SOUTH COAST COD REPORTS 2019

[donal domeney]

If you are at Ferrypoint at low water ( the bigger tides) you will get mussel at the left hand corner. I was there on the bank holiday Monday and picked a few as a back up to the crab. I had I or 2 cod on them. I was chatting to Dubs that were fishing at the corner by the mussel bed and hadn't thought of using it as a bait. Got the thumbs up from them before I left and a shout of "got 2 on the mussel".
Best cod off Ferrypoint a few years was weighed at over 9lb and taken on 5 or 6 mussel on a 6/0 hook.

[patk]

This year particularly finding it very hard to get crab. I see here mussel is rated as a back up bait. How do people fish it? Fresh(very hard to work?) Salted? Sausages made on baiting needle? I read in Clive Gammons excellent book " Salt Water Fishing in Ireland" that he and Des Brennan were in youghal in November targeting cod and had lugworm with them. A local who brought them out "..he wouldn't say we'd fail to catch cod on such a bait, but it was pretty clear that our chances would be better with what he was using - mussel, three days old and dried in the wind" They used these with great success of course. In a book. In the 60s!! I'd love to find a bait I could use that can be got a little easier than crab. Any thoughts??

[donal domeney]

I use the mussel straight from the shell. A good whipping with elastic thread before I put it on the hook seems to do the job. I use a small peeling knife to open them, the one her indoors use for peeling the spuds, less chance of taking off a finger or two.

[guernica84]

There are all sorts of fancy ways of doing it - look up Tronix Baiting Tool, you'd want the large one for cod. Then there's the sausages you talk about but made very pretty by using bait tubes and PVA bags carpers use for boilies. Then there's freezing them in crab oil. I still want to experiment a bit more with the PVA tube method before dismissing it but so far I've found as is often the case, the simplest method is the best i.e. what Donal says, just lash the heck out of them with elastic. Looks sloppy when you 1st put them on but shapes up well. Bigger mussels of course make it easier. We get MASSIVE ones up here in the Lagan estuary (pity they aren't fit for human consumption). I made a booboo this week and left myself having to buy from the fishmonger (tackle shop prices are silly for something that's so easy to get free). The farmed ones were so much smaller and the meat I got from a 5lb bag was quite disheartening. Anyway, I needed it because as you say PatK, there does not seem to be a crab for sale in Youghal the year. I'm down now and fishing hard Thurs - Sat so I brought down my whole supply of about 3 dozen crab and the rest will be the mussel experiment. Plenty of frozen blacks and razors too. Going to be interesting, not caught many fish on shellfish but I haven't used them that much.

[patk]

Let us know how you get on!! I picked a good few mussels in the summer and made them into sausages on the baiting needle. Let them go off a little a la Clive Gammon froze them but haven't had a touch on them. Quite a bit of work shelling etc don't really have confidence in them so will try fresh next i think.

[guernica84]

Fished last Thurs and Fri night HW on the Bandstand. 1st cast a codling of 1.5lb. After that it was steady whiting, good 40cm+ fish, way bigger than anything we get up North so was a bit of a novelty for me. Finished with I think a dog, a cod and 6 whiting, all goid eating size.
Thurs same again only no cod, 9 chunky whiting this time.
Mussel was probably the best bait for the whiting but several even took straight mack just lifted off the bottom away from the crabs.
Sat I fished up river at HW. Had a bit of a nightmare with weed and constant tangles with the angler next to me. Only managed 1 cod and 2 flounder but it was a nice cod, just over 3.5 lbs. Can't wait for the next trip in Dec, will be spending more time on the river then!

[RoryH]

Fished Ferrypoint an hour before high tide and about 2 hours after, mainly lug and mussel, with some rag here and there. Couple of cod and whiting around 30cm, and a coalie just before the current got too strong to hold. Fresh lug seemed to make a pile of difference compared to the frozen stuff later in the session

[patk]

Anyone know anywhere selling crab fresh or frozen in Cork area?

[eoghanb]

Why not try tiger prawns they worked great for smoothies for me during the summer,they seemed to do as well as peeler ,also easy to get

[kenf41]

Does anyone know if wexford harbour is worth fishing this time of year or maybe somewhere near there
Ken

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[Teegerstk]

Does anyone know if wexford harbour is worth fishing this time of year or maybe somewhere near there
Ken

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I just put up a report from the waterford estuary if you're interested

[kenf41]

Does anyone know if wexford harbour is worth fishing this time of year or maybe somewhere near there
Ken

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I just put up a report from the waterford estuary if you're interested

Was very quiet in the harbour . Hoping to find bait somewhere today to try somewhere else tonight maybe

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[Teegerstk]

Does anyone know if wexford harbour is worth fishing this time of year or maybe somewhere near there
Ken

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I just put up a report from the waterford estuary if you're interested

Was very quiet in the harbour . Hoping to find bait somewhere today to try somewhere else tonight maybe

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I've never fished the harbour, did you blank? I'm heading out to fish the start of the flood in the estuary so I'll report back. Supposed to get windy and rainy again soon unfortunately.

[kenf41]

Does anyone know if wexford harbour is worth fishing this time of year or maybe somewhere near there
Ken

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I just put up a report from the waterford estuary if you're interested

Was very quiet in the harbour . Hoping to find bait somewhere today to try somewhere else tonight maybe

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I've never fished the harbour, did you blank? I'm heading out to fish the start of the flood in the estuary so I'll report back. Supposed to get windy and rainy again soon unfortunately.

Yeah blank.
Bait was pretty poor though


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[Teegerstk]

Yeah blank.
Bait was pretty poor though


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Sorry about the blank. I was at arthurstown this evening and it was slow going until my final cast, a very small codling. I had freshly frozen sandeel, wraps and mackerel and there wasn't much action, just a few hesitant nibbles every now and then that lead to nothing.

[Sean Mac]

Low water 12.30
High water 18.30
SW wind
Dec 27th 2019
Arrived at Ferry-point at 12.30. I could see it was low water as the mussel beds were visible. Casting one rod out into the main channel and the other a short lob. After my second cast i noticed the tide starting to flood in. The current began to pick up and next thing a good bite in the main channel and nice little Codling. The few minutes i spent taking a photo the current picked up so much and with some weed i had to move from the main channel. I moved towards the mussel beds and continued on into darkness. The wind picked up and the rain came with it but i was happy as the bites were coming fast and furious. I fished one rod with crab and the other with Mackerel and black lug. The crab next produced a lovely Coalfish followed by a flounder on the Mackerel bait. The crab baits were cast out towards the main channel and another Codling. It was getting frantic. Plenty of bites and some missed fish, next i had a nice bass on the bank with crab. The mackerel bait were getting bites and next thing a nice whiting came in. I fished on till an hour after high water and bites ceased but i was happy to have had 2 decent Codling, decent Whiting,Coalfish, flounder and bass. It was my most enjoyable session of the year.

[guernica84]

Nice fishing man. Local guys - would it be right to say the codling are starting to thin out?

[donal domeney]

Nice fishing man. Local guys - would it be right to say the codling are starting to thin out?

Gone fairly thin on the ground at the moment.


Fished a pub comp there yesterday (17 anglers fished). Started up the river first, two hours after low water should have been spot on for cod but spent 2 hours there for a 39cm flounder not even small fish there. The chatter on the mobiles was that nobody was catching fish. Headed to Ferrypoint where one of the club members just landed a dogfish. First 4 casts produced 3 average size cod and a nice size whiting all taken at distance on a mix of baits crab, lug and mussel either alone or on cocktails. OK I'm on a roll or so I thought until a seal appeared in the channel. It was a dull miserable kind of a day with a strong cold wind blowing up the river. Thank god for the Pajero the two of us sat in behind it for the day. Ended up with 3 cod, 3 whiting, 1 flounder and 1 coalfish to sneak the comp by 1 point. Anglers who fished Cobh and Monkstown did not have a single fish over 30cm.

[Sean Mac]

Good man Donal you got among the fish and won, considering the amount of Anglers fishing at different locations it sure looks like tough going out there. Hopefully the seals havent moved in. I wonder if we saw a real cold snap would it help with the fishing. Its been wet and windy lately but not really cold. Am always looking forward to my next outing but the conditions are annoying at the moment.

[guernica84]

Yep, near SW hurricane in the Antrim Glens today but 13 degrees. Crazy! Speaking of seals, didn't notice it at the time but I took a 3.5lb Youghal cod out of the freezer and cooked it today. Deep bite mark on it.