With the colder weather settling in, the summer lure gear has been cleaned down and it’s time to turn attention to Autumn and Winter targets. With a young family, I don’t get a whole lot of time to fish in general but the easiest way to squeeze a session in 9 times out of 10 is to go at night when everyone’s tucked up!
Which is handy at this time of year because, as with most anglers, attentions have turned to the prospect of a nice plump Codling for the table.
Admittedly I’m not much of a cod angler, but I do like to get out for them a few times over winter, braving wind, rain, snow and rough, stormy seas in the hopes of a pig with fins.
A plan was hatched with Steve who was up in Newbiggin for a short caravan holiday to hit the rocks on Friday night with conditions looking promising. By the time Friday came though there was a bit more easterly in the swell which makes the mark we chose originally a little bit sketchy, so to play it safe we decided to hit the promenade at Whitley Bay. I haven’t fished here in a good few years but with it being almost directly south facing, the sting is taken out of even the biggest of northerly seas, and it can end up being one of the few places fishable in the area during such conditions.
I went out a bit earlier than was necessary, which was just as well as arriving in the car park I realised I’d left all my bait behind in the freezer, so I had to make the half hour drive home again to pick it up! In the end I arrived back an hour after originally intended, coincidentally just as Steve was pulling up. We were still a tad early as this spot tends to do best (in my own experience at least) 2-3 hours up and up to 2 hours down depending on the tide size, but at least we were assured a space. The mark is quite consistent in these conditions so I was hopeful of a few fish.
The North Easterly wind was pretty brutal and the bank of the car park was doing little to dampen it, but since we’d chosen a spot that was southerly facing, we could at least turn our backs to it and still keep an eye on the rods. I’m not used to seeing my Mk1 Carbon Metal Crest bouncing about so much, they’re usually pretty solid, but the wind was side on and gusting beyond 30mph so I suppose I should have expected it.
Steve was first and second off the mark with a couple of smaller codling to worm baits, both undersized but at least a sign that there was fish in the area. With the wind I’d be surprised if we were managing to cast more than 50-60 yards at best but it was clearly enough.
My first couple of bait ups had been worm mixed with cart and had yielded nothing but stripped hooks. I like to take a selection of baits cod fishing and find I have better success changing things up when I’m not getting bites on a particular bait, so I swapped the cart for a lugworm and squid wrap to see if that would entice anything.
Between the constant wind movement of the rod it was still easy to discern the obvious thump of a fish 10 minutes later and when reeling in I could tell it was a bit bigger. A few seconds later I had a lovely codling at my feet which tipped the scales at bang on 4lb. Happy with that for the first of the year!
We fished on a bit longer with renewed confidence but unfortunately Steve had to leave a little earlier than intended, and with the best of the tide behind us I decided to call it an evening as well – satisfied with ending on a high with a decent fish for supper tomorrow.
With the temperature dropping below freezing this week I’m sure I’ll be out again in the coming weeks.