Garys Travels 3

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FeaturePYE’S PROGRESS – PART FOUR

GARY’S TRAVELS

Catch up with top northeast angler Gary Pye as he continues his quest to catch for the TSF cameras. This month we fi nd him at Easington.

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The northerly winds had been blowing hard and the sea off the North East coast had been rough

and well coloured, it was also coming up to Thursday, which is Gary’s day off from North East Tackle Supplies in Sunderland. Consequently, I wasn’t surprised when the phone rang and I heard Gary’s voice. By the way, Gary Pye has challenged Barney Wright (editor of this fi ne magazine) that he can catch fi sh from any venue that he goes to – so far he has succeeded. I, Terry Patterson, go with him to photograph his catch and record how

he does it.“Hi Terry,” he said. “There are small

tides and a big sea, so this time I want to go to Easington rock ends and cliffs. I’m sure we’ll do well there.” My heart sank. Cliffs are not among my favourite venues, due to my suspect head for heights and ageing legs.

Trying to sound brave, I replied: “Are the cliffs very high?” To which Gary responded: “No, only about 200 feet, nothing you can’t handle.”

“Right, see you tomorrow then.” I replied. I have to say that I didn’t feel reassured because I know the area well,

having fi shed it before… with my eyes closed!

I met Gary at his house and, transferring to his car, we were soon on our way. I did not fancy too much of a hike, so we parked as near as possible to where he wanted to fi sh. The actual mark is called ‘Prices Point’ after two brothers who had considerable success fi shing the rock ends in the 1980s.

Gary’s plan was to fi sh the rock edges here until he was pushed back by the tide. We would then go up onto the cliffs to a mark called ‘The Facings’, just around the headland.



AND THEY’RE OFF!

Gary started fi shing straightaway and before long had a tremendous bite. I saw the rod

bend as Gary struck – he was into what he thought was a big bass. He powered the line in until about 20 yards out from the shore, when he unfortunately hit a snag. When he had freed the gear and started winding again the fi sh was gone! “Not a good start, eh Terry.” He said. “Never mind.” I replied, “At least there’s something out there.”

Next cast Gary lost his end tackle. “It seems like the bottom is really rough around here.” I remarked. But Gary had already replaced the end tackle and cast out without even batting an eyelid.

A short time passed and all he seemed to be getting was little nibbles at the bait. Then, suddenly, he struck

and quickly reeled in a 1½lb codling. It certainly was a bonny, nicely marked northeast fi sh. That cheered him up a bit.

“I’m back in business now,” he joked.The next cast sent Gary

‘rockhopping’, wading out along the skeer as the tide dropped away in preparation for the turn. His famous long cast sent the bait about 150 yards out to sea. Bites are quite diffi cult to detect at such distances, so Gary was hoping for a decent-sized fi sh that would tell him it was on. Sure enough, he was soon reeling in what turned out to be another beautiful codling; this time a better fi sh of 2½lb.

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS!The tide had turned and Gary knew that

we would soon be pushed off this mark. “Let’s get up onto the cliffs and see if we can bag a few whiting,” he said

I followed him, wondering if I could take a photograph with my eyes closed. To help me build some courage I kept thinking: “Come on Patterson, where’s that journalistic spirit?” But it really wasn’t too bad after all.

We soon reached the cliff tops and the climb up, although a bit of a scramble, wasn’t that steep and I followed Gary to a little gulley scoured out of the cliffs by the weather. These gullies are dotted along the cliff tops and are good places to fi sh from, and provide some shelter in chilly weather. Gary climbed up to the cliff top to get a better casting platform and then came down again into the gulley. Before long he was pulling in a good whiting of about

Oops! The fi rst cast results in a lost fi sh and the need to tie on a new shockleader.

Result! Gary shows off his fi rst codling of the trip.



The place Gary chose to fi sh is part of the Durham Colliery Beaches, where the spoil from the coal mines was dumped. These beaches stretch from Seaham in the north, to Hartlepool in the south. There are a lot of cliffs and rocky skeers interspersed with shingle bays along this stretch of coast, which are accessed by paths and steep tracks.

The area is popular with anglers because of all the loose rock dumped by the mines. This makes the water cloudy and, when there is a sea running, the loose sea bed becomes stirred up. Consequently, because of the cloudy water and poor visibility, fi shing is as good during the day as it is in darkness, when cod are usually more prolifi c. Although there are no working mines now, the legacy of this area’s industrial past is still apparent.

Gary always plans his fi shing trips well. This means that he will have looked at the sea conditions and will have timed the trip to make the best use of the tide.

Because he knew that he would be fi shing rock edges and cliffs, he prepared two rods for very different conditions. As always, his Greys’ trace wallet was full of rigs of all kinds, just ready to clip onto his line so that he wouldn’t waste any time

between casts.Gary is lucky because he works in a tackle shop

and therefore has access to the best bait and plenty of it. However, a good low tide will see him out digging for whiteworm and runnidown lugworm.

Due to the generosity of the tackle companies since the start of the challenge, Gary has received many gifts of tackle and lines, which have also helped him considerably.

A well-prepared angler is much more likely to get a good catch. He won’t be losing time and tide by having to make traces or sort out tangled lines, and will always have the right tackle ready to meet all eventualities.

On this trip, Gary, who is a very versatile angler, proved this. He caught codling from the rock edges and whiting from the cliffs. He made the most of the tide by fi shing the last of the ebb and the fi rst of the fl ood. He ended up with a bag of over 9lb of fi sh and we both had an enjoyable day out.

He hasn’t said where we are going next time, but I know he has a lot of favourite marks north of the Tyne… we will just have to wait and see. Nevertheless, I am sure that he will once again beat the challenge!

HOW GARY THINKS…HOW GARY THINKS…1lb. Whiting never tend to be huge when caught from the shore, although Gary tells me that they often reach 2lb from this mark.

He cast again and, since it would be dark in an hour or so, he set up his second rod and cast that out as well, to increase his chances of success.

Between the two rods he was kept pretty busy, and soon had fi ve whiting and a 3/4lb dab.

“I’d better make this the last cast,” he said. A strong bite came and Gary started reeling in. “This is a good whiting,” he stated. We strained our eyes in the gloom, but it wasn’t until it was halfway up the cliff that we realised that it was another codling. “It’s a stumpy!” Gary exclaimed. To the uninitiated, a stumpy is a local term for a cod with a large head but small body and tail. If we had been at ground level we would have returned it, but we weren’t so it went into the bag. It was plenty big enough to keep and weighed 21/2lb.

TIME PLEASEThe light was fading fast and Gary knew that he had to get me down the cliffs, with my eyes closed, so we set off back to the car.

I weighed the bag and it was over 9lb, which would have been a prize winner in any open competition!

Gary gave me the fi sh and I can tell you that nothing goes to waste in our house. After 41 years of living with me, my wife has a good selection of fi sh dishes; also I have a growing kitten and two large hungry dogs to feed.

APOLOGIES…I feel at this point that I must apologise to Gary. In the fi rst of these articles I said that his Scottish starry smoothhound record is 6lb, it is in fact 8lb 111/2oz – sorry mate!

As it becomes dark, Gary decides to use two rods to increase his chances of catching a better fi sh.

The end result. Not a bad haul for a few hours’ work!


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TACKLE, TACTICS AND BAITBecause Gary was targeting more than one species during he brought along a wide selection of baits, including frozen peeler crab, runnidown lugworm, king ragworm and snake whiteworm. These were made into a variety of cocktails, such as runnidown tipped with snake whites, ragworm with frozen crab and even lug, rag and whites all on the same hook.He likes to make long, slim baits. For example, in a lug, rag, white combination, the ragworm would be slid right up the snood, then a lugworm and fi nally half a snake white. The fi sh seem to love these cocktails.In this instance, tipping off with white worm seemed to be the most favoured by the fi sh population.Gary brought along the brand-new Century Kompressor Sport rod. This is a 13ft 10in rock

rod rated for casting 125g to 200g, with gearbox design in the blank to allow for a progressive power input. On his very fi rst cast Gary sent the bait 150 yards plus, putting him in among the fi sh. Coupled with this, he used his favourite Penn 525 Mag Xtra reel. This was fi lled with 18lb Daiwa Sensor, with an 80lb Sufi x Surf shockleader.He used his usual pulley-Pennell rig, which incorporates a bait clip and a rotten-bottom system. The body of the traces were made with 100lb Penn Premium Line, the hooklengths with 30lb Sufi x Invisiline, with a 4/0 Gamakatsu Worm Baitholder hooks. Up the snood was a 2/0 Gamakatsu Worm Baitholder hook to complete the Pennell arrangement. On the end of the trace was a Gemini link with a length of light mono for the rotten bottom, and the sinker was one of Gary’s own designs.

He uses a 6oz breakout type, but this time he had a selection of grip wires that he fi tted and bent into position using his Mustad crimping pliers, thus varying the grip length depending on the condition of the sea bed.The main rod that Gary used on the cliffs was a more fl exible 14ft Century Carbon Metal rod. He used a Penn 525 Mag, which had a similar line and end-tackle set-up to his Kompressor Sport. The only difference in the trace was that he used two 2/0 hooks on the Pennell rig, instead of a 4/0 and a 2/0 to accommodate the smaller whiting mouth.Gary’s main tactic on this trip was choosing a place to fi sh where he could access the rock edges while the tide was low, and then moving to the cliffs as the tide came in. Also fi shing where the bottom is very rough means that reeling in must be done quickly and smoothly to avoid snags.

A nicely conditioned codling always makes Gary happy.

Another codling reaches the mighty hands of Gary.

A good-sized dab adds to

the species count.

Quality hooks are musts. Gary always uses quality lines for his hook snoods...

...and always makes sure that he has plenty of prepared rigs for every session.

Big, long baits are key for success here.


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REELING IN FASTWhere there is a rough bottom, reel in quickly and smoothly to avoid snags.

GARY’S TOP TIPSGARY’S TOP TIPSGARY’S TOP TIPSGARY’S TOP TIPS

DIY SINKERSSinkers can be tailor-made on site by simply changing the wires to suit the sea bed. However, take plenty of sinkers with pre-drilled holes.

SELECT THE ROD FOR THE JOBWhen planning a trip, think carefully about what conditions will be encountered. Don’t be afraid to pack an extra rod just in case.

TRY A NEW REEL FITTINGGary is very enthusiastic about the Century reel seat on his new rod. It’s adjustable, therefore the reel can be fi tted wherever you fi nd it most comfortable when casting. The coaster that keeps the reel in place also acts as a trigger to give you extra grip on the spool. They are made by Century Composites to its own design.

TAKE SOME TOOLS WITH YOUInvest in good, versatile tools. Gary always carries his Mustad crimping pliers because these can be used for many angling tasks.

The fi nal result from under the cliffs: two superbly conditioned codling.


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Garys Travels 3