Winter small boat angling

Winter small boat angling

Hello everyone

Having spent a considerable amount of cash on a boat in September, a vhf course in November and a lot of time dreaming about a double figure cod from my own boat since I don't know when, I am eager to hit some good marks on a nice frosty morning whenever ever these winter storms give us a window.

Has anyone out there got any helpful advice for winter small boat angling? I have an Alaska 500 with a 70 on the back.

Thanks!

Ninted

Nice boat ninted. What part of the country are you going to fish?

Nice boat ninted. What part of the country are you going to fish?

Thanks Rob,

I have the boat kept in east cork harbour. So anywhere in the harbour or outside in the right weather or within an hours drive.

I feel for you!
We are going through a bad spell at the moment. A couple of days good weather will not be enough to get a decent calm/clearance. We would want a decent spell of weather.
Up to when the weather turned poorly there was only a scattering of cod about. Nothing that you would call "a run" people haven't really been out to see if there is more fish about at this stage. The catches at "De Wall" are not encouraging for a run of cod in the harbour yet.

When it goes well it goes great and it is super fishing, especially on lures. That said a double figure fish is an exceptional one in the harbour and a great catch outside. The harbour rock will tend to fish well. The turbot bank gets its moments too... we will have to wait and see...

Check out http://www.topfisher.eu for articles on fishing etc. many are cork harbour based. There will be a "winter series" up on the site soon.
You'll see some videos on my channel to whet the appetite... hopefully it all fires off!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=EZoGpp1ZCRg

More on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/JimfromCor ... =0&sort=dd

I feel for you!
We are going through a bad spell at the moment. A couple of days good weather will not be enough to get a decent calm/clearance. We would want a decent spell of weather.
Up to when the weather turned poorly there was only a scattering of cod about. Nothing that you would call "a run" people haven't really been out to see if there is more fish about at this stage. The catches at "De Wall" are not encouraging for a run of cod in the harbour yet.

When it goes well it goes great and it is super fishing, especially on lures. That said a double figure fish is an exceptional one in the harbour and a great catch outside. The harbour rock will tend to fish well. The turbot bank gets its moments too... we will have to wait and see...

Check out http://www.topfisher.eu for articles on fishing etc. many are cork harbour based. There will be a "winter series" up on the site soon.
You'll see some videos on my channel to whet the appetite... hopefully it all fires off!

Great stuff Jim, thanks.

I'll be watching the weather closely and if others are interested try to get out with a few boats - company is always welcome when your heading outside de harbour. Come on frosty morning!!!

Hi Jim- was that you out inyour small inflatable on Sunday, by any chance..? I passed you while you were tied off to marker buoy 6 pulling up some whiting, we exchanged waves!

We had hit yougal hard from Friday night through til 2am Sunday morning to little or no action, but we're delighted to find a fairly calm harbour to greet us Sunday morning so we launched and beat out there into the fairly coloured, murky waters. We had not a tap for the first few hours until we got some helpful advice from a chap who as talking to you for a bit beside no. 6. (If it was you!) . He told us to ask a charter for bait and anchor up to let the fishies get the scent. Well, that's what we did and the bites came fairly consistently thereafter- thanks to that skipper for the 3 macs, we'd have blanked otherwise!

so, super to have a boat trip in what seemed to be the eye of the storm, and next time we'll have a decent stock of bait on board!

Any tips for boat rigs / bait choice in the harbour in murky conditions? Mackerel seemed to work fine on a 3 hook blinged up flatly rig- the little flasher on the end giving off some vibration- I was thinking whole squid for the bigger fishies too...


Let's hope the weather settles!

C

No that was not me! I was up at White Bay looking down at the harbour at one stage
I decided against fishing given the conditions.
Harbour fishing at this time of year like shore angling from the boat. Crab & Worms will outfish mackerel (Unless there is a plague of whiting about.)
I generally prefer to give the place a chance to clean up and fish with lures. We have yet to see what sort of a cod run we will get, if any at all.

While this is a summer article the areas are the places you will fish in winter too. http://www.topfisher.eu/angling-cork-ha ... sta-style/

when i was fishing cork harbour many moons ago we used to use mussels collected over by the bridge in to the naval base shell them about 3 days before using them and keep draining the water of off them

when i was fishing cork harbour many moons ago we used to use mussels collected over by the bridge in to the naval base shell them about 3 days before using them and keep draining the water of off them

Thanks sea cloud

would they not go rotten after a day or so? Did you keep them in a bucket of sea water and replace it every day? Not quite sure of your method here but i'd like to know how to do it!

thanks

just take them out of the shell keep them in an old aluminium pot and put them in a cold shed of an old fridge you will have to take the juice of then at least once a day . fish then on a long trace with a running lead with 3 hooks on the bottom . this was one of the most used bait along with lug i have got cod/whiting/plaice/and dabs also you could use them fresh but they toughen up when left for a few days and dont use hot water open them as this makes them two soft hopes this helps

Well lads, this could be a nice weekend window of opportunity! I'm going to try a trip on Sunday, all going well. Inside the harbour if it allows and even a bit outside if things look really good. Has anyone any spots that aren't too far from the harbour might throw up a few species? Maybe a bit of reef that wouldn't be too far but out of the strong flow of the main harbour channel...?

Any advice greatly appreciated! Also, taking out two former boxers with me so pirates, be warned!

Don't think there will be much comfort outside the harbour yet. It would take a day or two of northerly winds to flatten out the sea.

http://www.windfinder.com/forecast/cork_buoy look at the wave height

Don't think there will be much comfort outside the harbour yet. It would take a day or two of northerly winds to flatten out the sea.

http://www.windfinder.com/forecast/cork_buoy look at the wave height

Thanks Donal. Still a bit of a wave alright, but 2.4 meters at 11 secs might not be too bad, once it's just an even roll. I'll not take chances if it looks too much though.

http://www.windfinder.com/forecast/cork_buoy updated

i wonder would there be two much fresh water going out the harbour

i wonder would there be two much fresh water going out the harbour

They have reduced the flow of water coming out of the dam.

The water level at Wellington Bridge is down by about 3 or 4ft at the moment.

Well everyone,

Headed out by about ten am Sunday morning with only a slight breeze, though it was a fresh morning to say the least! Ice on the cuddly cabin roof, a sign of a hardy day. My two crew and myself launched with no major difficulties (apart from almost forgetting to put in the bung!) and it was just great to be afloat with the craic and that initial excitement that always comes at the beginning of any fishing trip, especially when it's been a while!

We decided to make a break for the main channel and take it from there. There were a few boats knocking about when we got there, one or two charters and a couple of small boats like ourselves. It's always nice to have a bit of company on the winter days. Enough to feel a bit of support but not the summer maham when you could walk across from Camden to Carlisle on fibreglass without getting your feet wet...

The swell was way too big for outside alright, you were spot on Donal. We discussed popping out for a look and then saw a swell rise up and dramatically break over harbour rock, so there was no more discussion needed after that.

We chose instead to do a few drifts over some well known spots and see what popped up. Just like the last time though, the cloudy water hampered any good chance of a fishy while on the move, so with about 40 mins drifting and nothing to show, we decided to tie up to a buoy and drop some baited hokeyes and various traces with crab, mackerel and lug.
I felt pretty confident that the lines would soon tighten.

And tighten they did! Some very acceptable whiting were soon on the deck, everyone's spirits were up with the action and the craic was good.

And then I looked down... Fiddling with tackle on an erratically moving boat for a half an hour is not a good idea. First my head went a little funny, then my arms went numb, and just as a possible specimen whiting was being pulled on board I was adding my own personal "chum" to the water. A first for me! And I thought I was invincible.

As skipper, this was most embarrassing, and I got zero sympathy from my shipmates who began suggesting various forms of runny food I might like to try in the near future. I barely had the streangth to curse them, but I did what I could! A cup of tea did find its way to my hands a while later though, at least one crew member was being helpful! Despite the attack on my system, I recovered in about a half hour and was eating, chatting, fishing and hoping one of the other two might add to my "chum" so I could return the favour and suggest some runney breakfast ideas of my own!

As the tide slowed, the bites dried up and our previously productive venue became devoid of fish.

The tide was quite large on Sunday so we were expecting the boat to swing on its mooring quite quickly after low water and the fishing to pick up once more, but there was so much fresh water sitting on top of the salt water that this didn't happen until about 2 hours into the push. Our lines were being pulled in with the tide but the boat was being pulled by the fresh water out to sea, so holding bottom was pretty impossible even with the boat in a fixed position. Once the tide took over from the fresh water altogether we couldn't hold bottom at all so we decided to try one or two drifts in the deeper parts which have a slower tide, but this only threw up one whiting so we decided to tie up once more in a couple eddies and a less prominent channel to fish out the remainder of the day.

Well, not much else turned up apart from 1 or 2 whiting and a teeny dab, so at about 3:30 we headed in, just picking up one wee codling on the last drift- our only one of the day. This was a little disappointinggiven the time of year, but over all the day was a lot of fun, so this time of year you take what you get! At one stage we saw what was either a bass or a mullet feeding at the surface; anyone see anything like this lately...?


So that's it for this trip! Here's hoping the rain stops and the wind takes many more breaks, that double figure cod is in my sights for 2016!

I'll put up a few pics when I have em from the lads.

Anyone else out at the weekend.....?

N