More October Cod...

Well after nearly two weeks of waiting, the weather came good for another go at the cod today. We were chomping at the bit to get back out there knowing there were cod to be had - if you can find them!
Jake wanted in on the action today and with settled conditions he got the green light and a day afloat!
Arriving at the mark, the water had a good shade of colour in it from the recent bad weather we've had and it certainly looked fishy. As soon as the hook was in our baits found their way to the bottom and we sat back in anticipation.
Dogs were on the scene but thankfully not in numbers...unlike the amount of boats out today that for some reason felt necessary to anchor themselves where our uptide leads were landing. There are two unwritten rules that should be common sense to most:

• If you have to fish near another boat, respect their space. Consider the fact that they may be fishing uptide and casting up to 60 yards in a radius from each side of the boat.
• Never anchor directly downtide of a boat already fishing. To anchor up in someone else's scent trail and attempt to catch their fish is asking for trouble!

Common sense really but it does happen...quite often. I wouldn't dream of doing it so don't do it to me!!
Anyway rant over - back to the fishing! After a few dogs I noticed a gentle nod that then just started to load up the rod and pull over. Leaning back into the weight, it started to buck and kick...no doubt about it - this was a cod! It's bad enough when you've had a couple but when it's you first of the season - your knees start to shake!!! Took some coaxing up in the full run of the tide but found her way into the net in the end. Nice way to start with a 'skinny' 15lb'er!

Next up, Dave plucked out a 7lb'er on a bait uptide...

More dogs followed before I found myself connected to a large conger. We had him up to the boat with the intention of pulling it in for a photo but some serious rod tangles followed when it decided on a lap of the boat - end result was two snapped mainlines - whoops!
It was at this point that Mr Clever decided to anchor no more than 35 yards to our left - seriously, WTF! Had Dave not pulled out another cod from under their noses straight after I think there would have been a few choice words! 12lb this one:

Three cod on the boat and Jake was starting to wonder why he hadn't caught one but kept himself amused putting old baits down our waders and examining the contents of the cod. 
As slack tide came there were a few more eels on the scene and before he knew what was going on, Jake found himself attached to one! With a lot bit of help Jake had it on the surface...this one had to come in for a photo!

We hatched a plan to fish a very small window for the first of the ebb in some deeper water before the tide got away and that's exactly what we did. That 'window' however was a lot narrower than we had hoped for and apart from another eel before the tide got away, that was the day done.

Back at the club it was nice to see Olly with a decent bass of 9lb and angling legend Mike Mowbray with a fine brace of cod....and bass !! Just for you Mike!!

I can see an early mid week assault coming ;-)