If you read our recent post on Winter Cod Fishing you’ll know that around this time of year Cod start to appear on the inshore marks as they start their annual migration from the wrecks to shallower water. This heralds the start of the winter Cod season and time to turn your attention to catching a personal best!
With a decent weather window but tides too big to fish the wrecks on Friday and Saturday we had our first foray of the year to the inshore marks to see if any Cod had arrived yet.
Friday was hard work! It poured with rain all day which is rare at sea and we were plagued by small Whiting making their first appearance of the year on the Cod grounds. In some ways this is a good sign as if there’s Whiting around the Cod will be too. But alas on Friday we didn’t catch any!
What a difference a day makes! On Saturday the rain had gone and we were greeted with warm weather, a mirror calm sea and a plan to fish a different area that sometimes produces Cod this early in the season.
Shortly after arriving and towards the end of the ebb tide Igor was into a good fish and before long a decent Cod of 15lb graced the net, well done Igor on your personal best and the first winter Cod of 2012 for Grey Viking!
As is often the case it then went a bit quiet over slack water. I explained to the crew that that first and last two hours of the tide are normally the most productive and sure enough as the flood got away the fish came back on the feed and we caught some more.
This pattern proved to be correct today and it went a bit quiet for the middle 2 hours of the tide when it was running at it’s hardest. One of the crew asked if we were going to move but I explained that we needed to wait for the tide to ease as it was likely they would come back on the feed. It’s usually a mistake to move if you’re on the fish and sure enough we started catching again.
Then something VERY unusual happened! Marius was into what seemed to be a very good fish and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing as I netted his catch. He was using a pennel rig and there was a Cod of 8lbs on one hook and a Bass of 6lbs on the other! I’ve seen that happen before with 2 Cod, or a Cod and a Whiting. But Cod AND Bass? Never! So very well done Marius on a very unusual catch!
We ended the day with 6 Cod to 15lb plus that Bass and a few Dogfish, Whiting and Pout. We also had a run of baby Tope! 3 very good Cod were lost with the mainline parting, so guys please do check your tackle and knots (or hire mine!) as it’s a shame to lose what might be a personal best to dodgy tackle! All in all a very good way to start the winter Cod season for 2012 and it’s certainly worth booking up now!
There is of course one big variable and that’s the presence of natural bait. If the capt. says he’s marking a whole lot of bait, or if the cod coming up are spitting up herring, mackerel, whiting or the like, then jigging would be a good choice. This is not to say that bait would not work in a jig situation or vice versa. Of course it’s fishing and sometimes all bets are off and things turn out the opposite of how they’re supposed to. This is just a good indicator.