the cod season

[kela66]

this is my 1st year sea fishing so excuse the daft question but traditionally when would the cod season come to an end ? (shore fishing) it seems a bit abnormal this year with the mags going on about the best in 50 years yet everyone saying its been a bit bleak ,also reading books that say the big fish come after christmas but big fish were being reported on this forum late last year!! whats the crack ??

[Red5]

I have found over the years that the period between mid October and the middle of December used to produce the most numerous bags, and then from January to mid February the best time for a lunker.
However the fish have to be there and this year the fishing in the North East has been poor. Was talking to a match angler last night who said he is even starting to become disillusioned with the fishing.
The past few weeks have shown a slight improvement on the past two years for january(probably due to the fact that there have been a few decent seas), but the fish are patchy and it's being in the right place at the right time. I know lads who have gone down and had 5 fish one night, gone to the same area the next night and the cod are gone.

As for the end of the season, it really depends who you are as many anglers still fish the kelp beds for red cod during the summer months. The Alnwcik Sea Angling club always finish between the middle of Feb and the beginning of March as it really dies off then.

[treeboa]

im going to give it a few more sessions then look at getting my freshwater stuff out and serviced ready for easter start, while im waiting for a few warm summer ( hahahaha) sessions, see if i can pick a few bass out

[Marty.E.]

I kind of agree with Red 5 in that the best fishing for cod now seems to occur from September through to mid December. Although January / February have always been the months for the biguns. Considering the weather this winter compared to last winter, we have had a lot more Northerlies/ Easterlies and this has had an influence on the number of double figure fish landed so far. Hopefully we will see a few more caught before the season ends ( February/ March ) although this will all depend on the weather.
Cheers
Marty

[Rod_bender]

When does it end? it hasn't even started for me yet... hehe.

[5150]

im going to give it a few more sessions then look at getting my freshwater stuff out and serviced ready for easter start, while im waiting for a few warm summer ( hahahaha) sessions, see if i can pick a few bass out

Yeah, I'm looking forwards to April onwards to try and get some decent sized plaice this year, seemed to get very few of them the last couple of years so I'm going to specifically try and target them this year rather than just scratching for anything that's going.

[kela66]

thanks for the replies lads

[scaley]

difficult one to answer as every year is different,but agree with previous replies that september heralds the start of the cod season,first big seas of the autumn tend to bring a run of smaller codling which tend to bugger off before the new year especially south of the tyne,then fist few months of the year tends to produce less fish but better quality,but don,t pack yer gear up yet as there are marks that still produce fish into the spring/summer months,resident fish on the rock marks and you will still see some cod off the piers and the estuaries into the spring months,but as i first said every year is different,but as the fishing is sH'T at the moment i will look forward to it being sh@t in the summer but with the bonus of getting a sun tan

[b8ker]

cod

I have found over the years that the period between mid October and the middle of December used to produce the most numerous bags, and then from January to mid February the best time for a lunker.
However the fish have to be there and this year the fishing in the North East has been poor. Was talking to a match angler last night who said he is even starting to become disillusioned with the fishing.
The past few weeks have shown a slight improvement on the past two years for january(probably due to the fact that there have been a few decent seas), but the fish are patchy and it's being in the right place at the right time. I know lads who have gone down and had 5 fish one night, gone to the same area the next night and the cod are gone.

As for the end of the season, it really depends who you are as many anglers still fish the kelp beds for red cod during the summer months. The Alnwcik Sea Angling club always finish between the middle of Feb and the beginning of March as it really dies off then.

totally agree m8 jan and feb the months for me like had my 11 half punder in feb