British Airways Car Park – Newcastle

The British Airways car park is situated on the north side of the Tyne, just off William Armstrong Drive. At the bottom of the bank, there is an enormous car park which is usually full during the week so it is hard to fish it, but on the weekend, it is empty. The mark is big enough to fish a large amount of people so don’t worry if you don’t get the specific spot I explain.

The Car Park

You can park your car in the car park on the weekends, but depending which security guard is operating the gate, you may not get the car back out. So rather than take the risk, I recommend that you park your car just before the gate where there is enough space to park a couple of cars. The mark it self is only 30 yards from the mark so it is easily accessible and is wheelchair friendly.

Taking from where you park

Please be aware that the path isn’t the widest so please take into account that this mark does have a large amount of cyclists passing through so please make sure that your rods don’t over hang the path too much. I also recommend that you take a small spinning rod when fishing down here on a small tide as it can give you more option as you can allow your weight to roll around with the tide.

The Very Narrow Path

Best time to fish: This is a must for when fishing this mark, the best time to fish if 2 hours either side of the tide. You may be able to manage a little more time if you can cast further. This is due to the insane severity of the mud flats which mean that you are dragging your line over mud and gunk.

Summer species: During the summer months, expect to catch the usual flounders as well as the nuisance common eel, although it is not uncommon to catch the odd whiting at this time.

Winter species: Fishing here in the winter is not much dissimilar to the summer, flounder are caught in great numbers here and sometimes are a good size.  Also like most places on the river, expect to be swarmed by whiting on a night time with conditions being crucial.

Best baits: During the summer months, I would personally use ragworm tipped off with either a slither of mackerel or a snipping of black lugworm to give added scent and attraction. I find that in the latter parts of the year when the colder weather creeps in, that ragworm becomes a lot less productive, so I would recommend bigger baits in order to attract larger flounders and whiting. The best baits being black lugworm tipped with large mussel as well as blow lug being very productive if you are targeting whiting.

Tips: Use a smaller rated rod in order to cover as much ground when targeting a variety of species and in order to maximise your productivity.

Use rigs with attractors such as beads, sequins and other attractors in order to attract more and bigger fish.

Last but not least, please use the rubbish bins allocated on the left of the mark in order to keep the area tidy and clean for future anglers and members of the public.

Thanks! Tight Lines!