East Coast Fishing 10/14

[joebassdude]

Slightly more successful trip last weekend! 

Me and my mate headed up on Friday after work and fished Robin Hoods Bay from high 'till about 1.30am. 
Weather was ace, we were just in hoodies. Pretty sheltered from wind where we were as well. 
I'd recently got a new rod to try out, a Diawa-D Uptider. I used this on Friday to get a feel for it and to see how it coped casting long distances. Was well impressed!  

Had a few knocks on the rods most of the night but they proved to be a bit shy, until finally I pulled out a nice Coalie. 
Went back to fight another day though. 
(Not the best pic of it)



Saturday was the big day, uptiding on Sea Otter II from Whitby, and the real test for the new Uptider. 
It was the first day of Whitby Uptiding Festival, an annual two-week festival. I thought this would have meant the boats would be rammed, but there were only 6 people on deck, made a nice change from the standard 12! More room to faff about :-)



Set off at 8am, the swell on the sea was pretty big and the boat was swaying all over. 
We dropped anchor and threw the baits out. 
Fish started coming in pretty much straight away, and took me about 15-20 mins to get my first one.
Was watching the tip of the Diawa-D when it suddenly sprung to life. I let the bite develop for a few seconds to allow it to properly swallow the bait, then wound into it. 
Bloody hell it felt heavy!! The rod was doubled over and put a bit of tension on my 50lb mono line. 
Cranking away on the big multiplier I finally got her in! A beautiful 4lb2oz North Sea cod. 



This was my next biggest at 3lb12oz. 



They kept coming pretty steadily for the boat most of the day, until it went slack around midday, then picked up again as the tide started to run. I had a few more decent cod, but then this one bite in particular caught my attention; I had been fishing a bait for about 20-30 mins so thought it was time to re-bait. I wound up to the weight and struck to pull it off the bottom away from the kelp, and something grabbed hold of the bait. It felt properly big! I was cranking and cranking away to try and keep it's head up, but it kept getting the better of me and diving down, pulling hard on the rod. Finally after a few difficult minutes it surfaced. It was a lively 7lb2oz ling! Was over the moon!! 



Another strange thing happened towards the back end of the day; we'd been fishing a mark for about an hour or just off Ness Point so and it started to get a bit quiet, so the skipper called for us to bring our lines in for a move, and as soon as we all started cranking, 4 of us, myself and my mate included all hooked up to a decent cod! Must have been some predatory reaction, as they must have been watching the baits, but just needed a nudge! Incredible. 

By the time we'd done, I had 6 decent cod and a ling to bring home for the pot. Didn't catch an under-size fish all day, which I was pleased at. 



My two biggest cod. (I was still asleep though); 


We headed to the pub that night; the Dolphin in Robin Hoods Bay and celebrated with a few pints of Old Peculiar on draught and live music.

Sunday we shore fished Robin Hoods Bay again, but this time with the beach-casters as we were fishing from a wall and needed a long throw for when the tide started to ebb. Pretty difficult day as the wind was in the wrong direction for it. My mate had a decent flounder, but other than that not much happened. We decided to pack up and try beat the traffic home. (Alas, we didn't beat the traffic home)

Incredible weekend!

[smithy]

nice write up been years since i fished the boats at whitby

mick

[joebassdude]

Cheers Mick!

Aye it's always a top laugh regardless of the fish count :-)

[drunkenmaster76]

Some nice cod there. Sounds like a fine trip- it's a good pub that Dolphin

[joebassdude]

Cheers mate.

Sure is! Any pub that sells OP on tap gets my vote! .. 'till the morning after anyway.

[spessy]

I'm always either on the beach or on the rocks at Whitby when I go.....how much is it for a place on the charter...never been on one.

[joebassdude]

It's usually £50 for the charters.
Sounds like a lot but when you break it down it's really fair. Usually 7-8 hour days, and the skippers do everything they can to put you on the fish.
Plus if you come back with a few fish, it's a winner.

What coastal mark do you fish round there?

[spessy]

Its my annual fishing holiday, I stay up at Whitby YHa and I go to Sandsend, the beach (opposite the life guard hut) as the swell is less and my bait doesn't fly about and just under the cliffs when tide is out. I hate going off the pier, over rated and bleedin guys cross lines.

[joebassdude]

You're not wrong there mate. Whitby West is best when it's blowing with a high swell as none of the amateurs dare fish it. But yeah when the sun is out be prepared to lose an eye. Spinners and leads flying in every direction. Aweful.

East Pier is ok at high tide though if you chuck on to the scaurrs.
Few coalies about usually. And not many anglers.

Fishing Scarborough this weekend which I'm looking forward to.
Tide isn't massive but it usually doesn't matter too much for there.
Whiting should be in around now.

[spessy]

All this sea talk is making me want to go next week to Whitby....shame the bus takes 3hrs to get there.

[joebassdude]

In the off-season the train to Scarborough is £16 return! ;-) (If you book a couple of weeks before)
Only takes 1hr 15 to get there as well.
There is a tackle shop round the corner from the station, or Bill Costins down the bottom if you can find it.

[spessy]

Cheers for that...