For Cods sake!

Week three and things are really heating up as the southwest goes tropical, the reality is the lakes were frozen Friday, the Ilfracombe Spurdog trip was blown off Saturday and someone forgot to book the Cod for Sunday. So January is shaping up to be something quite forgettable and even the best laid plans are once again proving fishing is far from predictable. Sometimes no matter how much effort you put in you return home to spend the evening scratching your head. So lets have a look at what went in to todays Cod quest and then when I read it back maybe I can see where it went wrong.

First thing is research where's a good venue to catch Cod? The Bristol Channel, check!

When's the best time to catch them? Jan, Feb check!

Get myself on a trip with a group of good anglers targeting Cod, check!

Find out the best rigs and spend an afternoon tying them, check!

Get advice on the best baits and spend the morning preparing them, check!

So now I know, when, where, how and what with, easy peasy just need to dig out the big hand on a stick so I can pat myself on the back as the Cod throw themselves at me!

The bait preparation alone could have caused some domestic repercussions and the timing is crucial.

Step 1 wait for lovely wife to say she is going shopping.

Step 2 gather all the items required to prepare the bait secretly before her departure

Step 3 Unleash the products on the kitchen as soon as the door closes.

Above starting the bait preparation.

Above giving the fishing a varied choice of seafood cocktails

Ensure you marinade your selection in some foul smelling gunk that promises to attract fish.

Finally undertake a deep clean of the kitchen before the good lady returns and catches you in the act.

So with everything planned, prepped and packed I was awoken by the alarm at 03.30am I remember thinking I cannot find any positives in stumbling around at this time of the morning. I thought I would take the dog out before leaving and even he couldn't see the sense in it, turning his back and huffing at me when I switched on the light. So I hit the road at 04.15 and spent the journey imagining just how big the Cod would be while humming along to Simon and Garfunkel. The journey took 1.5hrs and incredibly the sunshine town of Minehead was still black as ink, I met one of the Happy Danglers who advised me of a parking discrepancy we could exploit which I duly did, makes a change!

So we boarded Steve Webbers excellent charter boat Osprey and headed out into the dark calm waters of the Bristol Channel.

Dawn arrives but the Cod don't!

The guys I was out with today really are a smashing bunch rightly living up to their name the Happy Danglers, Mike, Toby, Nick, Troy and Dave! The skipper Steve and deckhand will kept us supplied with hot drinks and bacon rolls but I have to say I really felt the cold today, getting to the stage where I need to take a blanket and water bottle. Fish wise a few whiting started to appear and I managed a small one but ive already had one so no points for that one. Nick was flying on the species taking, dogfish, whiting, thornback and spotted rays but sadly lost his conger. Finally another bite for me and I managed to straighten my fingers enough to grab the rod and after no battle whatsoever I swung in a Lesser Spotted Dogfish, yes a species on the list, probably the only time I will be pleased to see one this year.

The skipper tried a number of areas and despite the previous day producing some great Cod on the boat they never materialised for us. I managed to lose a Ray while bringing it in and that was a species I was hoping for. With about 10 minutes to go I had a good bite and this resulted in species 6 the Conger Eel again not the biggest but on a rock hard day that had taken a lot of effort I was very grateful to catch and return the eel.