The Copthorne Hotel is situated on the north side of the Tyne and based on Newcastle quayside. The mark stretches from the Swing Bridge to the Queen Elizabeth II bridge. It spans over ¼ of a mile along the footpath where it is easily accessible to all ages and abilities. The area itself has many seating areas along mark with various amounts of shelter from the unpredictable northern weather.
One of my personal favourite spots, near the Queen Elizabeth II bridge
Best Time To Fish: I find that medium to strong tides are most productive. Although the ground doesn’t have an effect on the time to fish, I have personally found that the best results I have had when fishing here is 4 hours on the flood and then a further 2 hours on the ebb. Day or night at the mark is neither preferable. The only time I have had an issue is when the mark has been flat calm, the fishing tends to be very slow and offbeat.
Ground: Although the ground is almost all clear and sound, there is some debris in the water which hinders fishing such as shopping trolleys, scaffolding polls and other debris. Due to the nature of the ground close in, be careful when reeling in to avoid such items. Still be mindful that there may be some snags in the river due to lost tackle or river debris.
Summer Species: Common eels tend to be the number 1 species during this time, but flounder come in a close second. Toward the end of summer, you can expect to catch codlin and whiting as the weather begins to tone down.
Winter Species: Not much changes in the winter, flatfish are still on the plate but codlin and whiting have a bigger presence where codlin have been caught up to 8lb. Of course the anglers worst friend is still around, crab, and tends to be the only thing biting on a quiet day.
Best baits: During summer months ragworm tipped with fish baits such as mackerel and bluey are found to produce the best results. Although don’t rule out other fringe baits such as mussel and razorfish as flatfish go crazy for most baits I find. During winter months, I find that other worm baits like blow lugworm and black lugworm take precedence, crab in particular can be very effective when the cod are biting due to the high scent produce in the baits. Ragworm, as ever I find is a great attractor for whiting as I find they tend to e the scrap feeders, eating anything that’s in their path.
Parking is very easy, there is both paid and free parking, depending on how busy it is, you can normally get parked for free.
In this image, you can see the size of the mark, it is sometimes used in the summer for competitions.
Hook size during summer is key, a small hook is great as it allows you to target all size of fish. A small size 4 hook is great for targeting the smaller species such as eels and flatfish as it allows a greater field of play so to speak. You may miss out on that big one that got away but the river in summer tends to be mainly small fish sport fishing until autumn kicks in. As mentioned above, the ground is fairly clear just be mindful that it is not uncommon to loose one or two sets of tackle every now and then. Seating is provided all along the mark, for ease of access, it can be used by anyone of any ages as it easily accessible by wheelchair users, short walkers and even suitable for children due to high railings all along the footpath. As usual please be aware that the footpath is used by other users such as dog walkers and cyclists so keep your tackle close as I have once had a rod stood on by a runner.
A nice flatfish caught outside of the Hotel
Take care when fishing guys and gals and please use the waste bins provided and please respect the hotel users.
Sea Fishing Tactics 