Cod Fishing Report 14 to 18 November

Well, we’ve had some more winter gales since my last report but we did manage to get out a couple of times for a spot of Cod Fishing last Wednesday and Sunday.

Wednesday was a frustrating day with a strong easterly wind restricting our fishing options, and as many an angler will know “when the wind is in the east the fish bite least, when the wind is in the west the fish bite best”. This old saying certainly rings true for shore fishing and to a lesser extent it can affect boat fishing further offshore too.

That said, I was still hopeful of a Cod or two on Wednesday. Our first mark produced nothing so we moved to an inshore wreck. This mark turned into something of a species hunt with Pout, Whiting, Conger, Dogfish, Tub Gurnard and Ballan Wrasse all putting in an appearance, but alas we didn’t see a Cod!

Catch of the day was a no brainer to award, we were all astonished to witness the biggest Tub Gurnard any of us have ever seen, a cracking specimen of 4lb 2oz for Charlie Moss – well done Charlie!

Sunday was a much better prospect. Not a breath of wind and the sun was shining, what a glorious day! With a group charter of 6 lads there was the luxury of stacks of room to fish too, so it was all looking good. We also tried something different to my normal advice of fishing BIG cuttle baits in winter and opted to try smaller baits of black lug tipped with cuttle strips. The Cod we have been catching lately have had fairly empty bellies suggesting they are not feeding hard so the smaller baits were well worth a try and I’ve heard this tactic has been working recently some days in other areas.

Our first mark didn’t produce at the hot point of the tide so we moved a few miles to another likely spot. Straight away, with the flood running hard, the action started with Whiting – lots of them! We also caught a few Dabs and Plaice on our scaled down baits. I said to the lads if we’re gonna see a Cod it would likely happen as the flood eased and also during the first hour of the ebb tide (which we would see before home time).

With only 6 aboard yours truly had a chance to fish and sure enough as the flood eased Skipper had the first “proper” bite of the day and before long a 16lb 4oz Cod graced the net.

Before long the tide turned and in that last hour we caught another four Cod, 3 smaller keepers and another very good fish of 16lb 8oz, which proved to be the last and biggest fish of the day.

There is a bit of a story attached to that last fish. Both Louis and Gianual had a bite at the same time and it seemed both were playing a good fish, but only one came to the net. The Cod had BOTH their hooks in the back of its throat fair and square so we declared it a joint catch!

So we’d caught five Cod, a decent winter result any day, but with four of those fish falling in the last hour I offered to stay out longer as they were obviously feeding hard. Unfortunately the lads needed to get back and I did wonder just how many more we could have caught given another hour!

All in all a fantastic day of flat seas, warm winter sunshine and above all a decent haul of Cod! Fancy a trip? Call me on 07850 171722