Winter cod fishing

[RockHunter]

It has been quite a while since I posted up a shore report. The last couple of months I have been focused on cod fishing. After a slow start in early November it significantly improved later in the month. Using large hooks (4/0 - 5/0) on pennel pulleys with big baits and fishing in the right place I have managed to avoid the small nuisance fish. If it can't get its mouth around a 4/0 hook then I am not interested.

The numbers have not been large but the quality has been superb. I have had some very good fish, cod of 6 and 6.5 lbs as well as a few in the 5-6 lb range and a number of others above 4 lbs. It is proving to be my best ever cod season.

I will try to do up a full report over Christmas.

[myworldfishing]

Smashing work dude,.... Iv been down to waterford 5 times and only got the 1... Am debating if its worth another trip.

[samo]

Cracking report mate they look like well feed cod. what was in their stomach when you gutted them?

[fishy1987]

excellent Fishing frank! some mighty Cod there All the best with the rest of the season! hopefully a few P.b's in waiting for you Good to see a report from you!

A Longer Ruler might be on your wishlist then for Christmas
ferg

[RockHunter]

Thanks guys,

what was in their stomach when you gutted them

Most had sandeels, some were stuffed with them.
A few had rocklings and the 6.5 pounder had a good size whiting in it.
Prawns were also in the stomach of some but surprisingly crabs were rare.

[saving private brian]

nice one frank,,,good to see the flat plump cod around,,,your dead right with the hook size,,,gone a bit that way meself

[JOHN1]

some cracking fish there frank well done

[paul skelly]

Nice one frank some fine fish , they look yummy

[seanbah]

Lovely fish, where were they caught??

[Stan]

Some Nice cod there Frank. I will have to get the beach rods out over the Christmas

[andy k 85]

They were caught by the mouth

[sparkey+1]

They were caught by the mouth

on a 4/0 hook Nice one Andy

[sparkey+1]

Frank some great fishing there some nice fully bellies on them fish so the crab wasn't in many of them. Had you got many sessions fishing for them?. Look forward to reading the report for the Canaries.

[thelegend]

well done frank, some very nice looking cod there! hope you catch many more, i might even catch a few myself with a bit of luck

[Ric0shay]

I always look forward to your reports Rock.Well done.

[RockHunter]

Thanks guys,

some nice fully bellies on them fish so the crab wasn't in many of them. Had you got many sessions fishing for them?.

First three weeks of November it was very poor, then we had a bit of a storm which brought them in close. Since then I have had about 7 sessions which have all produced between 2-7 fish above 2 lbs.
The fish I had in the last week of November were stuffed to the gills with sandeels - must have been chasing them on the beaches (a few of the sandeels were still alive). The ones I am getting now still have some sandeels in their stomachs but there is more variety. One porky cod had three small rocklings in it!!!

[seanie35]

Some nice cod there frank

[kstaff]

Are there big tides at present and a Southerly? If so the cod should appear again on the beaches.

[RockHunter]

big tides at present and a Southerly? If so the cod should appear again on the beaches.

It should bring them in close alright - but timing for fishing a rising tide in darkness is not great at the moment if you have to get up for work the following morning (I have mostly got them well into the rising tide).

[Deleted User 3488]

What can ya say to that,savage fishing Frank