With the wind in the North I decided to try for a few codlings last night. Little did I know this was to be a session of dreams.
I arrived at my first mark at high water, I cast out and within minutes the rod tip started nodding. 2 minutes later my first codling was on the beach and size at 38cm. After a quick photo it was released to fight another day.
Things were very slow after this and after 3 hours of the ebb without a bite I moved into mark number 2.
First cast resulted in a crack off and after much foul language and a new leader I was in the water again. Within minutes I was into another codling.
Next cast, I was into another.
And another.
Then another, and another and another. Every cast I was into codling so I switched to a 2 hook flapper and started catching them two at a time
I managed a couple of better fish, the biggest at 3.8lb.
Most of the fish were in the 1-2lb bracket and well over the 35cm legal limit but there were also a few undersize sprinkled in amongst them.
This one was left to recover for a couple of mins after a spirited fight.
For 3 and a half hours I had cod EVERY chuck and before I knew it I had no bait left at all.
But in that very frantic few hours I had managed to winkle out 17 sized cod and I lost count after 8 undersized. 25 cod in a single session??? I kept pinching myself thinking I was dreaming.
I kept 6 that were badly hooked and all of the rest were returned ready for the winter months.
Truly unbelievable fishing and best of all, this is AUGUST!!!
I arrived at my first mark at high water, I cast out and within minutes the rod tip started nodding. 2 minutes later my first codling was on the beach and size at 38cm. After a quick photo it was released to fight another day.
Things were very slow after this and after 3 hours of the ebb without a bite I moved into mark number 2.
First cast resulted in a crack off and after much foul language and a new leader I was in the water again. Within minutes I was into another codling.
Next cast, I was into another.
And another.
Then another, and another and another. Every cast I was into codling so I switched to a 2 hook flapper and started catching them two at a time
I managed a couple of better fish, the biggest at 3.8lb.
Most of the fish were in the 1-2lb bracket and well over the 35cm legal limit but there were also a few undersize sprinkled in amongst them.
This one was left to recover for a couple of mins after a spirited fight.
For 3 and a half hours I had cod EVERY chuck and before I knew it I had no bait left at all.
But in that very frantic few hours I had managed to winkle out 17 sized cod and I lost count after 8 undersized. 25 cod in a single session??? I kept pinching myself thinking I was dreaming.
I kept 6 that were badly hooked and all of the rest were returned ready for the winter months.
Truly unbelievable fishing and best of all, this is AUGUST!!!
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