High Water 8.23 5.6m
Wind WNM 15mph veering NW 22mph
Weather Mild but damp
Well after getting here early and still not knowing if I would be able to fish due to a shoulder issue, the saga continues. Roy Cartwright turned up at about 05.00hrs hoping to get the Airlie Bird cup but Roy should know neither him or his Red and Whites will ever get there !! Shane Begbie and Steve Saville followed shortly afterwards. Once again the evidence of the sea’s actions was clearly visible with the sand being removed from certain areas and dumped in others.
I was fishing just after 04.00hrs but had nothing until about 06.00am. Using my Any 6B mk2 and Akios Iron Loop with a 2 hook flapper and fresh black lug I managed to scrounge a rockling, followed shortly by another. Roy had a codling followed by another codling. Whilst it was not cold the wind still had a cut to it. The water seemed to peak well before 08.23hrs and was soon on its wat back again. The wind made it very hard to detect positive bites with the large sometimes 2.5-3m swell also making life difficult.
As normal there were plenty of folk about, with the usual dog cocking their legs up your boxes or on your luggage but plenty of people who just stopped to chat and ask how the fishing was going.
Shane notched a few fish up, whiting rockling and flatties when from over the groyne Roy appeared holding a 8 inch Bass, his intention was just to remind me that for some unknown reason I have yet to catch one of these majestic fish. Things really slowed down as the tide made its way out, So on with the frying pan and kettle and ready for sarnies and a coffee.
One of the locals had been telling Steve that currently the venue has been fishing very well on the flood, lets hope they were right as so far the number and stamp of caught fish was very small. Steve and Roy were having their usual banter over the breakwater when one of Steve’s rods took a heavy bend, we were all pleasantly surprised to see Steve reel in a nice plump codling just over 3½lb , that started the adrenaline pumping as we were all thinking me next me next !! Shortly afterwards Shane had to leave, he came over to give me the remaining worms he had left, discussed the next venture and said our goodbyes.
I had a few more fish, mainly codling but nothing even near to ½lb. Bearing in mind that I had been there since 23.30hrs the night before I was still surprisingly alert and eager for the big cod with my name on it !! Roy packed in around 16.00hrs and left Steve and I to it. I seemed to be struggling to hold bottom even with a 6oz gripper and as someone had moved into were Shane was fishing I couldn’t walk up the beach to cast out so my gear was well over but after about 20/25mins of waiting I had a good rattle on the right hand rod, cranked it in and there to my sheer delight was a small rockling on the bottom hook and a lovely codling on the top hook, the codling weighed just short of Steve’s fish at just 3¼lb but this was enough to wipe away any tiredness and put a big beaming smile on my face. This had been my only fish over 1½lb for nearly 2 seasons. Steve dropped his shelter just as a big black cloud appeared from behind us, thinking that we could be in for a downpour I decided to put one rod away as darkness was not long away. The rain never came but darkness sure did. We packed our gear away and made it back to the trusty ladder and back to the van, I was still buzzing at my codling but no looking forward to the long drive home. Well that’s it until next week.Mike Hornsea 22.02.2022 Codling 3¼lb
Recent Comments