Malc

No pictures so it never happened. Early kick off, and the forecast lied so we had a chop, grey skies and negligible drift. First drift first fish which was a tiddler but nothing for a while after that until my friend got the drift sorted and we hit pockets of fish at intervals. Brilliant display by passing dolphins kept us amused, sandeel slugs and shads were the order of the day and after a long spell of nothing we headed back towards the piers and stopped at a well known mark and got some bigger fish pushing 5-6lb all returned but pollock were absent unfortunately. Its been sticky shore side recently so it is just one of those things. Next weekend is toothy things so we are saving ourselves for that 😁 🦈

Sounds fab

Just had the call... "Tomorrow?" 🤔 Hmmm, gimme a nanosecond to think about it 🎣

Nice day out! Had a similar thing happen last time out, a boat's engine failed about a mile from us and they had anchored 200m off the beach. However there was fog, the beach is close to rock scars and the local lifeboat station was half way between us and them so we left it to the pros.

Just heard on the news about this. Not speculating because it is a terrible thing that has happened and I suspect that we will find out soon enough. How awful that a trip to the beach should end up a tragedy, hope that the families get some peace soon

But not many. With the competition just over a week away I have been trying for some launce but recently just been getting pollock and coalfish some of the latter around the pound mark which is great in a 2 knot tide! I had thought to give it best as the last time I had foul hooked a couple of tiddlers (frozen for bait not returned to suffer) but my wife went off to the Metro centre with my daughter so I wasn't going to be staying home. I had the pier to myself and was absolutely dismayed by the amount of rubbish left behind, most people blame the "mackie bashers" but it isn't just them as I picked up bait packets, a ball of 50m or so of 50lb+ braid complete with a shock leader and baited 2 hook flapper (lying where a dog or person could have been impaled), cans, nylon, sabikis and daylights. I couldn't pick up the proper rubbish as I would have needed to use a black bin bag for all that, but I did fill a carrier bag on the mile back down to the shore. I know that it's a long walk but they took it all the way up the pier! Anyway, couple of launce for bait and 30 or so pollock and coalfish returned is good for 2hrs fishing.

Strangely enough I was thinking about boat weights today as I will be helping my friends trailer their boat prior to our trip out west. The last time it was a Reiver, this time its a quicksilver 6-something but the towing vehicle is still a land so should be fine if thirsty and we aren’t going to be tanking it.

I suppose you also need to factor in the fish as well. Smooth hound and tope (I have read) move about more as they deplete available food sources whereas slower predators such as TBR will move about less quickly getting shrimp crab fish that a faster predator will miss? Plaice will (up here) be out of condition and hungry so baits will be devoured, but later on they will be fatter and need tempting. Keeping your options open is another factor, do you put down just big baits for cod or something smaller for whiting etc which cod might take too? I fish big paddle tail lures on the bottom for cod through the summer but put a dropper or two above with sandeel type lures above which are more visible to the cod grubbing about near the bottom and will be hit by pollock etc if they feel so inclined. I have a few hours of underwater video and it's surprising what is down there and how aloof they can be to your best efforts.

Easier to give a LINK That was the secondary damage repair, primary was mattresses and wood and finally we welded plates over the holes. I was in the adjacent (and aft) compartment as the bulkhead split using softwood wedges and lump hammers to stem the flow. The guy 2nd from right front row was mentioned in dispatches as he and another guy (also mid) were using their bodies to block the flow initially.

I have 1st hand experience of holes in hulls and I wasn't meaning to have the hand pump as a stand alone pump but as a failsafe method in case your pump fails and I know how good hammers and bungs are at slowing water ingress.

On a slight tangent, I sometimes carry a BILGE PUMP on my kayak and they are cheap, pretty high output, and can be fitted with a hose.

You might... ya Luddite!

Still quite cold but fish are picking up HB crab as well as sandeel up here ATM

Ooh err missus!

There's lots of pot markers, other boats and there were at least 3 kayaks out so very necessary, the bonus was seeing pinnacles rather than flying over and just seeing a 2m hump!

I just got 5 packs of hermit from a local shop in South Shields called LENNY'S he might be able to put you onto his supplier?

Another invite from my friend for an early kick off, but instead of a little mist it was full on fog with visibility from 300 down to 100m. A lovely sailing yacht, Trinovante, was just preparing to leave as we left the lock and passed us shortly after we had started our first drift on their way up to the Orkney Islands. Big tide meant we were drifting at 1.2 or faster which is a little fast for lures especially over the very rough ground we were over and I was having a nightmare, losing gear and time. We had a couple of fish but the lines were well angled so the lures weren't fishing properly and any droppers were liable to catch as they bumped up and over the rock scars. Mostly fresh run fish as you can see from the lovely colours. The fog came in quite bad as we moved north so we were puttering on at 6-10kn for safety and in an area we normally fly over we saw a good few pinnacles so we did a U and drifted over it. First drift we had one each and although the drift was slowing it was still a bit fast but the next few were much better and we really got into them with codling to 4-5lb and pollock to 6. It was nice to hit the pollock as a week ago we were on a great reef for them but they were absent. One codling came back with me as it broke its jaw during the fight so it became supper, Mediterranean style cod in Mediterranean style weather 😋 Hope to add more fishy photos later.

I do what I can 😁

Crankbaits or texas rig over shallow water or kelp beds, RH rod (trigger), deep water or casting LH on rod. The former because you are casting and retrieving regularly the latter just because.

Mini sabikis mostly but one guy who catches a lot uses what I think is like a garfish rig. A bar lure (no hooks) with a dropper above and a trace below both with tiny delta sandeel lures about 2" long.

How awful for all of you who knew them as well as the poor families too.

Couple of beverages to relax me and up at early o'clock. Launce have moved offshore so we may need to run about or try using crab lures.

Decided to have try for launce again, nothing doing but did get an exciting fight from a 3/4lb coalfish in the tide and a couple of tiny pollock which wasn't as exciting. Top excitement was seeing a quicksilver in river heading out and thinking it was my friends, so I text them saying I was at the end of the pier, no I'm working today he says and the conversation goes... Soo, tomorrow is on 😁

Not good.

Nah, I gave up shooting 2 years ago, 2 CF and one rf rifles and a 3 1/2" chambered shotgun, that's when I kept the cabinet keys close by.