The Skipper's Blog

June finished very well. The lads from Heysham ended their 3 day trip on the last day of the month with a total of 16 species for the day and 18 species for the whole trip. That's not counting the octopus and the scallop that closed its shell on a hook. They had mackerel, herring, launce, scad, cod, haddock, whiting, coalie, pollack, dragonet, red, grey and tub gurnard, LSD, huss, cuckoo ray, dab and turbot.

We have been fishing the further, deeper marks for the second half of the month and it has paid off.

We have had a dozen or more spurdog, a species that has been very scarce on our patch for many years.

Closer inshore, around the headlands we've had quality pollack to 9 lb in weight. The water has been heavily coloured to the north Back Shore and it has not so far fished well. A couple of trips to the wreck of the Haileybury produced a good range of fish but nothing remarkable in size although a nearby angler from a small boat out of Dally Bay held up a good double figure ling as he passed.

Here's hoping for a good July but as I write this I'm looking out my window at heavy seas breaking over the North Pier and wondering how long before the weather settles down again.