Whitby Winter Uptiding Festival 2008

Today was the first day of the 3 day uptiding festival at Whitby. I arrived at the charter pontoon around 7.40 and headed onto my boat for the day Sea Otter 2. I had been offered a place by festival sponser Glenn Stocks who had chartered Pauls boat for himself all weekend. My thanks go to Glenn for allowing me to be his guest for the the day.

At 8am all the participating boats headed out down the harbour and were met by a strunning sunrise out to the east.











As we left the harbour most of the boats headed North uptowards Sandsend but Paul headed to the south east down towards Saltwick. "The bigger fish will be down this way" he promised. It wasnt long before we were over the ledges we were to fish. Paul signalled we had arrived and then set the anchor. A few moments later the boat had settled and we all cast out a mixture of baits including crab, squid, mussel and lug.

I was the first to get into fish. The tell tail pull of the rod followed by the springing up of the tip signalled that a fish was on and had moved down tide with my lead. Winding like mad I was soon in touch with a half decent fish of around 4 pounds. The skipper was next into the action and pulled out a fish of similar size. Next it wwas Glenns turn and he boated a fish touching the 5 pound mark.















We continued with a steady stream of fish up to midday, but couldnt muster anything bigger than Glenns 5 pounder. As the tide eased so did the bites and so the skipper decided on a move up to the Bell bouy area. After roughly an hours fishing up there without a bite it was up with the anchor again and back to where we started.





As soon as we cast in it was clear the tide was pulling again and the fish were back. In a short space of time we all boated about another 5 fish each. Mine were slowly getting better and I had 3 about the 5 pound mark. Glenn and Paul were also fairing well and by the end of the day I reckon we had roughly 10 decent sized cod each to show for our efforts.

It was soon 3pm and Paul was hauling the anchor ready for our dash back to port to catch the 3.30 bridge opening. Once back at port it was up to the weigh in with my 3 best fish. Sadly they werent big enough to even get a place on the day 1 leader board. At the weigh in I got chatting to forum member Seajay who was very pleased as his biggest fish was 9 pounds 8 ounces and was leading the way after day 1 of the festival.



With another 2 days to go its still all to play for, but it looks like bad weather is going to rule out any fishing at all tomorrow. In summary it was a very enjoyable days fishing for us on sea otter 2. Admittedly we never got the big fish we were hoping for but we all came away with a few fish and memories of another great days fishing.

 

Re: Whitby Winter Uptiding Festival _ Seajay leads the way

Nice report Glenn, well done seajay - pity the weather looks bad for the guys tomorrow

 

Re: Whitby Winter Uptiding Festival _ Seajay leads the way

Great fishing boys,i didn;t know you were a salty dog Glenn? :wink: :whistle: It sounds like you had a good sample of fish,where are the codlings this year? :suspious: It looks like a horrendous forecast for tomorrow :surprise: I don't think i can remember South Easterly's as strong as that forecast,ever... well done again.. tight lines :happy:

 

Re: Whitby Winter Uptiding Festival _ Seajay leads the way

I do enjoy the uptiding Mart and of course I get afloat on the kayak too. I think I might start having a go with Paul a bit more often. I really enjoyed today.

 

Re: Whitby Winter Uptiding Festival _ Seajay leads the way

Theres nothing better when the sea is like glass and theres a fish or 2 around.I might be able to help one or 2 of you guys out next summer with a few trips off down here if you ever fancy it :wink: tight lines

 

Re: Whitby Winter Uptiding Festival _ Seajay leads the way

Shame about the forcast, well for the boating lads at least :whistle: We know how frustrating it is through having the yaks, must be a nightmare for those who do it for a living. Great report and pics BB

 

Re: Whitby Winter Uptiding Festival _ Seajay leads the way

Great pictures Glenn, have you ever worked as a freelance photographer?

 

Re: Whitby Winter Uptiding Festival _ Seajay leads the way

good read annd nice pics , thats the sort of boat fishing i wouldnt mind doing , nice one !!

 

Re: Whitby Winter Uptiding Festival _ Seajay leads the way

Thanks capt. I really enjoy taking the pictures. However the camera does the hard bit, I just point and press. Also having such good looking subjects as Killer always helps :cheesy: :laugh:.

 

Re: Whitby Winter Uptiding Festival _ Seajay leads the way

well done glenn looks like you all had a decent day
steve

 

Re: Whitby Winter Uptiding Festival _ Seajay leads the way

Come on si.

 

Re: Whitby Winter Uptiding Festival _ Seajay leads the way

hello every 1 wots the weather for sunday as im fishing compo on christina cheers

 

Re: Whitby Winter Uptiding Festival _ Seajay leads the way

nice report Glenn, heres my bit

yes, Ken & myself along with fellow forum member CBASS signed up for a day out on the Sea Urchin The 07:30 meet meant an early start for us in order to get to the cafe at 06:30 for a low calorie Breakfast :no:
Kens face was a picture, when we walked past all these high powered boats and saw our charter nestling in there shadow, got to say though that we really enjoyed the day any the fact she can only take 5 anglers is a plus for me she is pretty spacious and her lack of speed is hardly a problem for inshore work, you have less lines in the water & thes kipper "Mick" is tops :yes:
steaming out the view back to Whitby was spectacular


As soon as we left, the weather started to freshen & Ken did not look too thrilled :no:

we dropped Anchor exactly on our favorite Kayak uptiding site, so nothing to learn there, and dispite some shaby weather i got going straigh away demonstrating spawneyness to CBASS with 3 fish in short time, CBass got in on the act with one of mattys favourites (pouting) :laugh:

then Ken pulled up a cod that looked like the best so far, until we discovered that behind the large head was a miniature body Ken had caught Billy the Fish, the famous viz character & former goalkeeper of melchester utd :laugh: :laugh:

the fishing slowed with slack water then with the flood came a lot of wind which tripped the anchor
we then moved in a bit for some shelter & despite another fish for yours truly straight away it was quiet for a while, then just as Ken was on the point of getting rid of that breakfast things bucked up with a flurry of fish in the 4-5 lb region

which cheered him up no end

so a few fish each but nothing big enough to threaten the prize money, then Mick decides to drop a bit of frozen squid on the bottom & comes up with an 8lb Cod :no:
so an enjoyable day out, only sp oilt by the fact that my capacity to loose stuff surfaced again, if anyone found a plastic bag with two flasks and some sandwich boxes between the boat & the car park i would appreciate a pm :sad:

oh and Ken promised to keep quiet about my rapping a cast around the mast & then breaking Buzz's favorite uptide rod, but we all know he cant keep a secret so i thought i had better confess :embarrass: :embarrass:
:laugh: :laugh:

 

Re: Whitby Winter Uptiding Festival _ Seajay leads the way

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Well done lads, nothing new then. Dave being spawney great report and pics and Ken being miserable :whistle: It,s the first time I,ve seen him fishing and not smiling to be honest. Nowt worse than sea sickness. The skipper had to stop my brother diving overboard and swimming ashore once at Whitby and we were 2 miles out :surprise: because of sea sickness. The skipper refused to go back in so he thought he would take himself in :laugh:

 

Re: Whitby Winter Uptiding Festival _ Seajay leads the way

Malcolm from Sea Spray has your flasks i think, he thought it was one of ours.
Regards Col.

 

Re: Whitby Winter Uptiding Festival _ Seajay leads the way

You poor soul Ken, you look like death :death: - nothing worse than the old sea sickness, at least you two managed to spawn a few out

 

Re: Whitby Winter Uptiding Festival _ Seajay leads the way

well done lads, some nice fish coming out

 

Re: Whitby Winter Uptiding Festival _ Seajay leads the way

A great report for me to read
The pictures are great
Wish I was out today over there.
Seen some whales today and a VLCC going the other way.
Doesn't make up for today's report though.

Regards

eto

 

Re: Whitby Winter Uptiding Festival _ Seajay leads the way

well done lads hope weathers better for sunday. Good reading and great pics nice to see what a cod looks like again keep up the good work. good luck Chris

 

Re: Whitby Winter Uptiding Festival _ Seajay leads the way

nice fish si, wheres john and little john, you are on a roll mate, busting them up off the shore, and, if no one gets a bigger one on the boat your in, well done mate, quality angling :yes: