Latest Fishing Reports: Sweet William
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03/06/2023
Fishing Report by Geoff Sharp
3 Jun 2023 by Geoff Sharp
Massive thanks to the lads for travelling up from Bradford today; we headed out to almost no wind, sunshine and a substantial residual north easterly groundswell which steadily eased throughout the day. The vast majority of the guys had never been fishing before, and they dealt with the swell admirably.
The instruction for today was to find the mackerel, and the first stop off was the first day of the season where we found huge shoals and pretty much non stop full strings. They were mostly a cracking stamp, mixed in with some good sized coalies, pouting, haddock and smaller codling.
We stuck it out until the lads all had all a sufficient supply of mackerel for the freezer, and decided to try and find them some codling.
We never strayed much more than five or six miles from the Tyne piers, and decided to try heading south on the wrecks for pretty much the first time this year.
It was just one of those days; no matter where we went, which baits or tackle we tried, the Codling just kept coming up; you could have used a handline, safety pin and limpets! It definitely made a change from the past four months hard grind.
Once the guys were pretty much fished out on the wrecks, we opted for a leisurely drift on the inner grounds, which also produced plenty of smaller stamp codling, but not a mackerel in sight.
Cracking day out, almost perfect weather, great company and non stop fishing! -
29/05/2023
Fishing Report by Geoff Sharp
29 May 2023 by Geoff Sharp
Massive thanks to Ian, Chris, Steve, Warren and their parties for a fantastic trip out yesterday.
We departed the Royal Quays Marina in absolutely glorious conditions; almost no wind, sunshine and glassy seas, and for once, it stayed like that until late afternoon, when a problematic little south easterly wind did it’s best to make the fishing difficult.
As we’ve been doing for the past month or so, we have a little check for mackerel on the first stop…and immediately hit into a few, which was great to see!
The first wreck was a bit slow, with some tricky fishing conditons; the boat was barely moving, yet the lines were kiting out in front of the boat almost horizontally as if there was a 5+ metre tide pushing. We had to try and hold the boat using the engines to give the guys and girls half a chance. Some great stamp codling came up but we abandoned that wreck and moved slightly further inside to some shallower marks.
As we wreck hopped around, the fishing remained steady with every mark producing a great stamp of fish. It wasn’t until mid afternoon that it really pickled up; Steve found an absolute clonker of a Ling, and after a lengthy scrap, with everyone watching from the starboard gunwale, it loomed up out of the depths, and proceeded to give it one last head shake at the surface and slowly swam back down. Steve’s son was picking up a Codling a drop all of which were a great stamp. Warren and his brother found some great fish and also landed an Atlantic Wolffish, which was returned safely. The lads fishing shads were doing really well as the water was gin clear, again, almost a fish a drop all of which were great stamp.
The last wreck proved problematic; when we first set up the lads pulled up five great fish simultaneously on the first drop; and then a strong south easterly wind suddenly picked up making the fishing tricky. I think we picked another fish or two and took that as sign to call time.
The long steam home in the sunshine and calm seas provided ample opportunity for the guys to get their filleting done.
Fantastic weather, flat seas, steady fishing (and the first sight of mackerel) with great craic and company; a skipper’s dream! -
27/05/2023
Fishing Report by Geoff Sharp
27 May 2023 by Geoff Sharp
Massive thanks to the guys for a run out today. We departed Royal Quays Marina and exited the Tyne piers with sunshine, no wind and flat calm seas.
The first stop off to check for mackerel, produced no mackerel, but did produce a lovely 8 lb Codling amongst other fish, which seemed promising.
By the time we’d headed a further 10 miles or so, a strong offshore wind began to pick up, and proved relentless for the remainder of the day.
We couldn't get to the spots we wanted to check out but made the most of a few inshore marks; and were made to work hard for it.
Thankfully, the harder you work the luckier you get, and all the lads went home with a solid bag full of fillets for the pan. -
21/05/2023
Fishing Report by Geoff Sharp
21 May 2023 by Geoff Sharp
Massive thanks to the guys for the run out yesterday; they stuck with us through both the good and the tough days, and were rewarded with flat seas, sunshine and some cracking fishing!
They say the apple never falls from the tree, and after Daz caught an almost double figure cod recently, he brought his son Hugo to what all the fuss was about. Hugo didn't waste any time to secure his position in the pecking order, and top rod for the day, by knocked into a lovely Ling of just shy of 12lb! It looks like Daz has some catching up to do :-) Between them both they had almost 20lb of fillets for the pan!
Warren and his brother were literally non stop once we hit the wrecks, and between them, after a 1 hour two man filleting session on the run home, had almost 30lb of fillets for the pan.
Mark was finding fantastic codling and Ling all day, and might also need a bigger freezer!
Shaun was given the name the ‘silent assassin’, as he didn’t have much time to chat between hauling them in pretty much non-stop on the shads!
Of course the First Mate didn’t feel like missing out on the party, and put his new rod gifted by Kingie, and new reel from Billy’s Fishing Tackle to work; safe to say it definitely works and that low speed setting came into its own. I’ve got some filleting to do myself later!
The saying goes that no two days are the same; we had tough day last Wednesday with only one decent codling boated and buckets of pollock, it was steady but challenging on Saturday with a mixed bag, and then yesterday produced very few pollack and hundreds of codling. Warren went around weighing a substantial proportion of the fish out of interest, and the average stamp was approximately 4.5lb.
Once again thanks to the lads for great craic yesterday! -
20/05/2023
Fishing Report by Geoff Sharp
20 May 2023 by Geoff Sharp
Massive thanks to the lads for coming from as far away as London for a run out today.
The day started off with a chill in the air, shrouded in a thick blanket of fog which lasted until mid-afternoon, until the sun finally burnt through. The south easterly swell seemed to have lingered on making it uncomfortable at times.
We started on the inner rough grounds and there were codling, pouting and coalies, but still no mackerel even on some of the favoured inshore shoaling wrecks.
The first few wrecks started slow, with the lads picking away at pouting, whiting, coalies, pollock and codling.
Once the tide started to flood, it was good to see the codling turn back on again in numbers after a notable absence a few days ago.
Nothing particularly noteworthy came aboard, other than a single Ling weighing in at just shy of 8lb (which isn’t too bad here for this time of year).
It was good to get back towards the Tyne later in the afternoon and continue to pick away at codling in the sunshine and calmer seas! -
17/05/2023
Fishing Report by Geoff Sharp
17 May 2023 by Geoff Sharp
Massive thanks to Royal Quays Marina for a late notice overnight hang and hold, and 68 Marine Solutions for their trademark last minute evening shift yesterday!
We were dropped back in at 8:00am, and immediately picked up Ash and the guys who had travelled up from Barnsley for a run out today.
We set off to glorious conditions; flat seas and sunshine and it felt promising!
Not long after we had exited the Tyne piers, the light offshore breeze turned to the South East and began to slowly build throughout the day.
The first stop off consisted of a quick check for mackerel, as usual, but produced nothing; the first wreck give up a lovely pollack just shy of 6lb (no more debating weights for the sweeps on the new Reuben Heaton scales accurate to 1/500).
This set the tone for the remainder of the day; the guys fishing shads caught numerous lovely pollack also up to the 6lb mark. One decent codling came aboard weighing approx. 3 / 4 lb, and the remainder ranged from small to thumb size! Not a single Ling aboard throughout the entire day.
We headed home trying out a good number of the inner rough grounds, and again, the codling were smaller than the hooks :-)!
Cracking but incredibly challening run out, the lads fished hard up until late afternoon; and look forward to seeing them again soon. -
30/04/2023
Fishing Report by Geoff Sharp
30 Apr 2023 by Geoff Sharp
We departed the Royal Quays Marina at 7:00am to glassy conditions on the River Tyne; no sooner than we’d got out of the piers an uncomfortable south easterly swell made its presence known.
We had wind, rain showers, fog, cold snaps, and occasionally sunshine for the majority of the day until late afternoon!
The first few wrecks proved quite slow until we got a fair way off, and Paul landed a lovely Pollack weighing 8.1 lb to start the sweep off!
The fishing got progressively better once the tide started to flood, and some lovely Cod, small Ling, Coalies, Pouting and a solid number of smaller Codling came aboard throughout the afternoon.
Hats off to the the lads for braving the conditions; they kept at it relentlessly, pretty much non-stop, for the entire day, other than a running pit-stop for snacks and coffee.
Daz must have been keeping his powder dry, as no sooner than I said we had about 10 minutes left he knocked into a 9.15 lb Cod to take the sweep. The digital scales were flashing onto the 10 lb mark but stayed mainly below the double and the First Mate had the final say :-)
Fantastic banter all day long with some cracking fish for the pan -
29/04/2023
Fishing Report by Geoff Sharp
29 Apr 2023 by Geoff Sharp
We were up against it today; half of the full party broke down on the motorway and unfortunately ended up homeward bound to Manchester.
This left the lads aboard with no bait, so we headed out for a full day on the Tyne wrecks hoping to find some bait early.
The first three wrecks produced nothing noteworthy, but finally we found some pouting, which turned the day around. The next wreck started to produce some lovely Codling and by 11:00am, we stopped for a break, and had a quick group photo whilst the fish were still fresh.
After a few refreshments we headed onwards, and more Codling began to appear, including a couple of small Ling and Pollack which was nice to see this early in the year.
The confused sea state, and the wind, thankfully began to ease off in the afternoon, prior to the long run home with a lazy following sea.
Hats off to the guys for keeping at it pretty much non stop; against all odds we had a great run out with good banter and plenty of fish for the pan! -
23/04/2023
Fishing Report by Geoff Sharp
23 Apr 2023 by Geoff Sharp
We’re not too sure what happened today! We popped down to the boat to sort out our new Century Tackle bag from Billy’s Fishing Tackle in North Shields.
The weather was glorious, sun shining and the marina was like a mill pond, so we thought we’d lock out and fuel up for something to do. That turned into ‘let’s have a look out of the piers’, and before we knew it we were an hour’s steam offshore onto a little wreck we’d fancied trying for a while.
We had three drifts and the First Mate picked up three fish; a lovely pollack and two perfect pan sized codling. As one of our regulars Bry would say, ‘this lad just never stops’ lol! We didn't want to empty the wreck so just headed straight back home…the forecast winds started to pick up on the run back and the temperature began to drop just as we got back into the piers.
An unexpected but cracking run out. -
16/04/2023
Fishing Report by Geoff Sharp
16 Apr 2023 by Geoff Sharp
Huge thanks to Peter and the lads who set off at midnight and drove through the night to be here for a 7:00am start!
We set off this morning to the tail end of an incredible sunrise; unfortunately the sea conditions weren’t quite as forecast, with a manageable but awkward little south easterly swell.
We decided to have a full day on the wrecks after trying the inner rough grounds yesterday with little success.
The fishing was slow throughout the morning, but picked up steadily, as did the swell and wind throughout the afternoon.
We picked away until the conditions stopped play, and headed for home. Another tough but great day out!
