North east cod hunt part two
Tue Nov 26, 2019 11:00 am
North east cod hunt part two
With a nice night tide and easterly wind forecast all falling on my day off a plan was hatched to hunt cod, so on Monday after dinner I went to bed for a few hours, rising about midnight I fixed a large cup of coffee and then packed the car. I had a nice drive to the mark I fished last time arriving before the rain started I got suited and booted, put my gear on my back and walked to the rocks. By the time I got to my chosen mark the wind was blowing and the rain was horizontal, thinking I must be mad I proceeded to set up two rods, one loaded with lug on a 4/0 pulley and the other had a two hook loop rig baited with sandeel. That's right I was fishing for cod and doggies, the bait wasn't in the water long before I seen the tap tap tap of mr crab, so baits were replaced every 10 minutes. As the night went on the wind got stronger and I had to tie the tripod down to save it blowing over, it also made watching the rod tips for bites impossible so I continued to replace baits every 10 minutes. Seeing bite didn't matter as I never got any, I only landed a large crab and a lump of floating weed. I packed up at high water and headed home in time to get the wife and kiddies up for school and work, did the school run and put my gear away after cleaning it. So no luck this time, maybe next time I'll get to catch more than crabs, maybe the elusive cod.
With a nice night tide and easterly wind forecast all falling on my day off a plan was hatched to hunt cod, so on Monday after dinner I went to bed for a few hours, rising about midnight I fixed a large cup of coffee and then packed the car. I had a nice drive to the mark I fished last time arriving before the rain started I got suited and booted, put my gear on my back and walked to the rocks. By the time I got to my chosen mark the wind was blowing and the rain was horizontal, thinking I must be mad I proceeded to set up two rods, one loaded with lug on a 4/0 pulley and the other had a two hook loop rig baited with sandeel. That's right I was fishing for cod and doggies, the bait wasn't in the water long before I seen the tap tap tap of mr crab, so baits were replaced every 10 minutes. As the night went on the wind got stronger and I had to tie the tripod down to save it blowing over, it also made watching the rod tips for bites impossible so I continued to replace baits every 10 minutes. Seeing bite didn't matter as I never got any, I only landed a large crab and a lump of floating weed. I packed up at high water and headed home in time to get the wife and kiddies up for school and work, did the school run and put my gear away after cleaning it. So no luck this time, maybe next time I'll get to catch more than crabs, maybe the elusive cod.
Re: North east cod hunt part two
Tue Nov 26, 2019 4:08 pm
humungous effort! fair play to you for writing this report up - im so embarrassed with the blanks of mine and the effort i go to for it
Re: North east cod hunt part two
Wed Nov 27, 2019 8:35 pm
corbyeire wrote:humungous effort! fair play to you for writing this report up - im so embarrassed with the blanks of mine and the effort i go to for it
There is lessons learnt in failure, I hope
Re: North east cod hunt part two
Thu Nov 28, 2019 6:44 am
They always seem to hit the North Antrim and Derry coastlines later than the East Antrim at the spots I hit anyway, sometimes much later. And they don't seem to be in East Antrim yet..... Very, very late but water temp was still 12.5 degrees last I checked and I can't recall a proper frost yet in Belfast.
Will be in Sheephaven Bay in Donegal for at least a week over Xmas and want to experiment at some spots for cod.
I would have thought deep Swilly marks are bound to hold them as I've had good catches of grey cod from the boat from Sept but never tried from the shore or in Winter.
Will be in Sheephaven Bay in Donegal for at least a week over Xmas and want to experiment at some spots for cod.
I would have thought deep Swilly marks are bound to hold them as I've had good catches of grey cod from the boat from Sept but never tried from the shore or in Winter.
Re: North east cod hunt part two
Mon Dec 02, 2019 8:27 pm
guernica84 wrote:They always seem to hit the North Antrim and Derry coastlines later than the East Antrim at the spots I hit anyway, sometimes much later. And they don't seem to be in East Antrim yet..... Very, very late but water temp was still 12.5 degrees last I checked and I can't recall a proper frost yet in Belfast.
Will be in Sheephaven Bay in Donegal for at least a week over Xmas and want to experiment at some spots for cod.
I would have thought deep Swilly marks are bound to hold them as I've had good catches of grey cod from the boat from Sept but never tried from the shore or in Winter.
Cheers for the info