Whitby sea fishing trips - Are the best catches over the horizon or close to shore ?

Many Wreck and reef boat anglers who come to Whitby on fishing trips often have the idea that you have to head off far out to see with 80lb class rods, huge pirks and lines of heavy breaking strain to catch the cod, ling, bass, haddock and other species from Whitby. For far too long this misconception has been banded about. In my opinion and that of many of the Whitby boat anglers some of the best fishing at Whitby can still be had on the inshore wrecks and reefs with light rods and line using shads, jelly worms, hockeyes, peeler crab, worm, squid and mussel.Often the very best catches come only a couple of miles from Shore. In recent times my good friend Paul Kilpatrick skipper of Sea otter 2 at Whitby has reported anglers on his boat hooking into huge fish whilst uptiding only 500 yards from the shore at Saltwick. In the recent summer angling Festival, Angler Dave Perett won the event with a 22 pound cod caught no more than 2 miles from land.
If you watch the local commercial fishing fleet (these people know where the fish are as their livlihoods depend on it) you will often see them working within only a couple of miles from shore and sometimes in late summer and Autumn you will see them working at less than a mile. This to me further proves my theory that there is just as many fish in the first few miles of sea as there is in the next 200.

Word Spread recently in Whitby that from an oil industry survey vessel, working 3 miles from the coast between Whitby and Boulby to the north, the ships crew had had enjoyed some excellent fishing on an evening. One report was that 2 ling in excess of 50 pounds had been taken and a cod close to the Brittish record had been boated. The anglers allegedly had been unwilling to weigh their fish and publicise this as apparently it is against their companies policy to allow fishing from the boat. But it just goes to show that the big fish like the 56 pound record of Noel cooks are still around, and living on the inshore grounds at Whitby.

Two big Whitby cod caught on Sea-otter 2 No more than a few miles to sea on light tackle. What a fantastic way to fish. For more info vist www.sea-otter2.co.uk