We made our way down to robin hoods and got the boat set on one of my favourite spots. No sooner than the lines were in the water and I was into a fish, only for sammy the seal to literally bite the fish in half at the side of the boat.

Well that was a fine start and to put it bluntly the seal stayed with us for the next couple of hours. We managed a few codlings but I always feel when the seal is about the fish will stay well clear of the area, so I decided on a move.

I said “come on lads lets go and have a go wrecking”. It was such a lovely day and on the plus side the water will be clearing fast. We steamed off for about 1 hour, we started on wreck around slack tide and it wasn’t long before some nice cod were coming over the gunells, plus a couple of nice ling.

The lads were all using squid. As time went by you could see the water was gradually getting clearer. Just before we set off for home one of the lads dropped a shad down with no bait on, and bang he went straight into a fish. On the next drift over the same mark, he went straight into a fish again.

This is the time of year when shads seem to really come into play, and with the weather looking nice for tommorow fingers crossed for some more nice fish. The shads will be put to the test once again.

For about a decade now, the sea anglers at Whitby have been utilising a revolutionary cod bait by the name of CART. Credit for uncovering the cod luring properties lies with the pioneering shore anglers from the region, however in recent times, anglers fishing on the Whitby Charter Boats have also found Cart to be an excellent cod bait for both winter uptiding and summer drift fishing over the wrecks and rough ground for cod.

So – What Is Cart ??

Cart is nothing other than the insides of a large edible crab. Anglers often buy a few stone of live edibles and scoop out their insides into either bait sized finger bandage, or cling film wraps. Some anglers also use sausage machines, whilst others prefer to freeze it in blocks and cut it into bait size pieces once frozen.

Some of the local tackle shops sell cart in Kilo Blocks which supply enough for about 30 -50 baits (Depending on size).

How to fish Cart

As already mentioned, Cart is an excellent bait for uptiding and drift fishing for cod. The bait parcels are simply whipped onto your hook using a good quality elasticated cotton. For uptiding it is a good idea to mix your cart in a cocktail presentation with other baits such as worm and mussel. When drift fishing in the summer, Cart can be used on its own or in conjunction with Squid.

As with all baits, Cart is not always going to catch you a fish. But if the fish are on Cart on the day of your trip then you would be foolish not to carry any. For more information on Cart and its availability please speak to your skipper or make a post in our fishing forum

Also Worth A Read.

Cart – A Great Shore Fishing Bait
Forum Topics On Cart

We would be very interested to hear from you about your favoured methods for boat fishing. Please would you kindly complete the poll below, selecting 2 of the options listed there. You may also leave further comments about the methods you use in the comments box at the bottom of this page.

It’s not to early to book your festival places on the contrary now is the perfect time, while most anglers are still recovering from the winter blues you can grab those tides that suit you now not like in previous years when you left it to the last minuet and found only the tide and days which were available did not fit round your work or family commitments tidal books are available for the whole year from our local tackle shops and stationers also the harbour office and only cost around a pound or so, there is also a link on this website http://www.pol.ac.uk/ntslf/tides/?port=0174  ( on bottom right of every page) that allows you to see Whitby’s present month for FREE

Most boats will have most dates free now so in theory you will have the pick of the crop,I have found the most consistent anglers not only book there date well in advance but also come well prepared and rehearsed in what methods they will be using leaving them with a much better chance of that festival winner, I would recommend  everyone to do some research on previous festivals (all available on the websites) spring summer and autumn and try work out what was caught when and which bait worked best in what conditions and if the winner came off the boat you were on what were his or her tactics and bait, admit you don’t know everything but watch and learn which angler always seems to fill his box believe me it’s not just because they are lucky although luck will always play it’s part, good anglers always seem to be willing to show newcomers the little things they have picked up on the way as of course do most skippers,so by booking early you are already preparing and planing your day also we skippers know it can be an expensive day all in all after travel costs food bait entry boat fares so by booking early you know you are fishing on the tide and day that you want and not spending the same amount after all, on a day you didn’t particularly want 

Don’t do what you did last year be prepared book early

Mick Leonard Sea Urchin II skipper

WCSA Fishing Festivals 2010

• Spring Festival - 3rd. to 18th. April.
• Summer festival – 19th. June to 11th. July.
• Late summer festival - 11th. September. to 26th. September.

Below, From the left Richard ward Rob Wadsworth Karl Reid and yours truly

Christmas came early this year for Rob Wadsworth the happy recipient of £1000 in cash for his first place in this years uptide festival with a cod of 9lb 6.5oz fishing off Rich Wards shytorque also in attendance was local angler Karl Reid receiving a cheque of £200 for his third place cod of 9lb 3.5oz fishing off sea urchin II and I was there to accept Russel Keymers cheque of £100 for heaviest other species also fishing off sea urchin II, apologies were accepted from second place angler Hugh Jones who could not attend along with Paul Kilpatrick his skipper Thanks were also expressed to the main festival sponsor and honorary president of the WCSA Glenn Stocks

All the Whitby Charter Skippers have asked me to pass on there seasonal greetings and best wishes to all the anglers who keep returning year after year to support Whitby and its angling festivals ensuring Whitby keeps its rightful place as a top angling port.

Mick Leonard    Sea Urchin Skipper.

Friday saw us fishing off the coast near Robin Hoods Bay in the Long Hole area. Hugh Jones (Taffy) had lovely fish that hit the scales at 9lb 4oz. Sadly Hugh just missed out on first place in the Uptiding festival as his fish was 2 ounces short of the winner caught by Rob Wadsworth on Shytorque.

we have been working on my favoirite marks down off robin hoods bay had dave barham from boat fishing monthly on board yesterday had a nice day i think we managed around 35 codling today we tipped just over 40 codling with some lovelly fish.here is a few shots from today.

Taffys  9lb 4oz fish comeing to the surface.

A different shot of the fish

Glenn and john with a couple of nice fish.

Geoff got  this 8lb cod a cracker.

Richard started slowly but soon got in the action .

Kevin got this fish ithink it  must have been liveing in the weed it was dark red fish.

My lad andrew  with his best fish this one went over 6lb.

Glenn with a nice fish we very few fish under 3 lb they nearly went between 3-6lb a good stamp of fish.

All in all the lads had 2 lovelly days fishing and just missing out on the top prize by just 2oz Glenn had the boat booked today but with a little  bit more wind forcast and glenn is away on buisness early tommorow he  decided to call it off  its fished very  well down off robinhoods bay your literally just out of casting range from the shore but  the size of the fish down there they are quality.

1st Rob Wadsworth cod 9lb 6.5oz SHYTORQUE £1000

2nd Hugh Jones cod 9lb 4oz SEA OTTER II £300

3rd Karl Reid cod 9lb 3.5oz SEA URCHIN II £200

Heaviest other species

Russel A Keymer ling 6lb 12oz SEA URCHIN II £100

Day 1 – Monday 30th November Results From www.wcsa.co.uk Cancelled due to weather – Read Daily Report Here

Day 2 Geoff Drake – 6lb 2oz Shytorque

Day 3 Russel A Keymer - 6lb 12 oz Sea Urchin II

Day 4 Rob Wadsworth 9lb 6.5 oz Shytorque

Day 5 Karl Reid – 9lb 3.5 oz Sea Urchin II

Day 6 Hugh Jones – 9lb 4oz  sea otter II

Day 7 K Davies  -   6lb 14oz  sea spray

You can also read lots more topics on Uptiding in the Whitby area over in the Whitby Fishing Forum – Click Here

Pictures From The Festival

Hi all. Me my son and a couple of mates had a great days fishing on shy torque yesterday anchored up off sandend. Some were uptiding and some fished down tide all methods worked equally well with the best cod coming to squid on a flowing trace fished down tide.

We used black lug / mussel and squid  for bait. We left Whitby at eight am and we had caught 5 cod by nine O’Clock we caught steadily until the tide fell away.  We only had a couple of cod over slack water but as the tide got away the fishing improved.

We ended up with 30 cod to 9 1/2lb a couple of ling to 9lb with plenty of coalies and whiting to 2lb plus the unavoidable blegs all told a great day out. Roll on the Whitby inshore festival

In his report to the Whitby Fishing Forum, Sea Otter 2 skipper Paul Kilpatrick said :

With the tides being bang on for uptiding and to much wind forcast  to go offshore today, we decided we would going to give the uptiding a bash.

The lads came up from Coventry and they werent disappointed, one of the lads getting his personal best cod nudgeing over the 10lb mark. Worm and squid were the magic baits today but frozen cart wasn’t far behind. Fresh cart today  really fished well well, but in the next couple of weeks frozen cart will start to take over.

We also had  a coalie which went over 5lb plus an odd ling  but at the end of the day the lads enjoyed themselves it started windy but as the day went on it fell away  leaving a lovely afternoon. Here are some pictures from the days fishing, I hope you all enjoy looking at them

One of the lads gets the first cod on the boat.

The next fish on the boat a cod about 4lb.

My lads got this coalie it went 5lb.

Up comes this 6lb to the surface.

My lad gaffs the fish .

Lee the organizer gets a nice 5lb cod

Big smiles for this man first time on a boat and he took the sweep was he happy with his 10lber

You could here a pin drop now serious or what the sweep was till to play for.

Paul.