A day out codding

I had a day out codding yesterday, the first day out on the briny of the new cod season. Brilliant sunshine all day with a light northerly breeze that although cool was with the tide most of the day meaning a calm sea. My friend who had a very serious operation for cancer of the oesophagus during the summer owns a 16.5 ft Warrior that is seaworthy and we can go 6 or 7 miles off the coast in reasonable weather. Yesterday we only went about a mile off the beach of Orford 'Island'. He has not been fishing much since he was first diagnosed and was really looking forward to the trip now that he is hopefully of the road to recovery. We had a very good day in the end. We managed 7 cod between 4lb and 9lb, 14 thornback rays (these are known as 'skate' in the chippy and roker to the fishermen of the east coast) between 3lb and 7lb and numerous small whiting and dogfish to about 3lb.

The highlight of the day though was my mate catching a 5lb bass which was a brilliant looking fish. In the water they look bluish but immediately they come out, they look like polished silver. Absolutely beautiful and a shame to take but my mates wife loves them so in the pot it went. Most of the whiting, all the dogfish and the roker except one that was deeply hooked went back alive. The cod are now residing in the freezer! All the fish came to whole squid fished on a pennel rig using 4/0's and a 5oz lead cast uptide.

Sounds like a grand day out......i keep promising myself a sea trip but have never got round to it.

You wouldn't regret it I am sure. Take some Kwells or something though as a touch of Mal de Mer can certainly ruin the day out.

Waveney One said:

You wouldn't regret it I am sure. Take some Kwells or something though as a touch of Mal de Mer can certainly ruin the day out.

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I wouldn't mind a session off the beach to be honest.....we have toyed with the idea of a FM sea trip in the past, perhaps it's time?

That certainly is an impressive catch for this time of year. I normally just end up with lots of young whiting!!!!!! Well done for returning the majority.

Well done waveney .

I'm off for a session on Deal Peir tonight. I'll let you know what happens tomorrow.

I used to live in Deal and fished the pier regular. Like to know how you get on.

since moving back to warwickshire from lincolnshire this year i miss fishing from the beach although i was quite hopeless i still managed to catch on the odd occasion mostly when the surf was up and the bass were close in they really are a stunning fish but i got some funny looks as i returned everything that i caught im sure people in the village thought i was mad.

Right, here goes a report on Deal:-

We spent the night by the last shelter. I caught a small coddling, about 2lb, two silver eels, a dab, some whiting and pout. My wife, Sue caught a small Bass 2-3lb, a lobster of 4lb, some whiting and Pout. My mate Tony caught some Whiting and Pout. We probably had the best catch on the peir that night and heard of one other Bass of a similar size to Sue's.

Deal Pier

Thats a great catch for Deal Pier. No cod though. I moved there in the 60's and cod used to be caught a plenty. 8-16lb fish common and only if a fish exceeded 20lb was it reported in the local paper. When I was last back there fish of 5lb were making the news. Just shows the difference. Thanks for the report , It was interesting. Mark g

A pretty good return off the pier Mark. There are quite a few slightly larger codling about this year. There was even an 18 pounder caught off Walton on Naze pier last weekend I heard. It is a long time since one of those was caught off the pier. Anyone watching the programme about the rape of the oceans tonight? More4 10pm.

Colin, I hope you put the Lobster back as it's illegal to take them at this time of the year. If not, then I could help you out by collecting it from you and disposing of it properly.

Ever helpfull

Ray.

Ray,

It was disposed of conveniently, washed down with a fine wine. Shame you didn't offer to dispose of it earlier.

Colin North said:

Ray,

It was disposed of conveniently, washed down with a fine wine. Shame you didn't offer to dispose of it earlier.

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B*gger, I wanted to do that.