Cod Fishing Brighton – 30th January 2010

What a difference a day makes.  Yesterday was horrible weather and the conditions not the best and yet today it was calm, the sun shone and we could get out to our favoured Cod mark. After greeting our crew for the day we headed south out of the marina determined to catch some Cod.  We had a big tide today and a North Westerly wind blowing at around 18kts.  A comfortable cruise saw us arrive and with the anchor dropped the boat was sitting in a gentle swell in glorious sunshine.

On board today we had Dave, Lauren and David who were out sea fishing for the first time and a group of 4 lads down from Wales who were looking for some cod. Dorian, Ben, Ben and Anthony soon got themselves organized and got on with the fishing whilst we spent time showing the other three how to bait up their hooks and use their rods.

Everyone started out with largish sized baits on  8/0 hooks. David was leading the way almost immediately with some lovely Channels, which seemed to be finding their way to his hook every couple of minutes.  Soon they were being caught all around and it was looking like we were going to have to wait until after slack water before we saw any Cod come over the side but it seemed Dorian had other ideas.  He had a strong bite and with a good bend in his rod he was playing what was a obviously the first Cod of the day.  Net at the ready and everyone gathered round to get a glimpse there it was breaking the surface. ……………… just another turn or two and it was in the bag.  There was no doubting that it was at least a 12/13lb’er but right at the last second it fell off and you can imagine the groans that sounded all around.

Despite the loss we knew the cod were around and looking at the time we were going to have to be patient and wait till after slack water for them to come back on the feed. With a swift change of hooks and using smaller baits we continued to bring in some lovely Whiting and David also caught a lovely Dab.

We were using a good mixture of bait – cuttle, lug, worm, squid, mackerel and a couple of smaller whiting were put out as live bait.

With everyone on board bringing fish over the side and the tide once again on the move we reverted back to larger hooks and bigger baits.  Everyone was feeling positive and before very long a Cod was hooked.  A smashing cod was netted in great condition, weighing in at just under 8lb.  Another swiftly followed this, a little smaller but a nice cod.

More good knocks were felt but nothing resulted in a catch.  As has been the pattern the last few weeks this flurry was followed by a quiet period, we continued to see whiting of a good size.

A little later Ben brought in another cod and was thrilled, as it was his first ever and everyone was delighted to see him achieve it.

The day ended with just the 3 Cod and a good one lost, but after yesterdays outing which saw none at all coupled with the fact that we know we are coming close to the end of the winter cod fishing we were delighted.

I have to add that we had a really enjoyable day at sea today. We had a great crew who were a pleasure to have on board.  Lots of fun, giggles and chatter were had throughout the whole trip and I am sure it was the fishing and the great day out rather than the pot noodles that will prove to be the talk of the day.