I use big baits as the dog fest really drains my enthusiasm ,hence I don't get pestered unlike my crew Dogfish Mike 
Small baits do work its all to do with confidence in what you're using,Chris who done well on cod championships prebaited 14 rigs the night before with two cutttle and froze them so that when dropped down they would sit high in the water due to the fact that they were frozen solid!
Nige
Martin
Nigel has sent me a photo of your fish to my phone for me to upload on the site however I can't get the piccy from my phone to the pc.
Could you email me a copy please
The other Martin
have emailed pic to you many thanks !
Still not received please send to info@mjburt.co.uk and not through this site as attachments do not go
Martin
Martin
Nigel has sent me a photo of your fish to my phone for me to upload on the site however I can't get the piccy from my phone to the pc.
Could you email me a copy please
The other Martin
have emailed pic to you many thanks !
Still not received please send to info@mjburt.co.uk and not through this site as attachments do not go
Martin
SENT THANKS....OH AND IF YOU HAVE PHOTOSHOP I COULD DO WITH A LITTLE WORK BEFORE PUBLISH.....HAHA
thats a beauty Branco!
It was an early start for me to get down to Rockley and join Martin and Dean on AWOL, and by 7 we were motoring out through the harbour, keeping one eye on the plotter/radar screen and one eye on the fog.
The club spirit was soon apparent as various club skippers came up on the radio asking about the sea state and visibility and in normal AWOL style, Martin gave it a bit more throttle so that we could get out there first and report back!
Soon the sky above was giving glimpses of blue and as we neared the island we emerged into the sunshine and picked up a mark, where the anchor was dropped. Great, we thought, all we need now is for this sea to flatten out a bit, and then we can enjoy the pain in our shoulders from reeling in cod after cod...!
Yes, as everyone else has said, the wind blew, and the sea stayed lumpy (both more-so than the forecast had indicated I think) but the sun was shining, and Martin makes a fab cup of tea. But the bites came slowly, and for a while, after Dean was pulling in his fourth Conger and Martin was unhooking more Pout and Doggies, I was worried that I was going to have a blank, even though I was religiously (inspired by Dean who was trying everything in his fishy-attracting arsenal while I sat on my arse waiting to find out what was going to do the trick) changing my bait.
By this time Dean's first box of hand reared (I think it was hand reared going by the price of it) squid had run out and he opened another box. The squid in this one were much smaller. I was fishing with my usual 2 rods, both of which are fairly light and were bending a fair bit with the weight required to hold a big squid on the bottom in the tide, even though I was only using one squid at a time on a 6/0 pennel. So when we started on the little squid I still only used one at a time. Like has been indicated further back in this thread, I now started catching, but still only Pout-cod and Dogfish-cod...
Now, I don't get out nearly as much as I'd like, and it takes me quite a while to get bored of catching Pout and Dogfish, so I was overjoyed when I caught a Pout, then a Dogfish, then another decent sized Pout, then another Dogfish.
On the next drop down I felt something have a go at the bait, so I played about a bit pulling the bait back a bit, then letting out a bit of line, then lifting the bait again. I then felt a proper bite, but not huge, and so set about pulling up another Pout and the big weight on my skinny little rod. Once I got the weight a couple of feet off the bottom the Pout-cod decided to turn into a Cod-Cod and after a few minutes of gentle reeling and praying that my knots/line wouldn't part, up came this!
We all thought "This is it, the time has come! Cod o'clock!" but sadly that turned out to be not the case, and I think Martin only had a couple more doggies all day.
The tide turned and the boat swung around and the sea got lumpier, and to add insult to injury we now had the wind blowing into the back of the boat, and the winter sun wasn't enough to keep us warm. Dean retired inside the canopy, Martin tried to will himself somewhere else, and I tried Nigel's fish-attracting technique of nodding off a bit (didn't work) and about the time that everyone else was giving up, we decided to move back towards home and try another mark.
Sadly this failed to produce any fish at all, and so with the sun setting we upped-anchor and headed for the chain ferry.
It was a fantastic sunset though (almost) enough to make the trip out there worthwhile...
It was a slow day on a horrible lumpy sea (I think those are the worst conditions that I've been out in and 'survived') but I still enjoyed myself, so thanks for Martin and Dean for letting me aboard.
Cod weighed at home as 17lb 1oz.
Still knackered now though!
Oh, and I forgot to mention the bloody red weed!
Nice write up Charlie just sums up our day perfectly.oh and your welcome on AWOL anytime you fancy
Martin
Charlie A
What a great day you had - I have heard AWOL and her skippers are a great venue and hosts.
Nice one guys.
DREAM DRIFTER FINDS A COUPLE OF COD
Alfie's uncanny nack of putting Dream Drifter over a good cod carried on in this year's competition.
Leaving Cobbs with several club boats for the 7.30 bridge Alfie wisely followed Abode 11 through the variable conditions until we arrived at the parking area. After pin-pointed a suitable contour where we dropped the anchor and began the wait for the target species.
After about an hour Alfie hauled in a whiting. A while later - still on the ebb, a good bite to Alfie's rod saw the tell-tale nod of a cod, and a good looking specimen of 11lb 12oz graced the deck. Mission accomplished.
We persevered with regular changes of bait through the change of tide and after the flood started in ernest I had my first (and only) bite. A slow tussle and retrieve saw a better cod on the surface, with Alfie struggling to fit it in his net. Were we excited or what - 23lb 12oz and my personal best.
A further hour saw a pout and a tiny conger to Alfie before we made for home.
Alfie took pics on his mobile but we'll have to wait for his computer to be repaired to look at them.
Fortunately my wife Barbara took a pic of my fish which still weighed the same at home as at sea.
Thanks Alfie for another memorable cod comp - can we make a date for next year?
cccc
Pics from Alfie's phone
thats a beauty Branco!
Little sal :- yes mate I was well chuffed. We all needed something to lift our spirits on such a rough sea!! Going to try to get out tomorrow now sea has calmed down, maybe flat enough to get a little snooze in !!
Pics from Alfie's phone
Nice to see you found your top teeth?!???!
Just love the big satisfying smiles...and well deserved well done guys
Nige
Well done Alfie and crew for finding the mark and the fish.
Next time i will follow you?????? 