Bags of Cod on Lead Us…04/03/2014

Bags of Cod on Lead Us…04/03/2014 Colin and I both had the same day free when the weather was right and there was a space for me…was I coming? Did I need asking twice? Yes. No. And so there I was at half seven in the car park meeting up with Mike and Dave from Cromer again and another Dave from Oulton Broad. As we got our things together Colin went past with Richard who I’d also met before. With little ado we hopped aboard and set off through Lake Lothing, under the bridge and out to sea. We passed something I quite fancy, would be a great boat for fishing those further marks… Former Swedish Navy patrol vessel P164 Starkodder. 36.4m We ran up against the flood in beautiful weather and on a flat sea to a mark north of the usual spot. It had fished well for Brian at the weekend somewhere up here and a change of scenery is always good. Besides, the usual marks were not showing up much on the sounder. As Colin hunted around fro a good spot I got my bait ready; frozen black lugworm, fresh local mussel and a squid head on the Powerstick Uptider and Warbird 3700R loaded with mono on a 4/0 running leger pennel with a short 18” snood to combat the flow. I was already fishing while the others were still getting rigged… Hoho. Then the Skipper gets in on the action…another whiting. Any cod around? Dave? What do you reckon? Any cod around? Uhh, Dave? DAVE! I wish I hadn’t asked. I think I’d have managed a bigger smile myself but there you go… I gather he once had an 8lb bass on there too but we weren’t allowed to mention it. We did but I think we got away with it. Which is why we did a few more times. Anyway, I wasn’t having this. I wasn’t being outdone by Dave and his magic yellowtails from REite Gear. My Lancashir blacks are every bit as good… ] Sometimes. Oh yeah, Dave might be Mike, I’m rubbish with names. Then the other Dave was in! And finally, after most of the day had gone and on the fresh lug Mike (or maybe Dave?) joined the band of happy anglers with his own contribution… Colin of course had cod too…with his years of experience you’d expect him to after all… Umm, Dave…these yellowtail… DAVE! Oh no, it’s Mike. That’s why it’s so large. Richard, not to be outdone, decides to follow his Dutchman’s ?hole with some whelk eggs. While Dave carries on catching cod. Slack came and went and nothing of size was appearing anywhere. White Cheetah II and a Yarmouth boat were in line with us, one sizeable that we knew of but Colin assured us that, come the ebb, especially as it slowed, the bigger cod would start to feed. And sure enough… I woke up as well. And played Sea Angler. I’d stolen Dave’s last two yellowtail… Sadly, with dusk coming, we had no choice but to up-lines and head home for pancakes, being Shrove Tuesday and all. Just as the fish were coming on. And they came on strong we heard as we steamed home…we just needed one more hour. Still, with weather like that and 25-30 cod, albeit all but three of them juveniles, coming aboard plus whiting we’d had a fairly full day of it. The timing was bang-on, we entered the harbour as the sun began to set and had a cruise up-river that was certainly majestic. And I got to drive! We went all over the place, I think Colin regretted it. I suspect that’s as close as he’s come to being sea sick. Marvellous, what a lovely day out. Thanks Colin, thanks Richard, Dave, Mike, Dave and of course Poseidon!