COVID-19 UPDATE

We have now had confirmation that the large deck area on Galloper we have some good news. we are able to accommodate up to 8 anglers plus the skipper as of 17/05/21.

This is great news for anybody planning a full boat booking as they can try and keep the cost per person down a bit.

However we are keeping any existing bookings as 6 anglers plus the skipper for now and I will only take bookings for later in the summer on this basis. I would rather leave the date open for now until we are out of the woods with covid. It wasn’t much fun re-arranging things last year and I hope to avoid it this year if I can help it.

If you wish to book a trip with more than 6 people at short notice and the guidelines are still the same then I will gladly take you.

I will update you on hope fishing has been at home shortly but thought I would share some bits from our short break away recently.

After a busy few days (and nights) on the boat I came ashore, got washed and changed before heading northwards for a few days. We got our heads down for the night at scotch corner and continued our journey northwards the next morning. We had booked this trip earlier in the year and uncertain of how restrictions would be by now we decided to stay in England this time around. Thankfully the weather was pretty good for a few days. we had a lot to pack in including a boat trip to the Farne isles on our first day. the boats run from Seahouses in Northumberland and our head start meant we arrived here in time to  have a wander around the town before our boat trip. We were on the first trip of the day and as luck would have it the sun broke through just in time for us to board the boat. As we left the harbour the sea state was good although there was swell left over from the previous days wind. Happily the company that we went with run 4 blyth catamarans (the same make as Galloper) so we were sure of a comfortable trip. there was no shortage of bird life as we approached the island with loads of guillemots, razorbills and puffins in the water and air. There were also numerous gulls, terns and gannets diving too so there must be plenty of food for them all. On our last visit we landed on one of the islands for a while to observe the nesting puffins, shags and guillemots ect however this time boats weren’t allowed to land due to covid. I must admit I wasn’t impressed by our time ashore on our last visit.  There was little room to move around and most of the island was roped off as the puffin burrows had made the ground so fragile. This time our skipper Jimmy was putting the boat so close to the island and nesting birds there felt no need to land on the island. I think the experience was far better for us as well as the nesting birds, particularly on busy days with high foot fall.  As we didn’t land on any of the islands we had more time to be shown around the various bird and seal colonies of each island before making our way back to Seahouses to disembark. The 2 hour trip had flown past and been very enjoyable too. We had a quick bite to eat before heading further north to Lindisfarne for the afternoon. On our way we past another eye catching land mark in Bamburgh castle. We stopped on our way past to have a look before heading on to holy island. We couldn’t hang around as like Mersea Lindisfarne is linked to the mainland by a causeway that is flooded by the tide. in fact the causeway to Lindisfarne is cut off on every high tide so time was of the essence. As the island is sparsely populated and there are few houses or roads we had to leave the truck in a large pay and display field which is just before the entrance to the village. We had a walk around the village, past the priory and along the foreshore to the islands small harbour. The fisherman’s storage sheds on the foreshore are quite quirky as they are made from upturned boats! We continued on through the glorious sunshine to walk around Lindisfarne castle and back up through the village. It was a lovely place with a few people walking around but certainly not over crowded. The weather was great which helped. I’m not sure how I would have felt if we had to walk back to the car in torrential rain after having to park so far away! It is certainly a nice place and I would like to spend more time there at some point. With a rain shower heading our way we decided to head to our accommodation for the next few days which was a 2 hour drive south to vanguard lighthouse near Whitby.

To be honest I was a bit sceptical about staying in a lighthouse, I had a feeling they could be a little drafty and damp. On our arrival at our lighthouse I was somewhat concerned to see the large foghorn stationed just along the cliff from us! between us and the foghorn station there was a colony of kittiwakes and fulmar nesting on the cliff face which were our closest neighbours. Once inside our lighthouse I was relieved to find it was very nicely decorated and furnished. It was dry, comfortable, spacious and not a draft in sight. The sea views from the seaward rooms were fantastic for people like us. they looked straight out into the north sea with various ships, boats and animals going about their watery business. We quickly realised there was no internet available or phone signal. This was both a blessing and a curse for us both. Many of you will know I am somewhat of a luddite. however internet access is invaluable for both of us when it comes to our businesses and this doesn’t take a holiday. Anyhow at least it meant we didn’t spend our time there catching up on emails and updating websites ect. Instead it allowed us more time to enjoy our surroundings and that panoramic view of the north sea.

We spent the next day around Whitby its self. We got up early and headed for the harbour to get some fishing in before too many people were about. We fished the north pier and before I had set both rods up Stacey had caught a dab! It was a bite a cast for the next couple of hours. We didn’t land them all but we were kept busy. It wasn’t just dabs but small coalfish taking our baits too.  We had several of each before my rod was nearly pulled out of my hand by a great bite. I wasn’t sure what to expect but was surprised to see a smooth-hound around 4-5lbs surface after a good fight. I was very pleased with this and shortly after we packed up. Stacey wanted to get some pictures of a steam train as it pulled into the station which was due around 11am. We had only been fishing a couple of hours at most but had half a dozen or more of the dabs and coalies each as well as the hound.

The steam train was worth hanging around for, Stacey got her pictures and we both got to enjoy the experiencing the sight, smells and sounds that this lovely being produced. After a spot of lunch we headed back to the lighthouse and walked back along the cliff tops to Whitby. This took best part of an hour as it’s 4 miles or so walk. It was a lovely sunny afternoon and on our way we passed saltwick bay with the ruins of an old harbour and a ship wreck around the corner and as we approached whitby we passed the Abbey which was shut off as radio 1 had taken it over for the week to film part of their big weekend there. I’m not sure who was performing but heard it could have been some hip new band like shawaddywaddy or Bucks fizz?  We had another walk around the town its self until dinner time when Stacey found the most expensive place she could and ordered her self a lobster.

As we walked back along the cliffs I spoke with our friend Tony and arranged a very leisurely 9am start to our days fishing with him the next morning.

We still got up early as we had at least 90 minutes drive northwards to royal quays marina, North Shields. We had a good journey there and arrived early. Tony and his friend Ian already had the boat waiting outside the lock so all we had to do was load our gear on and head out. The reason for our later start was not only to allow us a lay in but to catch the tide right for fishing so there was no rush on the way out. Tony was able to give us a great guided tour of local land marks and history on the way out. He pointed out some interesting places and is a mine of local knowledge. We Started fishing on a mark a short distance out of the Tyne (not foggy on this occasion) where Tony announced ‘the last person to catch a fish is the ships bitch’. It wont take many guess’s to work out who that was! With a distinct lack of dogfish around I was at an immediate disadvantage! Needless to say that Tony, Ian and Stacey had some codling and wrasse before I managed to get a fish to the boat. I wasn’t too far behind though and soon managed to catch up as the day went on. As the tide turned we moved on to different patches of inshore reef and covered several miles throughout the day. we saw plenty of bird life on the way and were joined by some porpoises at one point and passed some bottle nosed dolphin later in the day. every mark we stopped on produced fish, most of which were codling although Tony had a wrasse and Ian had a pouting. The codling ranged from 8’’ to 3.8lbs or so and were great fun on light tackle with just 4 oz of weight on. By the end of the day i was pleased as I had matched Tony’s catch rate with a good 1-15 codling on board and at least as many again lost. We had somewhere around 50 codling for the day although nobody was keeping count. The weather hadn’t been bad and Tony’s boat was a pleasure to fish from. We were back in the lock by 4pm where tony had even more stuff to point out to us including the nesting terns in the marina. All in all it was a great days fishing. the tides were particularly small on this day which wasn’t idea and I gather on some days the lads have 40-50 codling each! Hopefully we can find time to head back again at some point. We even made it back in time to have dinner in Whitby before heading back to our digs for the night.

we woke up to another sunny calm morning looking out over the north sea. The weather was forecast to change later in the day and this was our last morning in the lighthouse. We planned to head further south and find some accommodation for our last night on the way. Our first stop was Robbin hoods bay which was just a few miles south of us. we were here early morning and there were very few people about. We had a couple of casts from the beach here and there as we explored the bay. The village here seems to be built off of one main (very steep) cobbled street heading from the beach and small harbour up to the top of the hill/cliffs where the main road stops and visitor car park is. As we made our way back up the hill we passed plenty of touristy type shops and eateries. Our next stop was Scarborough several miles further south again. We passed through the north bay first which seems to be mostly hotels, a beach and an amusement park at one end. We didn’t stop here long as the weather was closing in. at the top of the south bay we passed Scarborough harbour and carried on to the far end of the bay where we parked. We had a bite to eat here and cast a rod out as the tide was in. Stacey nodded off while I made to most of having phone signal to make some calls. While I had my hands full we had a bite on the rod and Stacey soon woke up and stole my fish before I could hang up! It was a nice little flounder and made up for her missing a bite in Robin hoods bay that morning. It was now raining pretty hard and the wind had picked up so we slowly made our way up to the harbour between the showers. There are certainly plenty of boats to choose from should you want to go fishing up here. As we walked back to the truck through the wind and rain we decided to head home early and avoid another soggy day as we had clearly enjoyed the best of it earlier in the week. We had a varied and enjoyable break for a few days and It was nice to visit places we hadn’t been before. Now its time to get back to catching fish on board the Galloper. We have started to see some great summer fishing now with hounds, bass roker and more coming out. However my next report will recap on this years fishing for spurdogs.

 

NEXT SPACES

 

I have plenty of midweek availability please contact me to discuss midweek dates.

Weekend spaces as follows

05/06/21- offshore trip 1 spaces @ £90pp max 6 anglers

19/06/21-offshore trip 1 space @ £90pp max 6 anglers

04/07/21-3 spaces offshore trip £90pp max 6 anglers

18/07/21-6 spaces offshore trip  £90pp max 6 anglers

25/07/21-6 spaces @ £70pp or boat £400 max 6 anglers

Please call me for more information on 07956411528

Stacey is still operating the ‘lady grace’ on a bookings only basis both mid-week and weekends at the

Moment but and is likely to fall under the same restrictions as me.  so please call her on 07791859624

Dad (Stuart) has availability on the ‘Razorbill 3’ please call him on 07850234077