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  • 13/12/2024 Fishing Report by Andy Savage on Sea Urchin IIl (Whitby, North Yorkshire)

    13 Dec 2024 by Andy Savage

    Report on-board Sea Urchin IIl

    What a lovely day out we had today.......nice calm flat sea conditions, light winds, good tide and fantastic company. Considering the weather we had with "Storm Darragh" over the last weekend, I couldn't have asked for much better for the "Sea Urchin - Biggest Bag Competition" which we held today. The eight anglers aboard were fishing for the most fish that they could catch. Every fish was measured and then allocated a certain number of points according to species and how long it was. I kept a running tally all day and the two anglers with the highest points total at the end of the day would win the £100 and £50 cash prizes which I happily donate.

    We got away just as day was breaking, running North to Sandsend to get as much of the remaining Ebb Tide in as possible. No sooner than I got the anchor down, the fish started to appear. Rods were consistently nodding around the boat and a succession of mainly Codling came up for the next couple of hours. Gordon Blyth had a brilliant. start, catching steadily and also taking the best Codling at just over 5lb. The sport lasted right up to slack water, when we pulled the anchor and ran further North to meet the Flood Tide.

    Unfortunately, this move didn't work out well. The tide was running when we arrived, but after 20 minutes with very few bites and no fish aboard, I sacked it off and ran back South. Next stop, we were back in business. We had a reasonable couple of hours, with everyone getting a few fish. Amongst the Codling, Ian Kellock and Rich Winship both managed to find a nice Pollock apiece which was good to see.
    We had one last move, to drop onto a nice shelf which I'd fished the previous day.

    Thankfully, it didn't fish too badly and kept us entertained for the remainder of the day. Mark Botterill had been catching steadily throughout, but he had a golden hour and gradually clawed back the points deficit that Gordon had established; including catching the biggest Codling of the day at 66cm which weighed in at a smidge over 7lb. I am forever "banging on" about how important good bait is for Uptiding. The fish can see very little in the murky water and come primarily to the scent trail from the baits cast in. Today's top three point scoring anglers were all from Easington Sea Angling Club and all fish from the shore and boats throughout the year. They all had a good supply of fresh and frozen bait, which they changed every cast. Squid, Crab Cart, Peeler Crab, Live Yellow Tails, Mussel, Prawns, Black Lug. I'm 100% convinced that it made the difference.

    With an hour to go, Gordon had a 100 point lead, but Mark managed to find a couple more fish and with only 30 minutes to go, took the lead! It could have gone either way, but Mark held on for the win with 1717 points and Gordon finishing just behind (bridesmaid again after finishing runner up last year) with 1641 points.
    I'm not normally a "fish counter", but as we measured each fish, I do have some accurate stats today!

    72 Cod up to 66cm (7lb 4oz)
    12 Haddock (None Weighed)
    2 Pollock both 60cm
    8 Pouting none weighed
    1 Whiting not weighed
    5 Lobsters all safely returned

    It was a thoroughly enjoyable day for me, which absolutely flew by. Thanks very much to all the lads who were fantastic company.

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    UPCOMING INDIVIDUAL SPACES ONBOARD Sea Urchin IIl
    Fri 20/12/2024
    5 Spaces Available Uptiding Trip - 4.93m John Gregory - x 2 David Setterington - x 1
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    Sat 21/12/2024
    1 Space Available Uptiding Trip - 4.71m Tim Albright - x 2 Jimmy Yeung - x 1 Nathanial Henry - x 1 Kev Totterdell - x 3
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    Fri 03/01/2025
    4 Spaces Available Uptiding Trip - 5.29m Will Bird - x 1 Bod - x 1 Steve Whitaker - x 2
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    Sat 04/01/2025
    1 Space Available Uptiding Trip - 5.21m John Bennison - x 7
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    Fri 10/01/2025
    3 Spaces Available Wrecking Trip - 4.76m Richard Moulds - x 2 Steve Ralphson - x 2 Luke Hayward - x 2
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    Sat 11/01/2025
    4 Spaces Available Uptiding Trip - 4.96m Luke Hayward - x 2 Stephen Austin - x 2
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    Tue 14/01/2025
    2 Spaces Available Uptiding Trip - 5.31m Dave & Del - x 2 Stan Matthews - x 1 Ian Purdom - x 1 Keith Pickering - x 1 Joe Clough - x 1
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    Fri 17/01/2025
    2 Spaces Available Biggest Bag Competition £150 Prize Money Uptiding Trip - 5.18m Ian Kellock - x 1 Gordon Blyth - x 3 Jim Lister - x 1 Barry Allcock - x 1
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    Tue 21/01/2025
    9 Spaces Available Wrecking Trip - 4.51m Will sail with 4 anglers. Gareth Hiddleston - x 1
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    Thu 23/01/2025
    8 Spaces Available Wrecking Trip - 4.25m Will sail with 4 anglers. Joe Clough - x 1 Philip Coupland - x 1
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