Anyone making a tour along the coastline of Yorkshire could not fail to be impressed. The traditional boundaries of Yorkshire – the Humber to the Tees provides a whole range of types of marks for the keen shore fisherman that would take a life time or two to become familiar with and understand in any depth – not that we ever stop learning. They include some of the most spectacular and picturesque scenery in the British Isles and some other not so pretty but of great interest to the angler. The techniques required to capitalise on the fishing are as varied as the coast itself.

One drawback with Yorkshire is that the variety of species which cannot match the coastlines bathed in the North Atlantic Drift but things have changed for the better with the advent of warming sea temperatures. Bass have much benefited from this change and what was once an extremely rare specie is now very much part of the Yorkshire angling scene. In fact a number of species has seen an increase in fortunes over the last few years.

Thornback rays were present along the Holderness but numbers were unpredictable, recent years have seen a more regular influx of this welcome species. What’s more they are caught over a greater portion of the angling year. Like many other areas around the British coast there has been an increase in both common and starry smoothound. Small turbot are another species which have arrived.

The more traditional species such as cod although not back to the numbers found in the seventies seem to be benefiting from recent restrictions in commercial fishing activity with fish of many different year classes being caught. Coalfish, pollack and wrasse are still taken regularly especially by those anglers now specifically targeting them. Another traditional fish of the sandy ground, whiting, has seen a spectacular increase in numbers over recent years and have become an important species for the match angler when the cod are not so obliging.

At the southern boundary of the Yorkshire coast is the river Humber. The river carries a huge amount of silt and the strong currents create a constantly cycle of change with the sandbanks being eroding in one place and deposited in others. Not surprisingly the river looks muddy and lifeless but looks are deceptive. Beneath surface many species of fish but for the angler there are the usual flounders and eels. In a good winter cod enter the estuary in numbers and penetrate past the Humber Bridge. I know this for a fact as I have caught them fishing just up-river of the bridge. Unfortunately access is limited on the North bank. Some access exists on the waterfront around Hull and good access at Paull a popular spot to the west of Hull. Then there is some difficult access around Sunk Island before reaching Spurn Head at the mouth of the estuary.

Spurn is nothing more than a sand spit, and a very narrow one at that. At the tip is deep water with a fierce current at mid tide and fishing is usually confined to two hours either side of low water. The peninsula itself can fish for cod on the smallest of tides as there is a very strong tidal current in the area. Flounders and eel can be caught from the estuary side and bass mostly schoolies from both sides. The one problem with Spurn is that it can be weedy particularly on southerly winds. Spurn exists as a result of the severe erosion of the Holderness coast. Material washed from the cliffs is carried south by the longshore drift and deposited at the mouth of the Humber to form the peninsula. The spit itself turns southeast, away from the dominant northerlies which cause the erosion.

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