Chasing cod on the east coast of Scotland in early February from a boat is a very chancy business. Usually the odds are stacked against you even if the weather plays nice. Happily, today was a little different 🙂
The first hour or two saw us plugging away catching a few codling and small pollack on a mix of lures and bait. This alone would be a decent day out at this time of year, until Ian hit what was clearly a much nicer fish. I readied a net whilst he played it carefully towards the boat.
Suddenly his rod really did bend double as this fish took off in an unstoppable run! Fortunately Ian has years of fishing for large pollack under his belt and had his drag set sensibly. We just looked at each other as the line streamed off… Then, equally suddenly, we were back to situation normal and Ian started to wind the fish back to the boat.
Once safely netted we realised that this cod was comfortably into double figures and easily the biggest cod Ian has had (off his own boat). Intriguingly it also had large gashes around its head – some sort of explanation for that unstoppable run. Ordinarily I’d say seal, but there were none around and they don’t give up prey that easily. Speculation continues, but it was a lovely fish, and followed by several other decent specimens.
Eventually we called it a day as the sun set and headed back inshore. Normally I’m quite happy to sit on the sidelines when it comes to winter cod boat fishing on the east coast, but I’m very glad I was tempted out on this occasion!
Wow, what a cod for Ian! Beauty! And persuading an unseen cod predator to let go by the look of it too! Good to see that boat trips off the Scottish east coast can do the business in late winter if Lady Luck allows. And makes up for some of your leaner Etive experiences of late… We are always learning. In the last few weeks I’ve surprised myself with some ‘late’ catches of codling off a Northumberland beach not far from Dunstanburgh, after telling the ‘good lady’ that it probably wasn’t worth it (too late in the season?), and I’d probably be back biteless within a few hours. It amazes me that decent cod will venture into just a few feet of water, though that is the benefit of night fishing (well that and having the beach to yourself). Cheers, Martyn
Hi Martyn, sorry for the late reply but my excuse is a long weekend away camping and fishing 🙂 It’s interesting you’re still catching cod at this time of year from a shallow beach – normally it’s pretty dead around here. Ian’s had better cod from other venues, but it’s always more satisfying from your own boat. I just hope it’s not another 30 years until he gets the next one!
Cheers,
Doug
Excellent result there, well done Ian ! Nice headroom cuddy too, by the way.
Yup, I only come along to net his fish! The cuddy on the Raider has full standing headroom which is great for hiding from the rain, but it doesn’t half catch the wind at times. Just another boating compromise!