. Smith with three for 11lb, including the heaviest fish of 5lb 14oz. Iain Galbraith had four cod for a total of 10lb 6oz at West Bay to win an S.B.R.A.A.C. match ahead of Steve Alexander with four for 9lb 10oz taken at Blyth. A Cleadon match saw most of their fish come from the Tyne where Steve Taarland won with six fish weighing 6lb 12oz, equal with Mark Shotton who had eight fish in his bag. The Ryhope Tuesday night sweepstake just missed out on the better sport when Mick Davison won with a cod of 1lb 15oz just ahead of Lee Burton with a cod of 1lb 14oz.
Looking slightly further ahead the Seaham Town Council Open is on Sunday December 7th with the fishing from 12 noon until 5pm between Hendon Groyne to the North (excluded), to Saddleback Rock at Hawthorne Hive, both the North and South piers will be pegged weather permitting. The top three prizes are £500, £350, and £250. Basic entry is £10 plus optional pools and team events. Register from 10am at Seaham clubhouse. Tel. 0191 5810321 for details.
