Onenil

I would try the mentioned method but what i have used with success in the past are the luminous 'red gills' artificial sandeels.These glow in the dark and can be charged up with a tourch to make them brighter.I have had plenty pollack using these fished on a running ledger 2-3oz bomb or float fished under a small cigar float or bubble float.I have had bass in the dark,fishing dusk into darkness with 'black' red gills the small 70mm size work well. Good luck and let me know if you have any more fish using this method

A couple of years ago i was fishing for pollack over in 'Gods country' it was just turning dusk and the fish were feeding well it was a fish a cast.Pollack going to 4lb plus.I had a take and it felt like a small fish, but about half way in this 'fish' almost pulled me in. I 4king sh1t myself.The rod hooped over then the line snapped.Then the answer to the one that got away appeared about 30 yrds out a huge grey seal munching on my pollack..

Well done Gareth what a star prize and an absolute beauty... It's got to be every anglers dream to catch a big bass.. Was this fish targeted or did it jump on while fishing for pollack...Was it caught on live sandeel or a plug ??? answers on a postcard please cheers

Hi Snatcher How did you get on over in "God's country" did you get to wet a line or was the Ship more appealing.. Did you make it over at Easter or is this your first visit ??

I'm putting the having a night out on the drink into comparison,Ok £40- £50 may be a bit steep, but thats what i would spend.But alot of people wouldn't spend the same money on a night out fishing thats what i'm saying.I think the price of bait/worms is ok because if you've never had to dig bait or collect crab you'll not understand how much effort goes into it.Some diggers have got alot of worms to dig to keep a tackle shop in bait 1000's of worms a week.Plus they get paid less for what the angler has to buy them for.I don't agree when your bait is poor quality and the shop "try it on" hoping you'll not complain.But i've had tackle shop owners trying to sell me dead stinking crab and burst dead worms among the alive ones.The best thing to do is check your bait before you leave the shop.I haven't missed the point about age and creaking bones when i'm digging you want to hear my bones creaking. i need one of these after a good dig.

I've done both, buying and digging my own bait which is hard graft and for any novice to dig 200 worm is hard on the back.But if you had to buy the same in a tackle shop.Would you get the same quality ? The worms wouldn't be as fresh as your freshly dug worms ? and putting the cost of how much its cost you to dig them i.e petrol money getting to the worm beds.You'd be looking at £1.50 for 10 worms ( i know the prices vary around the coast but for an average price.) So you'd be looking at £30 worth of worms for a 5 hour fishing trip.Thats for two anglers.Then you've got the extra bits and bobs of bait mussels, razorfish, peeler crab,squid etc.It's not very often an angler will go fishing with just one bait.But the same person wouldn't be bothered about going to the pub on a Friday night and spending £40-£50 on drink, bandits ,pool/snooker table dominoe cards prize draws etc.So taken that in mind, bait for fishing is still worth the money aslong as its good quality.

I was reading in the local paper about the recent catch/match results etc.I noticed that one angler fishing the Seaham north pier area had 4 Dogfish and 2 Thornback rays.These species do turn up on the odd ocassion during open matches but for a single angler to catch 4 LSD's in an area that you could fish all your life and never catch one.Plus to catch a bonus of 2 Rays aswell,could this be the signs of a new species to target in the North East area.? I carried on reading the results and another angler further up the coast fishing a local match on Tynemouth pier had amongst his catch another LSD.These fish don't appeal to everyones taste but they are worth while catching for sport when the pickings are slim and some what poor.It'll be interesting to see if more of these species are caught in this area leading up to the spring/summer season.

Bob White Memorial Open Results: 48 Seniors and 13 Juniors fished 13 weighing in 32 Flounders and 1 Codling total weight 26lb 8 3/4oz Winner Trevor Raine 5 Flounders from Drift burn 4lb 1 1/2oz Runner Up John King 4 Flounders 2lb 14 1/4oz Third place Junior Cameron Roper 3 Flounders 2lb 7oz Fourth place Mick Hardy 1 Codling 2lb 6 1/4oz HSF A total of £263 was raised for the St Oswald's Hospice

This is another old photo, i found this is a little bit off topic but it's interesting for all the anglers who fish this mark.Its situated at the north end of Tynemouth long sands and its name is fitting for the photograph as the skeer is called "Boiler skeer".The boiler is all that remains of the ship and can still be seen today dumped at the top of the skeer it looks like a big boulder but on close inspection you'll notice that it's a big rusting hulk of metal.

If you look at this newish pic of the pier from 2003 you can see the different colour in the stone from the old pier to the new,its just after the curved piece of the foundations on the left 2/3 up the pier.If you notice the sea wall the old rail track that sits on top of the sea wall comes to a stop were the new part of the pier carries on to run straight out instead of curving.

Good to see your appreciation Merlino Bill i see your from Newcastle,so you've more then likely fished the pier.It amazes me that i didn't know anything about the history of the pier until i done a bit research.It would be interesting to see some photos or postcards of the pier being built.Its good to see that the pier has never been seriously damaged again after nearly 100 years.But i'll be adding to this thread like Snatcher is, he can do the new and i'll do the old. HA!

I've just found this bit of info on the net which explains a few things that happened before the completion of the pier in 1909. The north pier at the mouth of the Tyne was finally completed in 1895 after over 40 years of work in dangerous conditions. The most significant delay came in 1867 when nearly 300ft of the pier's sea wall collapsed during a heavy storm. However, in 1897—only two years after its completion—the pier was damaged once more in a storm when a further 109ft of the pier was washed away. The curve of the pier was righted after this and the pier has stood firm every since. The building of the 2 great Piers at Tynemouth began in 1854 and the picture below was taken about 1893, not long before the completion of the first North Pier in 1895. The great storm of 1897 breached the Pier and it was redesigned and rebuilt to be completed 14 years later.

This is a photo of the Scottish shore caught cod record holder Ken Robinson with an example of the quality fish that can be caught at the mentioned marks.What a great bag of fish but i don't fancy the long walk back to the car with them i think thats my jealous streak kicking in..

Nice pics snatcher its good to have the old with the new. It's a very interesting topic and i never knew about the pier being what it was all those years ago until i seen an old postcard from 1895.I've got a few postcards showing the pier from different angles.I've heard of people fishing the foundations for pollack in the summer.float fishing with sandeel or ragworm but you've got to go when the sea is flat mirror style on a very big tide.As it is very dodgy for rouge waves creeping up the flat ledges and the swell from ships coming into the Tyne.But i can see the potential it'll be like a mini Atlantis down there with all the old blocks from the pier and the submerged foundations but you've got to give yourself plenty time for walking on and off.Cheers again for posting those up

This is a better pic of the pier after the seas had breach the back wall and some what "Broke/broken pier" .I'm not sure when this photo was taking but the postmark on the postcard is 1906 the pier was finished in 1909 so this photo must be from an earlier date??...

I've never read the angling press, since i cancelled the sea angler but i use to like to see what was happening at this time of year over at the big cod marks at SW Scotland Balcary, Colvend, Rascarrel bay area.I fished it many times but i never had anything large enough to talk about. Is the Scottish shore caught record still from Balcary ??.Does the area still fish as good as its reputation.The amount of anglers who use to make annual pilgrimages to the area.The carpark was a joke if you turned up late in the tide double parked to the max.Do any of the AN users still fish the area,it would be good to see some recent catch pics...

If you look at the top of the cliff on the right you'll notice the original lighthouse which was demolished after the pier was completed.Plus the reinforcing arches to prevent the errosion of the cliffs are not visible so this must be a very early postcard.

Yeah its fished by quite a few clubs now but for the insurance side of things not every club uses the pier.But the pier is always getting mentioned about it being fished illegally.Plus a few people have been washed off over the years so it is wise to go through the proper channels and fish as a guest with one of the local clubs who fish it on a regular basis.They are only allowed to fish the lower inner part of the pier casting into the river.But some very good fish have been caught over the years. I lost a very big fish back in 1995 and this would of been in the 25 - 30lb range.I was gutted when it came off at my feet.I just wish now that i'd went down the stairs to gill the fish.But the angler in question said he'd done this before DOOH!!! But i think everyone has got their own story of the one that got away.....

i just looked for them on ebay, you can pick them up for a couple of £'s each.Some of the older one's are more collectible but they are a fascinating trip down memory lane...Plus they'll be well looked at if up on the walls in your mum in law's shop..

Yeah Snatcher thats basically whats left of the old pier end, it's a bit of a breakwater as well. When you watch the heavy swell running up the back wall it pushes the waves back out to sea.The old foundations run from the mentioned area and about 800 yards up and northwards.Its like fishing over a scrapyard if you fish the inside rotten bottoms or your lots gone.I've got a photo which shows how much of the foundations are visible on a big tide. Where the stone wall juts out from the pier that is the start of the old pier end from the first bend in the pier.Its well worth having a walk along on a spring tide preferably when the seas flat.It keeps the Misses happy its just a pity the Yacht club is always closed during the day. Good photos mate you like your photography more then your fishing...

This may be a long shot but here goes,i was hoping that somebody may still have one of these rods.They first became available back in 1995.The full description as advertised was Strike Force X Uptide SFX U210 length 9' 6" Casting Weight 2-8 (oz) 15-30lbs Titan Rings RRP £44.99.I've still got one of these but its been well used and the tip ring has been replaced about 4 times.It was available through the Embassy cigarette focus points i got mine back in 1996.The beauty that it was originaly rung for a fixed spool reel and for a short rod it casts light leads well into 100yrds.I mainly use it for Pollacking from the shore.With it being a 15-30lb class rod it has some back bone for getting those pollack out of the kelp .So if anyone has one of these to sell me or i may have a suitable rod to trade please get in touch cheers

From what i can remember i had a cast with a Kompressor Grand Prix and i'm not sure if the match is as pokey/stiff.But it was like a barge pole to cast and i tried casting off the ground it just took some effort to bend this rod.It's more for the pendulum castor and more of a rough ground rod.So it would probably be better to go for the Tip Tornado which is a more softer tippy rod,with good bite detection.I think this casts 4-6 oz leads so it'll be more suited to the bass and flattie fishing aswell.I had one for about 3 months but i moved onto a Greys Shadow which is a nice all round useful tool.I hope this will help in your choice Dav Good luck

I seen this postcard from 1895 and the pier is very different to what it is today.The pier took 50 long years to build and it wasn't finished until the turn of the century in 1909 by the John Jackson Ltd contractors.The original design was how it looks on the photo but it wasn't strong enough to hold back the heaviest seas and it was breached at the bend of the pier this was around 1898 So the designers decided to make the pier straight without any curves or bends and its how it looks today.If you walk along Tynemouth pier during a spring low tide you can see the old foundations were the pier use to bend Northwards.I didn't realise how much the pier had changed until i seen these old postcards and photos.This one below is looking along the pier and the lighthouse and old crane which use to travel the length of the pier on railway style tracks are visible in the distance to the left of the photo.Its weird how the old jetty landing on the right of the picture is still visible today which is know as the "four post".The pier was once used for ferrying people across the river to South Shields and it was very busy during the days of coal being shipped around the globe.On the top picture which is hard to see, you can see a rail track running on stilts across the water from the hill on the left (which is now a car park) onto the pier.Coal trucks would travel along this to dump their loads into the holds of steam ships.

Alright snatcher, I spoke to you on the phone about a possible lift over to "Gods Country" was it last year ? I forget now.But we exchanged a few different marks and you sent me a few of you snatcher lures ..Remember? Thats the beauty about living near the coast, you can watch the sea conditions and hopefully pick your moment when they'll be a few fish about. Instead of turning up on your day off work to a totally flat fishless sea.Is that a recent photo, it looks like a southerly sea running ? where abouts are you is that round the corner from Brown's Bay ?? I bet you'd kept your mouth shut i'll be wanting to know the conditions on a dailey basis "Snatcher the coast guard" LOL! DON'T YOU JUST MISS THIS PLACE http://img389.imageshack.us/my.php?image=b...pasportseo3.jpg

Hello to all i'm new in name but i've been here before,i use to be BigK but thanks to AOL i couldn't connect.But i'm back through another server so i'll catch up on whats been happening in the sea angling world.I'm from Newcastle and havn't been out for a while because its been very poor due to the sea being flat and prolonged Westerly winds but it looks like the winter season is starting to pick up.Tynemouth pier had a few nice fish, a couple of weeks back with a nice 15lb Cod as part of a 3 fish catch including another fish of 11lb.But a few double figure fish have been reported including another 15lber from West Bay by local lad and Tynemouth/Whitley Bay club member Mick Clark.A few other fish have been taken from the Prom at St Marys a 17lb Cod was taking last week and another 17lber for Blyth angler Davy Maddison.So with the conditions improving its looking good for getting some bait collected and get me arse out the house hopefully for a few fish.I'll let you know how i get on..The photo is from last year up at Dunstanburgh Castle spinning for mackerel and coalfish with red gills and a nice surprise of a 4lb cod