Pout and Poor Cod

[PaddyB]

I know avg fish size varies around the country but has anyone on here ever caught a poor cod bigger than a foot long?
In my limited experience I have never seen either pout or pour cod that big, but on reading the IFSA specimen chart I see that a specimen pout is 3lb weight, which must be around a foot long or more and there is no mention of poor cod.

Reason I am asking, is because I fished a comp at Rathmullan on Sunday, we fished over reefs at Fanad for an hour and then moved to the laurentic for an hour before moving over sand for the remainder of the day. I had my quota of Pollack caught and as the tide run seemed too big to target ling I opted for small hooks and bait to target pout & poor cod. I landed several of each only to be told be a rathmullan club member that they needed to be 280mm long to count. Fair enough same rules apply to all, but im just wondering is it even possible to get a poor cod 280mm long?

[JimC]

Don’t reckon you’d get a poor cod over 250mm. 220 would be good one.
The humble poor cod has begun to feature in comps recently with the reduction of sizes. Up to the reduction of sizes poor cod would have been classed as a nuisance / bait robber. Someone told me that you wouldn’t be able to win the IFSA national boat comp last year unless you had your quota of poor cod, blistering stuff!
All that said, the competitors in the Cork Small Boats Festival will chase and catch a poor cod over 200 and will be delighted!

[PaddyB]

Don’t reckon you’d get a poor cod over 250mm. 220 would be good one.

Thanks for the reply, sorta thought as much myself.

[youngrod]

what is a poor cod

[MAC]

You will get Pouting to 280mm, but this would be an above average fish.

Kev

[petekd]

Ah Jim, dont you enjoy bashing poor cod?

Paddy, a poorcod of 280 would be a pretty hard fish to catch, pouting easily attain that though. Tip, I found when fishing the Laurentic, try and fish your rig with long static pauses by paying out line. Works very well for pout up there. Oh and slackish water seems better for them from my experience.

[PaddyB]

Cheers pete, I had no problem catching them, just none over 280mm long but I will remember that in future.

[PaddyB]

what is a poor cod

Its a wee small fish that never grows anywhere near 280mm

Its very similar to a pout, but its scales will come off on your hands, you'd have no interest in catching one except when fishing a comp where every new species = extra points.

[scara]

Paddy,

The pouting on the Laurentic are very small have been the last couple of years . (Not sure why ...maybe there be taken for pot bait). There just not really worth targeting at 280mm. And you won't get a 280mm poor cod. ( equivalent of needing a 15lb pollack to make the measure). It's a case of the comps point system .....it's a polite way of saying they don't count.

Marc

[PaddyB]

Paddy,

The pouting on the Laurentic are very small have been the last couple of years . (Not sure why ...maybe there be taken for pot bait). There just not really worth targeting at 280mm. And you won't get a 280mm poor cod. ( equivalent of needing a 15lb pollack to make the measure). It's a case of the comps point system .....it's a polite way of saying they don't count.

Marc

Aye another one of those 'put it down to experience moments', i'd got the quota of pollack, we were drifting too fast for ling so I didnt know what else to do. I put two hooks down for the p & p and one flyer hoping for a coalie. The thing about it is im 99% sure they weren't measured during the Rathmullan comp back in May cause I had 4 pout counters on both days, and Im damn sure they werent 280mm

[petekd]

Wouldnt put too much store in that too fast for ling thing paddy. Ling like a moving bait, we banged a load of them on saturday at over 2 knots of a drift on occasion. Pay out line if you get the chance to slow it down. Even holding a bait static for a few seconds on a fast drift can pay dividends.

[swillyrock]

Paddy the pout are very small this year dont now why but what i can say is that it is only this year that the size has been reduced to 280 it used to be 300 and hopefully next year we do away with the stick altogether

[dan]

any poorcod i have had have only been about 10 or 15cm