Shore sport has been a bit hit or miss over the last week but some anglers are still picking up mixed bags of smaller codling with some quality whiting also showing. Again it is the low water marks fished after dark that have generally been the more productive. The large numbers of cod evident further north are starting to move down the Durham coast and persistent northerly winds over the next week should see a vast improvement for those fishing the Hartlepool and Teesbay area.
Hartlepool O.M.A.C. fished on Saturday night just as the heavy seas forecast started to pick up. Jay Kelly won with a nice bag of 16 cod for 24lb 5oz, best weighing 2lb 9oz followed by Paul Lee who landed two cod weighing 2lb 13oz. In third place was Dave Clark who had two whiting at 1lb 9oz. Mick Robinson had the second heaviest fish of 2lb 5oz and Dave Littlewood the third weighing 1lb 7oz. The club have a meeting in the Pink Domino at 7pm on Saturday November 27th.
The last Horden Surfcasters match saw Darren Thompson win with eight cod weighing 11lb 5oz while second placed Darren Almond had four for 10lb 13oz, best of which made 3lb 15oz. Ron Smith landed four weighing 7¼lb to take third spot. Wayne Smith had the second heaviest fish of 3lb 5oz.
Ryhope A.C. fished on Sunday and winner Bob Surtees also found the cod out in force, weighing in nine for 8.26kg, all taken from the Manholes. Runner-up John Porteous beached seven weighing 5.22kg from Ryhope Dene while third placed Wayne Callaghan had four for 4.28kg. Lee Burton had the heaviest fish which tipped the scales at 2.36kg. John Topliffe had the best flatfish at 0.57kg, and top junior was Mason Burton with two fish for 1kg.
Ken Robinson won a Tynemouth A.C. retired members match with eight cod, best 3lb 15oz, two dabs and a single whiting weighing a total of 18lb 2oz. Tony Taylor took second spot with seven cod, two whiting and one dab for 13lb 14oz and Arthur Smeaton finished third with five cod and a dab weighing an ounce under nine pounds. Much more settled conditions for the last Tynemouth A.C. Winter League match did not produce as many fish and Marty Elliott only needed a cod of 4lb 5oz plus a coalfish for a total of 5lb 3oz taken from Castle Rocks to win ahead of Ken Hill who fished Blyth to land two cod weighing 4lb 15oz. Peter Smith won a Blyth A.C. match with two cod for 5 – 06lb, the best of which made 3lb 1oz. Dean Buck fishing Seaham Pier had a surprise catch when a superb sole of 3 – 10lb took his ragworm and mussel bait, weighed at Rutherfords Angling it could well be a new North East record.
Sport in the Tyne has slowed down a little with most anglers just picking up a few cod or flounders but some anglers are still landing double figure bags with ragworm baits now reported to be taking a lot of smaller codling. Steve Robson won a Seaton Sluice match with three cod for 4lb 4oz. The last Tynemouth Sunday League match saw 13 out of 46 weigh in and Brad Hill only needing two cod for 2lb 15oz taken from the Ice House to win.
The river Wear also has smaller cod present plus some nice big winter flounders, Mal Sopp had a specimen flounder of 2lb 1oz in a recent Eastenders match and another Eastenders match saw Steve Rackstraw win with six cod for 6lb 9oz from the Glass Centre.
The clean ground beaches north of the Tyne have a good population of winter flounders present in the settled conditions. The last Amble A.C. match saw Andrew Taylor win with 17 flounders for 14lb 9oz while Martin Raine landed a nice cod of 8lb 10lb from Howick and Norma Urwin had six flounders for 4lb 15oz. A recent Newbiggin A.C. match saw Bob Ferguson win with two cod which weighed in at 9lb 14oz, including one of 8¼lb taken from Amble, followed by John Bell with 13 flounders for 9lb 3oz from Druridge. Top junior was Ross Landsbury with four flounders weighing 2¼lb.
The next big open match is the Sunderland Shore Angling Festival which will be fished on Saturday December 4th and Sunday December 5th fishing from noon until 4 pm each day. Basic entry is £10 with top prizes of £500, £300 and £200 together with and a daily prize table worth £2000. Boundaries are from Shields Pier (excluded) to the South side of Ryhope Dene and upriver to the A19 Bridge. Headquarters are at the Eastenders pub in High Street East.
