Not many fish but cracking scenery

[glennk]

Sat in the pub at Flyingthorpe having lunch yesterday there wasnt a cloud in the sky so I gave Mike a ring to see if he fancied an evening session up at Kettleness. Mike had often reported of some decent fishing in that area from his speed boat, and reports from other forums were telling of recent catches from that area so we decided to launch from Runswick at 4.30 pm and fish the first few hours of the flood over at Kettleness/Goldsborough area. As soon as I put the phone down in came the fog.

 

We decided to still meet up and take a look at the conditions at 4.30 in Runswick. As I drove along Sandsend road and through Sandsend you couldnt see more than 100 yards and there was no chance of launching, or so I thought, but as I drove up Lythe bank the fog miraculously disapeared and I could see it below me in Sandsend village as I drove on and up to Lythe. When we got to Runswick there was little or no fog in the bay and it looked to be clearing from the headland at Kettleness so we decided to launch and play it same by mackerel fishing about 300 yards from the beach. With Mikes amazing compass we felt safe that if the fog came down we could paddle quickly to the beach and to safety. We quickly unloaded the yaks at the slipway then moved the cars up to the car park before the man from the council could get a ticket on us.

 

We spent the first hour fishing in the bay and watching all the local cobbles catching mackerel but strangely myself and Mike couldnt get a sniff and this was how it went on, for me at least, all evening. Around low water we noticed the fog had completely cleared and we headed for the fingers at Kettleness. Once there we set up a drift from the fingers down towards Fillet tail which lies at the northern end of Goldsborough. Mike was straight into fish but nothing big, catching 2 pollock and a wrasse all in the 2 pound size range, but not a sniff for me. As the tide completely died we trolled around with the bass lures but sadly there doesnt seem to be any bass at all in this area and all I managed to do was loose my yo zuri crystal minnow into the kelp. Mike did manage to conect with something which he said was a big pollock but after a brief tussle with it it crash dived into the kelp and that was the end of another crystal minnow (its an expensive game is plugging, especially when there is no fish about). The rest of the evening was spent jigging for cod around fillet tail but again not a sniff other than a couple of mackerel each.

 

All in all it wasnt the best nights fishing we have had but I guess its all part of a rather steep learning curve. It was nice to get aflaot in an area Ive fished so many times from the shore, it really does look very different from out there. Despite the lack of fish the scenery is quite stunning and easily compensated us for the lack of acion on the fishing front. I think it will be worth launching there again for the scenery alone but I know that at some point there will be some decent fish around this area for us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Brian Carragher]

Cracking photos there Glen of some of THE best coastline in the country, if I did'nt know better you could almost hazard a guess at Cornwall or somewhere equally as quaint, unspoilt shoreline from a part of the country that usually gets dismissed as "up north" and a bit grimey

 

Keep it up its a good photo journal and good reading

[Marc J]

Fantastic pictures!! Really like the first and the last 4! Brilliant!

[maidstonemike]

Spectacular photos, who needs fish? OK, it would make a change, but this is one of the main reasons for kayaking, the surroundings, the peace and quiet, fabulous.

If these were blown up as a backdrop to a kayak advertising setup, it would make all the diffeence.