Last Cast Success

Yesterday was the tail end of the most recent autumn storm. High winds, cold Northerly air, heavy driven showers and mountainous seas, it was the kind of weather you wouldn't put a dog out into so we wrapped up warm and went fishing.
It took a while for the high tide to recede to allow us on to the rocks below the cliffs and a while longer to find an area free of the weed that at low tide was piled high on the rocks.
My last cast resulted in a codling of between 3 or 4lb caught on squid, frozen black lugworm and a small block of cart.

Hummersea

I headed to Hummersea, just South of Skinningrove, with my oppo Martin on Tuesday night armed with my Anyfish Anywhere 6 and bait rod and new Penn Battle reel looking for some cod. Its not the easiest venue to get to but its well worth the effort if you can make it.
After a long walk through the darkness and over the rocks we arrived at our chosen mark. I had a coddling on my first cast and lost a better one on the second and then that was it. I can only put the result down to my poor skills as Martin went on the bag around half a dozen up to around 4lb.

Spiderwire Braid

With all my new gear I thought I better finish off the set up with some decent braid. For rough ground and the cliffs I opted for Spiderwire in 60lb, at 0.25mm diameter it should cast far better than the work horse braid I'm currently using at 0.40mm.
The only drawback with the thinner braid is that I had to add a shock leader to protect my index finger and this runs the risk of another knot to fail and weed catching on the leader knot. However a length of 70lb nylon may give me a little more confidence when casting.

Following Advice

Following fierce storms last week I was given sound advice to save my bait for better conditions and put a dint in the sofa. Our stretch of the North East coast needs a moderate swell to bring the cod in close to the beach in any numbers and encourage them to feed. The strong winds were coming of the land and flattening the seas close to the coast.
So with the good advice ringing in my ears I packed my gear and headed for the cliffs, needless to say I should have stayed at home and put a dint in the sofa.

Kettleness

My first trip of the year ended up being at the base of Kettleness cliffs in search of cod. Martin managed 5 coddling on peeler crab while I managed 2 on squid and crab cocktail. In the autumn in this part of the world fresh peeler crab rules the bait roost.

First Trip

The winter cod season has finally begun on the North East coast of England, I'm planning my first trip of the year on Sunday and I have a feeling the first cast of the winter will be off the cliffs.

Cart and Wings

A few years ago a secret escape from the Yorkshire cod fishing fraternity, a secret that still isn't widely known. The words cart and crab wings broke the surface but don't be too surprised if you still don't know what they are. In a nutshell crab wings are the sack like structures found in female edible crabs and cart is the loose contents of these sacks plus the eggs, also known as coral, which is frozen in to blocks. The wings and cart can be used on their own or in conjunction with other baits to create a cocktail. The idea of cart is that it's partly liquid and lays down a massive crabby scent trail, as such its best baited up still frozen.
The cart comes in blocks and needs to be cut in to sections and wrapped to allow the scent to leak out in a controlled manner, cling film is widely accepted as the best choice of material.
It would be fair to say that these 2 baits have revolutionised cod fishing in these parts but at £20.00 a kilo it does come at a price. I managed to get 35 to 40 decent sized baits to be fished as a cocktail with wings, worm, squid or mussel.

Winter Storms

Autumn is strengthening its grip on my part of the world with a series of storms coming in quick succession. I'm trying to see the positives in the turning of the year rather than regretting the lost opportunities caused by the changes. A metaphor for life maybe? I'm trying hard but its not always easy.
So what does the new season bring us? The cod will be following close inshore in the wake of the rough seas caused by the storms, as such I've stocked up on a freezer full of crab for bait. The colder weather also brings out the bigger perch and pike in the rivers and lakes. I only wish I had time to chase them all.

Bread Line

for a change I opted to fish the River Tees yesterday, a club stretch at low Dinsdale near Yarm in the pursuit of some chub. I had dried and liquidised some bread to use as groundbait and took a fresh sliced loaf to use as bait. Using a bread punch I managed a handful of chub up to just short of 4lb, great fun on light float tackle, a small grayling even turned up to provide something different.

As with all my trips I try and learn at least one lesson, yesterdays lesson was that a single loaf of bread will suffice for a trip, I prepared 3 loafs which was probably enough for a whole week on the river.
I think float fished maggots would be interesting on the same stretch to see if there are any more grayling lurking in the faster water.

A Busy Night

I grabbed the opportunity of an after work session on my local water last night and managed to bank 4 carp to 16lb 4oz, one of which came to a waggler rod, centre pin and 2lb hook link intended for perch. To say that it took a while to tame the lovely little mirror carp on such light tackle would be an understatement but I was amazed how much pressure I could apply and the fine control of the reel was a pleasure.
The perch showed up in large numbers but were generally very small.

Not Singing in the Rain

Its been a while since I've been on my local water so I dusted my carp gear off and headed for the reservoir. I selected a peg on the far side of the water facing into a stiff northerly breeze and set about dropping a bait down each margin and one out in front of me about 30yds out.
As darkness fell it started to rain and I had 2 bream to my tally and I was beginning to doubt my sanity, I'd missed a simply unmissable run and was coming to terms that that was my quota for the night. I had decided to start packing up at 10.00pm so it was a huge relief with 30 minutes to spare when my right hand margin rod screamed off.
I played what I thought was a decent fish for what seemed an eternity when finally my carp rolled on the surface and I slipped the net under it. I was amazed when the scales showed it was only slightly over 12lb because of the scrap it had put up. A beautiful long lean mirror carp and one to look out for in the future.
After the relief of my capture all that was left to do was pack up in the dark and the rain and head home.

Any Fish Anywhere, Six and Bait

During my cliff fishing last year it came to my attention that my pride and joy rod , Vercelli Besta, was quite up to the rigours of hauling fish through heavy weed or up cliff faces. With the new cod season looming I took a trip to see Dan at Keiths Sports in Saltburn to talk to him about a rod I almost bought last year. I came home with an 'Any Fish Anywhere' Six and Bait Mk 2 rod, I went for a 15 foot version for the simple reason of keeping me back a little bit further from the cliff edge when hauling fish up.
I have yet to try it but am really looking forward to coupling it with my Penn Battle reel and I'll let you know when I do, my plan is to use the Besta on cleaner venues and the Six and Bait for heavier work.

Something is Coming

Let me start my ramblings by pointing out that I dislike change, in fact I loathe it. If I could I would keep everything the same for ever. EVER. I recognise that this isn't healthy and when pushed out of my comfort zone I generally find that I enjoy it. I also recognise that in fishing each season brings different opportunities and different rewards. So here we are at the end of summer and when I stepped outside to walk the dog last night there was a definite bite in the air that suggests autumn is just around the corner.

In other years autumn would bring the promise of pike and chub, in recent years its brought the spectre of the end of the carp sessions. This year the loudest call is from the beach, dark, cold and sometimes brutal nights facing down screaming Northerly gales in the pursuit of cod.

I still don't like change but this year I'm trying to convince myself its the start of something rather than the end. Wish me luck. 

Always Expect the Unexpected

I seem to make plans, spend ages considering them and then the fish go and change them. I didn't really have the time on Tuesday to wait for carp so I got some prawns and headed to my local water in the hope of locating some decent perch. I tackled up my 12 foot waggler rod, paired it with a centre pin reel and fished an antenna float about a rod length out with a small prawn on a size 10 hook and a 2lb hook length. I know a size 10 is a big hook but it suits the bait.

I did manage a couple of perch but nothing very large, around 6oz being the best, what I didn't expect was the 5 tench to around 1 1/2lb, a 4lb bream and and a 4 or 5lb mirror carp that also came my way. The tench were stocked a year or 2 ago and this time seem to have avoided the cormorants to get past swallowing size.

I didn't catch what I thought I was going to catch but what I did catch was most welcome, especially on the light tackle.

Beach Night

I headed to the beach on Tuesday night to try out my new Penn Battle armed with some frozen squid and some frozen black lugworm. I had had my eye on some holes and sand bars on the beach for some time and took my opportunity to go and explore. I was given a picture by my kids of a guy fishing with the caption 'Theres a fine line between fishing and sitting by the river looking like an idiot', well I know exactly what they mean. and to think I missed the England game for it too!

Penn Battle 8000

I picked my new Battle up from Dan at Keiths Sports in Saltburn and loaded it with braid before taking it swiftly to the beach. First impressions are of a well built, smooth and solid reel, exactly what you'd expect from Penn. I'll start off with what the reel doesn't have. It has no reverse ability, in other words the reel is in full time anti reverse mode. I would suppose this would eliminate weak points in the gearing for a function that isn't required while fishing on the beach or off the rocks. Secondly the spool has no line clip, I found this a bit irritating as the line spilled slightly from the spool in my bag but its nothing an elastic band wouldn't fix and on the other hand it removes any point that line could get trapped behind. My biggest complaint is that the reel doesn't come with a spare spool but these can be bought separately, whilst roving around its worth having the ability to be able to quickly change lines to suit the conditions that you come across.
Although the spool was half an inch shorter than my Vega it didn't seem to affect casting distance and the line lay was very level and smooth due to the slow oscilation  of the bale arm carrier.
I don't think I could expect much more of a reel to fish the North Yorkshire coast, solid, no frills and businesslike. Very Yorkshire.

Penn Battle 2 8000

Having spoken with the local tackle shop it appears that the Penn Battle 8000 might be a better choice due to an occasional issue with the gearing. The Battle looks to be of a similar construction and a similar price.

Penn Spinfisher SSV 7500

I think this is the reel I'll replace my Squadra 75 with. Its got a fully sealed body, holds about 450m of 60lb braided line and most importantly it has a friction action on the bail arm to prevent accidental closing during heavy casting.
The Penn Spinfisher SSV 7500 retails for around £100

Lesson Learnt

I discovered something quite interesting about my main beach reel, Vega Squadra 75 fixed spool, after my session on the beach last night. When casting hard its possible to create rotation of the handle and bail arm which causes the bail arm to snap over automatically and crack the lead off. It happened once to Martin last night and once to me, it also happened on a previous trip.

Some reels have done away with the handle turning engagement and I remember seeing some years ago some anglers used to use elastic bands to hold the bail arm open.

Back to School

Heading on to the beach again tonight with martin for a spot of casting practice, he was fairly unimpressed with my achievements distance wise over the winter so we may be making a few changes. Apparently its like swinging a big hammer ..... technique is important but its nothing without power and speed.

Old School Chub

I visited my club controlled section of of the River Tees at Low Dinsdale last night and found it low and clear, well I say clear but the Tees always has a peaty tinge to it. I approached it using a link ledger set up with cubes of luncheon meat as bait. The beauty of link ledger is that its easy and quick to add or remove weight. I'm no expert on fishing for chub but I'd like to think I can at least deal with the basics.
My first swim was a favourite of mine of previous trips but I failed to get a single bite other than an occasional knock or twitch on the tip.
 My next swim was alongside some bankside snags and earned me a savage take and a 3 1/2lb chub in the net. My last swim was a lot more open and and I was able to swing the rig onto the edge of a crease in the flow where the gravel sloped steeply into the deeper and faster channel and it wasn't long before a 4lb 5oz chub slid into net after a spirited fight.

Both fish were hollow, presumably after spawning, and by the winter would hopefully have filled out a bit. I'm looking forward to returning with my float rod and a bucket of bread.

New Season

Well June 16th has come and gone and the season has finally opened on the rivers again. I'm heading to the middle stretch of the River Tees tomorrow after work armed with my quiver tip rod and a tin of luncheon meat. Wish me luck.

Blast from the Past

I was back at my favourite local water on Tuesday night, I'd been the previous week and pulled the hook on a decent fish late on during an evening session. For the last few seasons I've been playing fish on the clutch with the anti-reverse engaged but after last week I decided to go back to backwinding with a fish on.
Last night I returned and fished a rod down each margin and keeping the line slack, runs develop into screaming takes with no prior warning but with no snags to worry about and fishing reasonably close the lack of indication didn't concern me.
A small stock fish around 5lb kicked the session off before a big mirror picked up the bait and led my on a strong surging fight. I quickly disengaged the anti-reverse and felt like I'd gone back to my younger days. I eventually slipped the net under a 17lb 8oz mirror with a tail like a paddle which on further investigation I discovered I'd landed 18 months ago at pretty much the same weight.

17lb 8oz

Question of Distance

With no real prospect of fishing this week I took my beach rod down onto the beach (well where else would you take it) for a spot of casting practice. I only expected to be out for an hour but it turned into to 3 hours. I set up my Vercelli Besta with a Vega Squadra 75, 60lb braid attached directly to a 6oz plain lead.
After a few practice casts I was hitting 110 to 120yds on every cast using a simple off the ground cast. It would be interesting to see how much this would be reduced when a rig was attached.
I switched styles to an Easy Cast (starting on the ground), it takes some time to get used to the style but I was soon easily hitting 100yds. I think its worthy of extra practice but I'd need to be regularly reaching 150yds to make it a worthwhile proposition due to not being able to wade out those extra few yards and the the trickyness of keeping the bait in the clip.
Before I lost  the light I switched to my second option which is a shallower spool of 30lb braid with a 70lb shock leader. Straight away the casting felt smoother and longer although the the distances didn't improve dramatically. I was reaching 120 to 125yds on most casts and felt there was more to be gained.

Slow Start For Carp

I returned to my favourite local water for my first carp trip of the year, the weather was just about to break and rain was forecast.  I returned to the reliable tactics from last year and fished a rod down each margin. Reminiscent of last years start to the season I blanked while everyone else seemed to be catching.
Ah well its only the start.

First Perch Trip

I took my light lure rod to my favourite local water for a chuck about. I spent a bit of time talking to my mate Kev who I only ever see at the the reservoir. I tried jig heads and drop shoting but all to no avail. I had a couple of takes but these were from fish not much bigger tan the lures.
Despite my lack of success it was nice to be out on the bank again.

If it can Go Wrong .....

Its a funny time of year for me, the winter cod season has finished, the summer sea season hasn't really gotten started yet and the freshwater calender is just kicking off. With different things going on in my life away from the important pursuit of fishing I feel a bit like I'm spinning my wheels.
I grabbed the opportunity to get on to the beach at Marske on Tuesday evening, recent storms have scoured out a deep hole with steep sloping shingle and it was this area I was keen on targeting. Due to one of those things going on in my life I missed high tide by an hour (things to go wrong #1)so the hole was already emptying by the time I arrived and got chucked in. I was using frozen black lugworm and squid due to none of the local tackle shops having any fresh ragworm (things to go wrong #2). I had prepared to 2 rigs so I could bait one and fish one at the same time thus maximising my time. On my second cast the 60lb leader parted and I lost my second rig (things to go wrong #3). Why the leader parted I'm not quite sure.
Despite a couple of tentative bites nothing developed into anything significant but that did give me time to admire the sunset, I tried to get a photo with my phone camera but the battery died so hence no photos (things to go wrong #4).
I fished on still holding out hope for a fish well into the dark but it soon became apparent that at the bottom of the big spring tide I was only fishing into a few feet of water.
So... lessons to be learnt are numerous but on the plus side the head torch with changeable battery packs worked like a dream.

Goals

Following on from my thoughts yesterday I've had a long hard think about what I want to do with my fishing time this year and come up with the following,
Beach 
Winter cod on the marks I've been introduced to this winter hopefully some more I find myself
Bass from the local beaches
Thornback rays from the local beaches which may hopefully coincide with the bass at night
Scratching for flatties and anything else that comes my way probably at the Tees estuary
Boat
I'd like to get my boat in the water for some diving and fishing and have a go for some pollack, bass, mackerel and cod with lures
Maybe some bait fishing for cod
Rivers
Pike and perch on lures exploring the tees and the Swale
Chub and roach on the float and ledger probably in the same area
Stillwater
My usual quarry are carp and I'd like to think I did reasonably well last year
Perch on lures as well as baits
I had a great session last year in the pouring rain fishing with worm and maggot for anything that came along

I think that should all keep me going for the rest of the year but I'll keep you posted.

Here Comes the Year

The beauty of limiting myself to coarse fishing was that I didn't feel like I needed to spread my time too thinly amongst all the places and types of fishing, fish and spots. That ,however, was before I was reintroduced to sea fishing and now I feel that there simply aren't enough weeks in the year. Typical.

Unfortunate Slip

Well the snow has all but gone and the howling wind has abated so we headed up onto the cliffs near Staithes last night. It turned out to be a cold night and by the end of the night my feet were freezing. I lost a decent codling as I hoisted it out of the water to start its 300 foot journey up the cliffs and that was more or less my only action of the night. Martin finished the night with one codling around 2 or 3lb and Rob left us to head down onto the rocks below around mid tide with 2 codling under his belt.
Rob and Martin were muttering half heartedly about it maybe being their last session of the 2017/2018 winter cod season which made losing the better fish even more disappointing. I always enjoy fishing off the cliffs but a tiny part of me is always relieved to get off in one piece with all my kit intact.
Here's to the rest of the year.... carp, perch, pollock, thornbacks and cod... plus anything else that comes my way

Beast From the East

By many country's standards the storm isn't severe but on the British scale its crippling! Anyway I wont be fishing this week.

Before the Storm

We nipped out at the weekend to Hummersea again, we knew there was bad weather on the horizon so wanted to make the most of it. As we got out of the car the wind was already strong and biting, coming from the east. Making our way down the steep coastal path , down the now vertical staircase and out across the rocks below towering cliffs the sun was still shining. Walking past the point where we fished on our previous trip and continuing around the cliff I was acutely aware of how far from the exit point we were getting.
Finally we stopped in front of what I was reliably informed was a 'hole' that attracted and held cod. It was long before I was reeling in a cod around a pound and a half, I would normally have returned it but being deep hooked I decided to keep it. Interestingly it coughed up several food items including shrimps, lug worm and a blenny of around 4 inches which is interesting to bear in mind if you're ever choosing lures.
That was my only bite in that spot so we leapfrogged from spot to spot ahead of the incoming tide until I ended up at an old harbour. Its basically an inlet chiselled out of the carved into the reef with flat rocks stacked up along one side and used to bring in the small boats to load up the cargoes of Alum mined from the cliffs above.
After hooking and losing a decent cod in the kelp, and now on my own in the dark below the towering cliffs I decided it was high time  I took my leave and head for the steps before the tide made life tricky. With only one small cod for my effort on a bitterly cold night it would be easy to class the night as disappointing, especially as my parteners in crime had managed 2 or 3 but I had learnt a lot and become a bit more familiar with another small stretch of coast.
I'll be back.

Hummersea

Sunday night was bitterly cold with a biting northerly wind, what better way to pass the evening than to scale down the steep Yorkshire cliffs, navigate a treacherous twisted vertical staircase and then stand thigh deep in icy water? So I followed Martin down on to Hummersea beach, west of the village of Skinningrove under Boulby cliffs in search of cod.
I managed 1 small cod which was lip hooked and safely returned, Martin managed 4 cod up to aroud 4 or 5lb. I strongly believe my casting distance let me down again so its something I need to work on.

Defeat

For the first time in as long as I can remeber the weather has beaten me. By the time I reached the beach and got out of the car the wind was howling directly onshore driving icy rain straight at me. I was well prepared but even as I was putting my rod together I was realising that fishing into a screaming gale was going to be more hassle than I was prepared for.
So I write this sitting back in the warm house with the tv on. Rubbish!

Every Day is a School Day

I was back on the cliffs with Martin on Sunday night, it was the first decent swell we've had in weeks and he'd done well the previous night so my expectations were high. After getting over the initial head spin and climbing carefully down on to the grassy ledge at the top of the cliff edge I set up my gear and baited up with a squid, mussel and frozen lug cocktail.
Martin had tried previously to explain about not striking but it had never really sunk in... until Sunday night that is. I had a bite, felt for the fish and struck and reeled in having missed the bite. He was less than impressed! The idea being to lean back slightly into the fish then feel for it, if there's nothing there then you haven't moved the bait far and there's a good chance the fish will find the bait again. I've got it now!
I finished the night with 2 codling of around a pound and a half each.

Spectra Extreme Braid Update

My spool of 30lb braid got its first run out on the beach at Sandsend last night. I tried a couple of speculative casts without any bait to ensure no wind knots occurred and the leader knot travelled smoothly through the rod rings before baiting up and trying my first cast in anger. I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly the braid peeled off the spool and cast. I'd love to say that the new braid allow me to cast much further but I'm still having trouble getting past the 90yd mark.

They All Count

Ok so they don't really all count but at least this little fella saved a blank for me last night. I'd been cod fishing yesterday evening at Sandsend near Whitby and had received lots of sharp raps on the rod tip most of the night. A group of anglers beside me had caught a few under sized flatties and I suspected these were the culprits. I down sized my rig to a 2 hook size 1 flapper rig baited with lug and squid and kept my fingers crossed. The last cast of the night resulted in the coddling of 5 or 6oz and saved my embarrassment.

Spectra Extreme Braid

I reloaded my shallow spool on my beach reel tonight, I opted for Spectra braid as I was pleased with the performance of the 60lb braid I use for fishing over rough ground. I went again for 30lb breaking strain and found it a bit more supple than the SeaKnight braid but more importantly it breaks at more or less at 30lb of pressure.
I'm heading to Sandsend beach on Tuesday night so we'll see how it goes, eyes open for wind knots.

SeaKnight Braid

I retied the leader to my spool loaded with 30lb SeaKnight braid last night. While I was busy tying the leader I also stripped some of the line off to help prevent a recurrence  of the wind knots that had occurred on previous sessions. I used some of the line to carry out a breaking strain test so that I knew what I was dealing with and the results were very disappointing. I tied one end of a length of braid to something heavy and the other to a set of Avon scales and steadily increased the pressure. Over the course of several tests the line broke anywhere between 15 and 20lb pull.

I'll be buying a different brand of line and reloading my spool, before I do though I'll be repeating the pull test.

Leader Knots

I had a small issue last night. An issue that irritated me beyond all belief and mainly because it was my fault.
On mainly sand beaches I opted to use 30lb braided main line in order to try and steal an extra few yards, to make it safer to cast I also attached a 60lb mono shock leader connected with an Alberto knot. The stub of the shock leader really rattles through the rod rings and I had the distinct impression it caused the lead to slightly falter in the initial phase of the cast.

Last night during my second cast the lead appeared to falter slightly and at the same time a knot of braid caught around the first rod ring and the braid mail line parted. During a previous session a similar thing happened but the line stayed intact.
I blamed the leader knot but it also has come to light that I may have over filled my spool which can cause wind knots. With these 2 issues in mind I have decided to strip some line off the spool and switch to an FG knot.

I swapped out my spool during the session and with 60lb braid and a decent sized bait my best cast was 95 yards with consistent casts between 80 to 90 yards. I'm looking forward to seeing what distance I can get with 30lb braid and a bit more confidence.

Hard at Work in Nigeria

A good friend of mine is on a diving job offshore in Nigeria, he tells me he's hard at work but this picture tells a different story! Glad to see health and safety reaches into fishing.

Hard Won Worms

My beach fishing mate and teacher rang me one evening last week and invited me down at low tide for a worm digging lesson. We were targeting black lugworm, or yellow tails, that live in deep borrows at the low tide line. Because of the position on the beach that they live its best to target them on a lower tide ie less than 1m above tide datum and so for this reason I found myself on the beach in the pouring rain and pitch black!
Martin showed me the method he uses to dig the black lug and I went off to hone my method and managed 1 worm to his 2. One of the reasons for this, other than my inexperience was the width of my shovel which made my digging heavier and therefore slower giving the worm a sporting chance of escape! The very next day I was in B and Q purchasing a narrow bladed shovel.
Lugworm come neck and neck or slightly runner-up only to crab in the cod bait stakes and black lugworm are head and shoulders above blow lugworm. As I'm not using them within the week I opted to freeze my nights work.