A Great Day’s Fishing on JFK II

By Luan Hanratty

We embarked at 7am from the Royal Quays lock on board JFK II, a lovely doubled hulled charter vessel with a large deck space for us keen anglers. We quickly crossed to Mill Dam on the South Shields side to pick up some more lads, and once everyone had taken their marks, we chugged down river under gloomy skies towards the fishing grounds.

Once we got beyond the Piers there was quite a swell to deal with as we swayed from side to side, baiting up our rods. After an hour of this and having caught a few fish, my body could no longer take the rolling and lurching. I started to feel very nasueous and heaved up over the side.

That was just the start of it. As I sat the fishing out, groaning with every wave and rueing how much I’d drank the night before, one of the lads cheerfully told me, “You’ve only got another six hours of this!”. Sea sickness is miserable. Queasy doesn’t describe it, and I wasn’t the only one suffering, so if you’re not comfortable on boats, this trip might not be for you, or at least try to pick a day with a flat sea.

We first headed north towards the bulk carriers at anchor off Tynemouth. These might look small from the shore, but as you get near them you see what great towering vessels they are. With the wrecks not giving up much we ventured further north off Whitley while the rain and rolling swell made the fishing a little harder than we would have liked. As I watched from the sidlines, everyone spared no time baiting their lures in pursuit of the elusive cod and ling that cruise these waters. But just a few were caught here and there.

Fortunately, it was day of two halves. After lunch, with some sickness pills kindly passed to me and with the sea calming down, I regained my inner ear and my spirit, and could get back to doing what I’d came here for. We sailed south to Souter Point and reached as far as Sunderland later in the day as the fishing really got going after the sun came out and the sea flattened. By the time we headed back to the Tyne, the weather was absolutely glorious and the fish started coming aboard in good numbers. You only had to drop your line in the water to pull out a writhing string of silver mackerel.

The purists may frown on mackerel fishing, but many people fish to eat and that’s a good sustainable way to be. That being said, in terms of sport, the mackerel did become a bit too easy so we turned our attention to the bigger prizes and dipped back in on mackerel feathers for fresh bait when needed.

During the day’s fishing we visited over a dozen wrecks, which was enough to catch our fill. Fish tend to like these sunken structures to swim around. They find safety among the lost hulks of bygone ships on our coastline, many of which were armed trawlers from the two World Wars.

Note that wreck fishing means getting snagged, so you’ll need plenty of cod lures, daylight mackerel feathers (aka sabikis) and 6-10 ounce weights before you go. The skipper does provide rods for a small charge and for fresh bait you can catch all you like, but the other gear you’ll need to bring with you, including your own ‘bait’, as you will get hungry.

Our expert skipper, Allan Skinner, knew exactly where he was at all times, guided by the sonar sceens on his dashboard. He was always on hand to help land a catch or provide wise advice. Even though I was poleaxed in the cabin for much of the time while my stomach and my mind tried to settle, I do not for one minute regret the trip. I still caught a load of fish and managed some banter with the rest of the lads.

So if you want a real treat and an imaginative excusrion for you and your friends, you could do a lot worse than hopping aboard JFK II at either North Shields or South Shields for a day of big game fishing above the wrecks. You’ll return to dry land both buzzing and drained after a day of the best sport.

Coming in, we gave a tow to a broken down boat at the starboard buoy.

Price: £70 per person for a day’s fishing, which is well worth it as you keep what you catch and get the chance to enter a sweepstake right at the start for the heaviest fish. Winning that will pay for your trip.

Species Caught: Cod and ling (up to 8 pounds). codling, mackerel (any amount), whiting, pouting, coalfish. We even aquired a spider crab from a piece of net pulled up, and encountered a hungry seal who ventured towards the boat, but we didn’t encourage him by feeding him any fish! There was also a permanent flock of terns and gulls in tow, hoovering up every scrap of discarded fish gut and watching our efforts intently.