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Thought of lots of titles for this thread .....
"A tale of two Tides"
"They're back"
"Midweek madness"
"Almost went home" .......... etc. etc.
Long and short of it is I had a couple of days hoiday and a few jobs to do, if a) I completed the work and if b) the weather played game then I had decided to once again "try a days fishing" today, once again solo due to the short notice of the trip.
I say "try" as of recent trips its been a little not so good, both for myself and also many other friends on here and around whom have all but decided the season is all but over ..... hmmmm lets hope not.
Out at 6.30am, perfect time half way up the tide, maximum movement on a little tide.
The weather had played game and was exactly as predicted ... to the hour... with a small easterly breeze breaking the surface.
I was set to prove the season was NOT over ........
It was shad after shad , orange, white, storm, sidewinder but all to no avail, I got to admit I never even felt a single bite ... (Like Saturday)
I tried inshore offshore hard ground all the same ... nothing ..... until I gave up on the shads dropped a hokkai trace and picked up 2 mackerel then used these as bait on orange muppets ..... straight into a 7lb ling then two more followed (about 6lb) ..... but none of my favourite cod.
I caught another 3 ling after that around the 4-5lb mark but put them back to grow bigger ....... where were the cod ? ....
The tide had topped at about 10.30 so by now 11.30 it was beginning to run downover ..... I just about had had enough, 2 trips in a row with little cod to show for it ........
As a last chance on the shads I noticed a number of gannets feeding, diving from height and this just happened to coincide with the position of my last wreck of choice on the day.
I dropped a white shad ..... and instantly hooked up, unfortunately it was just a small codling possibly under sized so it went back.
Down again and another hook up again small probably in size but put back anyway. This was repeated in the catch of almost 10 fish. It was good but not good enough to keep, I had resigned myself to (happily) finding a pool of small fish which were good fishing but not good catching due to the size..... however I continued ....
Only to find, bit by bit the size increased until I was pulling in 3,4 and 5lbd fish.
It became manic once again with an instant hook up when you reached bottom. I think I managed a PB shad in that a single shad took about 12 fish (most returned).
It seemed I could even choose the fish size by the retrieve rate, if I left the shad on the bottom it was taken by a small cod or a whiting but if I retrieved fast then the bigger fish were the more excited ..... or was this bit just in my mind
All in all ........... They're back, and in numbers ..... if you can find the purple patch of sea ..........
The wind came up ... right on the XC weather cue and with it the sea, dark clouds loomed on the horizon .... It was time to go ....
I returned with a good boxful of my favourite cod and codling with a few ling thrown in for good measure..... what a manic couple of hours ... class !
No pictures Im afraid other than these taken from a precariously placed camera
Instant hook up .....
The same fish boated ...
well, a big sigh of relief, the seasons still intact
cheers
norm
"A tale of two Tides"
"They're back"
"Midweek madness"
"Almost went home" .......... etc. etc.
Long and short of it is I had a couple of days hoiday and a few jobs to do, if a) I completed the work and if b) the weather played game then I had decided to once again "try a days fishing" today, once again solo due to the short notice of the trip.
I say "try" as of recent trips its been a little not so good, both for myself and also many other friends on here and around whom have all but decided the season is all but over ..... hmmmm lets hope not.
Out at 6.30am, perfect time half way up the tide, maximum movement on a little tide.
The weather had played game and was exactly as predicted ... to the hour... with a small easterly breeze breaking the surface.
I was set to prove the season was NOT over ........
It was shad after shad , orange, white, storm, sidewinder but all to no avail, I got to admit I never even felt a single bite ... (Like Saturday)
I tried inshore offshore hard ground all the same ... nothing ..... until I gave up on the shads dropped a hokkai trace and picked up 2 mackerel then used these as bait on orange muppets ..... straight into a 7lb ling then two more followed (about 6lb) ..... but none of my favourite cod.
I caught another 3 ling after that around the 4-5lb mark but put them back to grow bigger ....... where were the cod ? ....
The tide had topped at about 10.30 so by now 11.30 it was beginning to run downover ..... I just about had had enough, 2 trips in a row with little cod to show for it ........
As a last chance on the shads I noticed a number of gannets feeding, diving from height and this just happened to coincide with the position of my last wreck of choice on the day.
I dropped a white shad ..... and instantly hooked up, unfortunately it was just a small codling possibly under sized so it went back.
Down again and another hook up again small probably in size but put back anyway. This was repeated in the catch of almost 10 fish. It was good but not good enough to keep, I had resigned myself to (happily) finding a pool of small fish which were good fishing but not good catching due to the size..... however I continued ....
Only to find, bit by bit the size increased until I was pulling in 3,4 and 5lbd fish.
It became manic once again with an instant hook up when you reached bottom. I think I managed a PB shad in that a single shad took about 12 fish (most returned).
It seemed I could even choose the fish size by the retrieve rate, if I left the shad on the bottom it was taken by a small cod or a whiting but if I retrieved fast then the bigger fish were the more excited ..... or was this bit just in my mind
All in all ........... They're back, and in numbers ..... if you can find the purple patch of sea ..........
The wind came up ... right on the XC weather cue and with it the sea, dark clouds loomed on the horizon .... It was time to go ....
I returned with a good boxful of my favourite cod and codling with a few ling thrown in for good measure..... what a manic couple of hours ... class !
No pictures Im afraid other than these taken from a precariously placed camera
Instant hook up .....
The same fish boated ...
well, a big sigh of relief, the seasons still intact
cheers
norm
.
Wish I had a fiver for every time I've said that , nowt wrong with the pics Norman 
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