When Chris rang and said, "How do you fancy getting together for a couple of days fishing?" the whole country was under the influence of a poor for fishing south-easterly airstream. Whilst we wanted to check out a North Wales mark which was on my doorstep, generally, the fishing in North Wales was below par, so, as they say, opposites attract and we elected to fish the first night in Wales, then head east across country for the Holderness Coast in Yorkshire and it's cod.
That first night saw us fish a rock ledge mark near Bull Bay on Anglesey taking whiting, codling, dogfish, poor cod and pout, but the fish were mostly small with the sea still settled, so after a short nights B & B sleep we were heading into the morning sun towards Yorkshire.
HOMEWORK
Being born in Yorkshire I had fished this coast as a youngster, but those memories were very distant ones and some homework was needed. This is where contacts come in. I soaked up the current information on the marks south of Holmpton passed on through the knowledgeable mind of Phil Arnott. He said, "It has been fishing well, but the wind is swinging to the west and catches are likely to be slower as the sea flattens." I'd seen this likely swing of the wind from east to west myself before leaving and realised that marks nearer the Humber estuary would stand a better chance of producing thanks to their greater run of tide. Phil confirmed this. One of these more southern marks would be our daylight venue.
Chris with a Holderness cod
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WHERE TO FISH?
Gut instinct took over and we decided to look at marks around Withernsea for our first session which would be in darkness with low water at around 8.30 at night. But care was needed, for the beach format can be flat and shallow in places here making it less likely for the cod to move within range when their numbers are low and the sea flat. We spent time poking our noses down every access road until we found a mark where the beach started to shelve much more steeply and noted a deep low water gully that followed the low water line with a shallow bank that turned out to be clay at about 100yds out.
COD ON!
The beach was empty, save for one lonely lamp way to our right. Stars were big and bright in the sky, frost was starting to form, and we felt the difference in temperature between the east and the slightly warmer west.
There was still just over an hour of the ebb left as we were tackling up. Chris decided to concentrate on the deeper gully with both a cod rig and one aimed at whiting, for some good ones had been taken recently. I put one rod with a big bait short into the gully and banged out a long cast beyond the clay bank where I figured I'd more chance of cod as the flood got underway.
We were biteless down to low water, and even the baits were coming back intact. I muttered something about pouring a cup of coffee from the flask and right on cue my distance rod shook, trembled, pulled over twice, then nodded repeatedly as the fish struggled to pull the wired lead free from the clay.
This was a decent fish! It shook it's head, came first against, then swam with the tide. I tried to feel for the shallow surf over the clay bank beginning to lift the fish and managed to get it over and clear of the bank first time. The deeper gully made it fight harder still and it took a few yards of line in several short, spaced apart bursts.
This was the critical time as the cod neared the surf line. Chris was in the surf waiting to gill the cod. I waited for the fish to lift with the next breaker and picked Chris out with my headlamp as he darted into the receding wave, pushed his hand into the cod's gill, lifted it high in the air and ran back for the safety of the upper beach.
A 5lber. The tail hook of the 4/0 pennel embedded firmly in the jaw. I could have played the fish for a week without fear of losing it. The fish took 5 blow lug made into an 8in bait. A good start!
With the flood now pushing through the gully, Chris was in action with whiting. These not as numerous as in the west, but bigger fish touching 12ozs. We both saw Chris's tip dip, spring straight, then fold over as a codling hit and ran with the bait. My turn to face the now single big breaker and pluck the codling from it's watery home. A 2lber. We had a couple more fish of similar size, then the bites died. We fished on past high water, but the codling were now elsewhere.
FISHING ASIDES
Bed and Breakfast accommodation is always a lottery, we were lucky on this score, but sharing a room with another angler can have it's pitfalls. Good though our Anglesey B & B was the surprise addition of an en suite on the room was even more of a surprise when we found it had no door! The less said about that, the better! Our Withernsea B & B came equipped with the choice of either bathroom or shower room. Chris, our hero, thought he'd be smart and go for the shower. Alas, he returned muttering something about his 6ft 2in frame being too large to fit fully in the shower which he suggested had been built with a gnome in mind. Oh! And the water was cold. Unfortunately, sympathy never was my strong point.
BACK ON THE BEACH
The morning dawned bright and clear with just a breeze from the northwest. The sea had settled even more and that run of tide to the south was our only chance.
We picked a mark towards Easington and found two anglers already fishing there, but they had caught nothing and not even had a bite. We walked past them beyond a patch of boulders and studied the sea signs for clues where the fish may feed. We could see surf some way out with the tide 2 hours up the flood, but close inshore the beach started to lift at a sharp angle with the high water line giving into maybe 15ft of water. The sea was nicely chocolate coloured, so daylight fishing was not ridiculous in the conditions. This would do!
Chris again started with a three hook rig close in for whiting etc, with a cod bait pumped way out. I went for two cod baits, both at range. The tide run was good here, pulling the line way to the right and very slowly pulling the lead round to. Just what we wanted to get the cod in feeding mood.
We started to hit fish about 2 hours before high water. First I hit a 3lber at very long range, followed by Chris with one the same size taken only 50yds out. He followed this up with a couple of sizeable whiting.
One of the anglers we'd passed on the way up the beach, having spied our first fish being beached, suddenly appeared alongside us saying "I've lost a couple of leads down there, so thought I'd try up here." We swapped smiles because we'd seen the mark he'd been fishing previously and knew it to be clean sand. We gave him 10 out of ten for cheek. Nice try, mate!
We were taking photos when I watched one of my rods pull over and thump several times. This was better and felt bigger than last nights 5lber. It took line off the 7HT in the tide, but was being forced inwards by the tidal pull. It came back towards me, then shot downtide again. It was in the surf now and close, shook it's head as a growler of a wave came thumping in and I felt the hook hold tear free. We said nothing, just turned away and went back to our rod rests.
Chris had better fortune hooking into another 3lber which he carefully played and I nipped into the surf to gill, just to be sure. We caught more whiting, Chris added a rockling, and on the last cast just past high water I hit another 3lber at range.
We'd done better than we expected given the calming seas. Cod to 5lb off the shore are getting rarer wherever you go. We were out of Wales only 34 hours in total and averaged one cod for every hour fished.
THE BAITS
We found that the king rag on it's own produced fewer bites, but by bulking up with lug and tipping off with the king rag on the first mark encouraged more bites, especially from the whiting.
A favoured local bait is frozen black lug with two or three fresh blow lug added for fresh scent. A standard bait package throughout the UK. This caught two of the codling closer in.
The bulk of the fish came to the fresh blow lug packed onto the pennel rigs to make a bait between 6-8ins long. The shore crabs had started to move out when we were there and our baits lasted fully 15 minutes between casts without disappearing. But in the early autumn period the crabs can strip a cod bait bare here in a couple of minutes which means you can get through a mountain of bait very quickly.
We also learnt, as expected, that mussel is a superb bait right throughout the winter, with peeler crab very effective during the early autumn spell before the crabs move offshore
The tackle shops stock bait, but obviously you'll be wise to order it well before hand. We were unsure and took the safety option by ordering our bait from John Metcalfe in Essex and had it sent by carrier.
DID CASTING DISTANCE MATTER?
Yes! Both marks produced more bites at range than closer in which we expected being that the sea was quite calm, though carrying a good breaker close in. If the sea had have been roughened up by a good north-easterly blow, then we'd probably have taken fish in numbers closer in. Suffice to say that average casters are not at too much of a disadvantage here.
WHAT TACKLE TO USE
We fished happily and didn't lose any tackle with just 15lb line, so no heavy tackle is required. The clay seabed does engulf the lead now and then, but by keeping up a steady rod pressure for a few seconds the lead will pull free.
Rigs we experimented with. Our local contacts told us that locals favour hook lengths of around 4ft with single 4/0 to 6/0 hooks, so we tied a few up, but also fished our normal 18in hook lengths and twin 4/0 hook pennel rigs. The pennels and short hook lengths proved best at distance with the advantage going in favour of the longer hook lengths at closer range. You can't form opinions on one trip, but it pays to bear these things in mind when next in the area.
Leads around 5ozs where able to cope on the big tides we fished, but it would be sensible to carry a few 6oz ones with big wires to handle the biggest springs at range.
CONCLUSION
An excellent venue to visit with friendly anglers and tackle dealers, and providing you do that little bit of pre trip homework, you're sure to catch a few fish. We loved it and intend a return trip before too long.
