Things have come on great since our last updates and we have seen some excellent fishing with plenty of fighting fit fish coming aboard.
After our win in the WCSA Spring Festival and good fishing in late March/Early April – we have been more enthusiastic than ever and have done plenty of homework to ensure our Spring and Summer anglers are in with the best chance of a great days fishing.
The weather proved unpredictable but whenever there was a window we enjoyed some great sport fishing with shads- which has firmly become the favourite method with Whitby boat anglers as it allows the use of balanced tackle and means less multi-angler tangles than the traditonal pirk and hokkais/feathers/muppets.
Late April saw us blessed with gin clear water so we headed out to some wrecks and were rewarded with some good fishing with both bait and shads working a treat.
The most successful shad colours have been pink and red along with rhubarb & custard - and white Sidewinders have also worked well at the points in the day when the water has had a greenish tinge.
Another shad which proved successful was the Candy Red Sidewinder shad- and a very lucky chap called Dan used the same one all day in late April and outfished everyone else on board (skipper included!!!!).
I have since tried some myself – and can certainly state that there are times when they have a definite edge over other colours.
Frustratingly a week or so of unsettled weather kept us in port but when we got a break in it our return to sea was nothing short of brilliant.
We reached our mark near slack water and took a steady stream of nice cod but when the tide virtually stopped things really stepped up a notch!
The quality of the fish that came aboard was excellent- with all of them weighing between 6lb & 9lb and in great condition.
The fish kept coming and Chris Toon eventually boated an excellent 12lb 8oz cod- a great fish by anyones standards.
Within a week we were back out again and once more a great stamp of fish were caught and a team of Blackpool lads who’d not fished Whitby for some years went away with a day to remember!
We started the day with a steady stream of good cod and ling before it slowed off and the nuisance pouting descended on us- a move was in order.
The fishing here was admittedly a bit slow and I was weighing up the situation when Gary Ball looked to be snagged.
I had a closer look and saw the rod gently nod so got alongside to help him out.
After a real battle we eventually saw a large shape coming up through the water and a pleased as punch Gary became the proud captor of a cracking 17lb cod!
Mid May saw the fishing remain constant with good cod commonplace and after one or two in late April- some better pollock started to show.
Andy Bettison got one of 8.5lb on a pearl shad and lost one of a much larger size on the same day.
We were back at sea within days and once more it was shads that gave the best sport with both cod and pollock hitting them hard and some of the cod running into double figures.
Mistress was out of the water for a few days as my ever reliable crewman Deano and I did some painting and maintenance in preparation for Summer and we lost a few days to bad weather.
When we finally got to sea on the Bank Holiday Sunday things came to life with a bang.
I have been keeping an eye on a mark that has given good sport in the past and fancied it for this weekend.
My hunch was right and on the Sunday we had our best day of the year so far with over 100 cod taken on shads and many others returned.
Every drift saw multiple hook ups until slack water when we tried a couple of wrecks for admittedly very little.
Once the tide started to push through we returned to the mark and things kicked off big time- so much so we had enough fish for everyone by 3pm and made for port with a very happy crew of anglers.
The weather was kind to us and we set out on Bank Holiday Monday with high hopes.
On arrival at our chosen mark the water had a greenish tinge to it and we had to work hard for the fish- it was here that the ghost white Sidewinders seemed to stand out a little more and have the edge over other lures.
We had a decent amount of fish on board by slack water- with everyone having fish in the box but when the tide started to push it came alive and there were quite a few times when every rod on the boat was buckling under the pressure of these hard fighting cod.
One angler even commented that some of the 4lb fish fought like those of twice the size.
Rhubarb & custard shads, blue shads, white shads and pink shads all did well and the youngest angler on board beat everyone hands down when he brought up an excellent cod just short of 9lb.
At around 3pm we had a bit of a count up of fish caught and it turned out we’d had a better day than the previous and with many more returned too- everyone on board was on cloud 9 (us included!!).
Back on land we had more cause for celebration when Mike Dearing of Beverley was at The Station Inn at Whitby to be presented with his £1000 first prize for winning the WCSA 2014 Spring Angling Festival with a stunning 20lb 7.5oz cod.
Well done Mike- enjoy your prize money and thanks again to The Station Inn for their continued support of the WCSA angling festivals.
As we move into June prospects look great. Given the right conditions the water clarity can only improve and the amount of feed at sea will increase- meaning great sport inshore, offshore and on the wrecks.
Add to that the electric atmosphere of the WCSA 2014 Summer Angling Festival which starts on 21st June and it looks like a great Summer ahead.
As always please check our availability page for spaces as we would love to have you on board to experience Whitby Summer fishing at its best.
Tight Lines
Rich
