I'm surprised you never caught a Dab or two, ever time I have fished up there I have had loads of them. Maybe still a bit early for the summer species, there is some great mackerel fishing later in the year. Biggest Mackerel I have ever seen when we fished the north pier some years back.
The marks around your way should be coming to life as the crab moult gets underway. I will try to get up in June and July - best cod fishing on the east coast, had one of 8lb last summer so a double is possible......need to get hold of some decent crab first - just hope we get the weather this year.