Mr Fish
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2020
- Messages
- 19,079
- Reaction score
- 65,886
- Points
- 116
- Location
- North Devon
- Favourite Fishing
- Shore
Joined @Christurner last night to fish a North Devon estuary mark to try for the elusive codling.
I really like this mark - it’s almost like fishing in the upper BC and I do love fishing in strong tide for codling, just waiting for that massive pull down and slack line bite as the fish hits your bait in the tide.
Big gripper weights cast uptide and the rods bent right over, so you know that a sudden drop back is either a fish, or weed.
This mark is a far cheaper alternative for me than trekking two hours up channel.
It was also traditionally a banker codling mark, I could once guarantee at least a couple of keepers a session, with about 2.5/3lb fish being the average. 7lb was the biggest I ever saw.
We tried twice last year and although Chris had some nice whiting, we didn’t see a cod.
My thinking was we’d gone a bit late in the season, towards the end of December, so this year we were determined to hit it earlier.
We set up 2.5 hours before high on a nice neap tide. Conditions looked perfect - nice steady tide flow, very little weed, with peeler crab the main bait.
Well, it was slow. We didn’t see any bites until nearly high tide, when Chris landed a whiting.
He soon had a better one that was a good keeper, then another.
I couldn’t buy a bite until around the high when I missed a couple that were clearly whiting bites. I didn’t really mind, I was happy to stick it out for a cod.
As usually happens, I was fiddling with bait or sorting tackle or something when I looked up to see the right hand rod I’d just cast out steadily bend right over.
It was clearly a bite as it was pulling uptide against the flow, so definitely not weed.
I grabbed the rod, locked the reel spool and whacked it. I briefly felt as if I’d hooked into something a bit heavier then it went slack again.
Feck and double feck! Retrieved it and the peeler was mangled to hell but the fish had obviously missed the hooks somehow.
There’s no shortage of bass in the estuary so it COULD have been a bass but the semi slow pull down in a rather deliberate manner definitely suggested cod (no ray in there).
Grrr! Newly enthusiastic we fished on until 2.5 hours after high, but no more cod bites.
Chris finished up with three keeper whiting and I had one about 12oz to beat the blank, not that I’ve ever really cared about that. Missing the target is pretty much like a blank for me.
Chris’s fish.
By the time we’d got back, walked back to the cars and I’d got home, it was 3am.
We both knew it would be a late session but the tide window and other commitments meant we probably can’t get back to that mark for at least two weeks if not longer.
I’m beginning to wonder about it now. It used to be so good but we’ve had three trips there and no codling.
Is it that the mark has changed? The estuary does change frequently. Or are the codling just not coming up the river now, or at least on the times we’ve fished?
Generally the season is from October to the end of December but who knows.
I suggested to Chris we give it at least one more go whenever we can get back there, but if that fails, I’m beginning to wonder if I might have to rethink the spot as a viable mark.
Then again, I can drive two hours up channel and still manage to blank too ?
I really like this mark - it’s almost like fishing in the upper BC and I do love fishing in strong tide for codling, just waiting for that massive pull down and slack line bite as the fish hits your bait in the tide.
Big gripper weights cast uptide and the rods bent right over, so you know that a sudden drop back is either a fish, or weed.
This mark is a far cheaper alternative for me than trekking two hours up channel.
It was also traditionally a banker codling mark, I could once guarantee at least a couple of keepers a session, with about 2.5/3lb fish being the average. 7lb was the biggest I ever saw.
We tried twice last year and although Chris had some nice whiting, we didn’t see a cod.
My thinking was we’d gone a bit late in the season, towards the end of December, so this year we were determined to hit it earlier.
We set up 2.5 hours before high on a nice neap tide. Conditions looked perfect - nice steady tide flow, very little weed, with peeler crab the main bait.
Well, it was slow. We didn’t see any bites until nearly high tide, when Chris landed a whiting.
He soon had a better one that was a good keeper, then another.
I couldn’t buy a bite until around the high when I missed a couple that were clearly whiting bites. I didn’t really mind, I was happy to stick it out for a cod.
As usually happens, I was fiddling with bait or sorting tackle or something when I looked up to see the right hand rod I’d just cast out steadily bend right over.
It was clearly a bite as it was pulling uptide against the flow, so definitely not weed.
I grabbed the rod, locked the reel spool and whacked it. I briefly felt as if I’d hooked into something a bit heavier then it went slack again.
Feck and double feck! Retrieved it and the peeler was mangled to hell but the fish had obviously missed the hooks somehow.
There’s no shortage of bass in the estuary so it COULD have been a bass but the semi slow pull down in a rather deliberate manner definitely suggested cod (no ray in there).
Grrr! Newly enthusiastic we fished on until 2.5 hours after high, but no more cod bites.
Chris finished up with three keeper whiting and I had one about 12oz to beat the blank, not that I’ve ever really cared about that. Missing the target is pretty much like a blank for me.
Chris’s fish.
By the time we’d got back, walked back to the cars and I’d got home, it was 3am.
We both knew it would be a late session but the tide window and other commitments meant we probably can’t get back to that mark for at least two weeks if not longer.
I’m beginning to wonder about it now. It used to be so good but we’ve had three trips there and no codling.
Is it that the mark has changed? The estuary does change frequently. Or are the codling just not coming up the river now, or at least on the times we’ve fished?
Generally the season is from October to the end of December but who knows.
I suggested to Chris we give it at least one more go whenever we can get back there, but if that fails, I’m beginning to wonder if I might have to rethink the spot as a viable mark.
Then again, I can drive two hours up channel and still manage to blank too ?
