I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Burradon match angler Geoff King, who is one of the North East’s most respected and successful sea anglers. 

If you read Sea Angler magazine you will often see his picture or name mentioned in the news or Sea league sections. In a fishing career spanning over 20 years Geoff has won at least 20 open competitions, and in 2006 Geoff fished his way to first place in no less than five open competitions. 

Geoff recently used his NEW SONIK SK4 5-7oz rod to take first place in the Whitley Bay Summer league and the Seaton Sluice Open.

Many of us fish opens and club matches and marvel how the same names appear again and again in the top three!

I asked Geoff to explain the secret to his consistent success, for most of us a table prize of a spool of line or trace wallet are the usual winnings - how do you make the jump from table prize to 1st place in an open competition?

Geoff explained “There are no quick fixes or magic potions that will propel you to match fishing stardom overnight; you need to do your homework. I have been fortunate enough to fish and gain information from some of the top match anglers in the country - Tony Anderson  from SONIK sports and Chris Stringer to name a few.

The first thing you learn is that the guys who consistently catch fish, spend three times as long collecting bait and preparing rigs as they do fishing.  There is no substitute for good fresh bait and rigs that you know will do the job they are designed for. Having a rod that will hit the required distance and bully that fish through the kelp can also make all the difference.”

I asked Geoff how important he thought it was to understand the marks he fished and the impact tide, time of year and weather conditions have on his fishing.

Geoff explained “Knowledge and history of the marks you fish is key! The state of tide and weather conditions can make all the difference. If you plan to fish a mark, find out how it has fished in the past. Did it fish on the ebb or did it only fish after a good North Eastley blow for instance. You have to think like a fish; what reason would a cod or bass have to be on the mark in question at the time you want to fish. You can’t buy good information like this, you have to ask questions and get out there and fish.

The more you fish the better you get and the luckier you become!”    

Geoff has won many club matches and opens,  I asked him how he changed his fishing when the number of anglers he was up against went from twenty to six hundred.

Geoff explained “If you have done your homework and fished leading up to the event, then you will be aware of areas that have produced fish and if you take into account the weather and tide conditions for the day, you can narrow the number of areas to fish to say, 10 marks.

If you take into account the history of those marks in terms of what they have produced in the past then you can narrow your number of marks down even further."

Well, as I suspected there is no magic wand when it comes to see fishing - but good kit, top notch bait and plenty of fishing time sure will increase your chances!

Photos by Alan Charlton