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Hartlepool has established itself as one of the top wreck cod venues in the country. For sheer consistency of catches it proves hard to beat. The harbour area has undergone refurbishment and now sports a modern marina complex and has helped attract anglers from all corners of the UK.
WHERE TO FISH
The popular inshore marks along the coast are reef and rough ground with tackle grabbing kelp beds. The fishing over these tends to be done on the drift, though on big tides and during unsettled weather with swinging winds some experienced skippers prefer to anchor up over the reefs and rough and take better catches than when drift fishing.
Wrecks dominate the fishing from this port. Some wrecks lay close to shore and offer good sport with the smaller fish but do hold the odd monster. It's the offshore wrecks past 20 miles, often 30 miles out, a war legacy, that give up the best fish and bigger catches.
SPECIES
The main inshore fishing is done with codling in mind. Fish to 3lbs are average,but there is a sprinkling of bigger fish to 10lbs. These are virtually a year round target and are accompanied by coalfish, small ling and even occasional haddock. The summer sees ballan wrasse and pollack over the same ground. Cleaner marks hold whiting and flatfish.
Because of the rough nature of the seabed most of the fishing is done with baited feathers on the drift. Two muppets worked above a smaller pirk can be effective for the bigger codling.
The offshore wrecks are the home of cod well over 20 and 30lbs. These are fished for with heavy pirks from 12ozs to 1lbs. The best time to try for a 20lb plus fish is in the late summer and autumn period with August and September the favoured months. Ling over 30lbs also make a home alongside the cod and are joined by occasional angler fish and coalfish, plus good haddock. Infact, those seeking a now universally rare haddock could do worse than use Hartlepool as their main attack point. Single large fish baits do take a few turbot too.
The tides make wreck fishing at anchor for conger very difficult, but huge eels have been commercially trawled up from cleaner ground close to the wrecks and potential British record eels are down there. Any boat deciding to give anchoring a real try may well set a new precedent for the port that will run the cod fishing close in popularity.
TIDES
Some tide run over the rougher inshore ground helps increase the catches, so it's the middle to larger tides that are favoured for general drift fishing. However, the smaller neaps can still produce good catches, especially as seas are settling after a blow.
Over the wrecks, then you must target the neaps as giving the best opportunities. On the bigger tides the boats drift can be rapid with minimal time for lures and baits in the fish killing zone.
TACKLE
Experienced anglers here choose mainly 50lb class rods and reel for all wreck pirk and lure work. If you're fishing a single pirk with a couple of muppets above, then the three fish you hook could conceivably be all 20lbers. With deep water and a good tide run you need all the lifting power you can get. Some anglers do fish a single smaller pirk on 30lb gear, but these are few and far between.
The favoured pirks are the slimmer .75in type upto a foot long which sink better than those from heavier diameter tubing. These are armed, sometimes with treble hooks, but more likely with single 8/0 to 10/0 O'Shaughnessy pattern. Some anglers use two or three hooks on slightly different lengths of line. The movement of the hooks when the pirk is worked adds to the lures catchability.
Muppets in the larger 5in to 9in sizes work best with favoured colours being pink and black. However, all colours will catch fish. Try different ones on the day. Adding a muppet to the pirks hook can also help improve the days catch. Fluorescent yellow works well.
A 30lb rod and reel combination is okay over the inshore marks for feathering etc, and for the occasional spot of ledgering. The best feathers are the normal white cod type on 4/0 hooks and keep these sharp.
BAITS
For baited feather work use mussels, lug, rag even crab and clams, with fish a useable but less effective standby.
For the big wreck ling try baiting the pirks hooks with a couple of fillets or a full fresh flapper mackerel. Some of the biggest cod also hit this combination.
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