mr lee Posted December 14, 2008 Report Share Posted December 14, 2008 Saturday morning my mate and me set off for whitby concerned at the really poor weather forecast which had been given out. We knew it was due to be bad but decided to go purely for some time out. The plan was to head to Sandsend carpark for the late afternoon high tide and cast from the car park over the rocks. We got there and all we saw was old bits of snagged up line, leads, hooks galore so it kind of put us off. the second choice was Whitby piers lower deck. We got there and it was howling a gale and pouring down. We parked the van up outside a pub (VERY tempted to spend the weekend in there..) and walked on towards the pier. We couldn't see anyone on the decks so assumed it was due to the poor weather...How wrong. We got all the way to the end only to find it closed to anglers due to high winds and water. Walking back we decided to nip into whitby angling for some black lug worm. When we said we were off fishing that day he suggested Runswick bay just above Sandsend. So 20 minutes later we arrived at the bay. Parked the van and wandered down the steep slope to the beach to have a look at what spots would be good. Once we had decided on one we grabbed the rods, tripods and bait and the box and made our way to the middle of the beach. We wanted to fish outside the sailing club due to a better slate and shale bed but there was already someone there. We baited up and cast out. ..then waited....no knocks on lines at all...The water was starting to come in so we moved backwards up the beach and rebaited and cast again. Again..nothing at all..As the tide rose we found ourselves very close to the muddy walls which were constantly falling down due to the sheer amount of water running off the land. It was dropping off the hillside in skip full sizes and running down the beach. This was getting worrying.. We reeled in and decided to go back to the van before we got cut off completely for a few hours and grab some food. We spoke to a few anglers there who also had cauught nothing so far and had no knocks. Once we had eaten and a few coffees inside of us we went back down to the beach but went left onto a wall area and cast off there. Steve's first cast netted him what looked like a mini eel..Neither of us knew what it was but it took squid in seconds of it landing in the water. I hadn't even got my rod and rigs fully set up at this point. We unhooked it and returned it and he carried on. I went with the squid also the lower tentacles part and launched out, the lead and hooks hit the water and within 10 seconds I had a sharp pull too. Instinct lead me to pull the rod and I felt resistance of a fish pulling and trying to get off the hook. Again, it was the same as Steves.. We seemed to pull quite a few of these out on squid one after another just casting 80ish yards into a gully. After about 40 minutes it all stopped. No knocks or anything and it was by now pitch black and the tide going out. We stopped fishing on that point and made our way back round to the beach for a while. This was a poor move as all we did was help clear the sea of weed. Haul after haul of thick heavy weed. This became tiring and boring so we went back to the van for some food and to stick a dvd on for a while. About 9pm a few other anglers and worm diggers turned up so we had a chat with them to see what points they were fishing and what baits they were using. Usual chatter. We put fresh dry waterproofs on and got ready to go back out again. High tide wasn't until 4.42am but we thought we may as well try a different spot further round by the sailing club now we knew that original fisher had left. We baited up with a cocktail of mussel and black worm and launched it out with a powerful overhead thump. After about 25 minutes and a few knocks but no takes I brought it back in to rebait and check everything. At some point I had missed them stripping the worm completely off the hook and leaving the mussel. New worm went on and out it went. Steve went to retrieve his line and it had become snagged badly. There was no way he was bringing that lead and rig back in. One snapped line and a cheesed off steve he rebaited and cast back out into a slightly different area. We were sat having a cuppa chatting about something when we heard an almighty crack and rumble. The hillside to teh right of us was collapsing. Huge great lumps of earth falling off and crashing to the ground. Rather than hang around and watch we instantly moved left away about 100 yards and stayed there. All night long the hill was collapsing. Once 3 am came I got a huge knock on the rod so grabbed it and waited, another light knock...a slight pull then all tension eased off....Hmm...a fish swimming towards me? I snatched the rod backwards to check and it was indeed a fish! :yp: Nothing major but enought to make me work for it. It was just coming into the surf when steve saw it. Cod. This is what we were after and I got giddy...too soon....Next wave and suddenly the line went very slack with no resistance. The fish had got off the hook. We had knocks and bait taken for the next hour when sudenly I hit into a bite and wasn't for letting it have any slack thsi time. It eventually showed it's face on the sand and I had hooked into a codling. Not bad but we were after much bigger really, but at the end of the day a bites a bite. The remainder of high tide we kept getting knocks but no bites. Frustratinga nd a late night/morning by the time we finished. We got back to the van about 6.45am and had a kip in the back for a few hours prior to setting off home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr lee Posted December 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2008 The codling had two marks on it's belly where it had been in a recent scrap with something... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wy111 Posted December 14, 2008 Report Share Posted December 14, 2008 (edited) The fish in question is a rockling. Pity you had some bad spots. I live near to Whitby, fish upto 18 1/2 lb caught. Night time best, IF you know where safe on ebb tide from mbeach. Other good HW spot is Robin Hoods BAy, not too far to walk to sea wall AND, pubs. Edited December 14, 2008 by wy111 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr lee Posted December 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2008 The fish in question is a rockling. Pity youi ha some bad spots. i live near to Whitby, fish upto 18 1/2 lb caught. Night time bst, IF Yup, we showed the pic to another fella there and said rockling. Had some short teeth on them. Quite slimy too hence us wondering if there were some offspring of the eel.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MM Posted December 14, 2008 Report Share Posted December 14, 2008 Yup, we showed the pic to another fella there and said rockling. Had some short teeth on them. Quite slimy too hence us wondering if there were some offspring of the eel.. actualy, its a 5 bearded rockling (yes, im being a smartass ) Top report make,great reading. shame the big ones didnt show, but lets hope the cold spell hangs around and brings them in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted December 14, 2008 Report Share Posted December 14, 2008 Commiserations on a poor trip, it sounds as though there won't be much of Whitby left soon, by the sound of all those landslides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek.snr Posted December 14, 2008 Report Share Posted December 14, 2008 sorry but its a 3 bearded rockling in the photo ,they grow bigger than the 5 bearded.two top one bottom -3 bearded- four top -one bottom 5 bearded ,sorry to be a nerd.oh and your codling is a coalfish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MM Posted December 14, 2008 Report Share Posted December 14, 2008 let me get me glasses on there have been rockling around for a few years, but this past year, they seem to have appeared all over en mass. never seen so many. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek.snr Posted December 14, 2008 Report Share Posted December 14, 2008 (edited) caught a 2lb 7 oz one,off nefyn couple of years ago ,loads of the 5 bearded in the mersey but they rarly go over 6-7 in. marks on the belly of the coley proberbly off the breakaway lead.anyone fancy a trip to anglesey,good late winter codling. Edited December 14, 2008 by derek.snr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
night owl Posted December 15, 2008 Report Share Posted December 15, 2008 sorry but its a 3 bearded rockling in the photo ,they grow bigger than the 5 bearded.two top one bottom -3 bearded- four top -one bottom 5 bearded ,sorry to be a nerd.oh and your codling is a coalfish. thats right mate a 3 berded rockling also known as <sea rats >here in the channel islands because there ******* at nicking you bait and jamming you tackle under rocks also the codling is a coalfish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pavman Posted December 15, 2008 Report Share Posted December 15, 2008 when we was kids my brother caught a rockling whilst we where in the Walton On Naze pier comp on boxing day this bloke siad it was to small so we put it back and in turns out at the weigh in it had been the only fish caught and would in fact have taken top prize of a new Metcalf deach outfit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
night owl Posted December 15, 2008 Report Share Posted December 15, 2008 the channal island record for a 3b is only 3lb1oz any idea what the uk record is any one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.