29th oct, cod hunt

geejayy · #1 10-30-2009, 12:34 PM

it was delayed by a week due to the lurgy & surprisingly despite the neap tide the cod were still comeing out at chesil.

hence last night i rolled up at the ferrybridge carpark with plans to walk west towards the bridgeing camp until i got bored or knackered, when i was loading the car i noticed that my trusty beach buddy had broken , i'd planned on going without it as its yet more stuff to carry but a quick jury rig repair sorted it and i dragged it along with me.( i miss my little home from home )

note to self,- take much less gear next time,
i'd planned on walking for an hour but the weight of all my tackle left me utterly bolaxed after 1/2 hours march, so over the bank i staggered finding myself somewhere between the end of the bird nesting area & martleys ?point.

by now it was about 19.00, the sea looked good -quite clear but still a 3ft groundswell rolling in ,last of the ebb with low tide at 2100ish.
i'd seen reports of cod around here last night. a few anglers 400yds to my right + more back along the adelaide area.
the wind was E/S/E & a little breezy it was a dry bright night, scattered cloud,

bait- a box o squid , a pkt of sandeel, & 70 odd froze black lug ( well some were that new oiled stuff, the jurys still out for me as to if its any good)

rigs,- 4/0 up n overs/ 2/0 pulley pennels/ d-vices + pennel snoods in both hook sizes.

it was not long before the classic nod nod nod, slack line bites started - you get all excited but you know its only a doggie
caught 2 in a row then the frantic knocks started signaling the arival of black bream, caught and returned a pair of these .

i went on to catch a mixture of dogs & bream till low water when it went quiet.
& used the time to prepare a few rigs/baits in the hope that something better will show as the tide turns

well nothing happened on the early flood and i stopped useing the d-vices as i found the strengthening side wind playing havoc with casting direction with them.

bored,bored,bored, backed off the clutches and took a power nap for 1/2 an hour.
woke at midnight and noticed the anglers to my right had left/were leaving.
i spent the next few hours fishing hard, getting a good system going - retrieve-clipp on new rig cast- rebait old rig ready for next rod while waiting for bites between times and catching random doggies or bream .
at about 2am i saw out of the corner of my eye a strong double knock moved to pickup the rod, all went slack big time, winding down untill feeling the fish i struck firmly , grinning as the rod hooped over and the line slid off down tide.
mindful of the undertow from the swell extra care was taken as the fish was pumped gently toward the shingle coz i knew i'd be if i lost it.
timeing it with an incoming wave i claimed my prize

new personal best.

i had no scales with me( too heavy) so at 1st thought- its a double
but as the hours passed i thought ,maybe 5lb & still later in the morning p'raps its only 4lb,
its funny how it seemed to get smaller as the euphoria faded.

it was eventually weighed at home 10 hours afer capture & the scores on the doors was 7lb dead.

a few more fish showed through the rest of the morning , the usual dogs and bream + a gurnard for a change

not sure if its a red or a tub, it had the blue edges to its pec' fins but it wasn't that irridescent blue i uaually see.

left the beach at 9am ish after an equally crippleing stagger back,