Forget following venues after hearing rumors of cod in a particular area, by the time you get there, more than likely the cod will be gone. Wait until the weather conditions and tide return to what they were when the fish appeared and then target that area again. Always check the tide times and the reported weather and judge your cod fishing at the most suitable time.
Cod of course are very consistent in their behavior and are a shoal species, they always move with the weather and tide feeding as they go and always take what the sea provides.
The best time to fish for cod has to be night time and especially a high tide will always bring the cod closer inshore. In the daytime you will have to travel further out to sea looking for very deep water. Often if the sea is very rough and a strong inshore wind is blowing, cod will often move closer inshore in daylight hours simply looking for any marine life that may have been killed or disturbed by the rough sea.
If you are fishing a rough sea and windy conditions a good beach casting tackle is required, when fishing for cod, use fishing tackle capable of casting 6 to 8oz. A heavy weight like this will be easier to cast further in such rough conditions. A good quality line of breaking strain up to 35lb, depending on conditions, less if the conditions are not so bad or use a braided line if the venue is rocky.
Baits used in cod fishing should be large and fragrant or use multiple baits but smaller, remember you may need to cast quite a long way out and the bait will be subjected to high speed so make sure you fix the bait on securely. Cod have very large mouths so don't be worried about putting large size bait on a hook. Large baits work great if the fish are closer inshore. When feeding, a cod will quite naturally eat anything in its swim and will often take large fish with no problem at all.
The cod is quite a lazy fish and will not often chase fish, they prefer a more leisurely approach to feeding they like to stay in the bottom of the water and swim slowly feeding as the go. Try to put your bait close on the bottom and move it up and down slowly a few times, you can even leave the bait on the bottom for a little while moving it a little bit at a time, making the bait appear more natural.
A cod is not a big fighter, once it has been hooked, you will only usually only lose the fish if it has not been hooked securely.
This is an article written about various cod fishing around the UK coast.
Cod are the one fish, with maybe the exception of Bass, that really stir the primeval hunting instincts in most of us fishermen. We can't wait for the winter to start to set-in with the frosts and dark nights turning every fishing trip into a possible Utopia of fishing. Most of us would probably sell our souls to the devil for a 'personal best' caught Cod!
As the water temperatures start to decrease in the autumn, and we excitedly await those early frosts and Northerly winds to stir up the sea bed, most of us are like kids waiting on Father Xmas to deliver our 'prezzies'!
Most will have built up a store of bait over the summer because THIS Cod season is going to be OUR season...oh, yes!
That bait will consist of different frozen crab baits such as Peeler crab, hermit crab, softies and possibly spider crab.
We will have frozen down Mackerel to use on the early Whiting and to 'tip off our worm baits along with Mussel and Razor fish, Squid, Frozen Black Lug to name but a few, we might even have some 'tanked' Rag worm ready for use.
We know that if all goes to plan then we should be able to fish as often as we want over the next 5 - 6 months and catch a reasonable amount of fish for the table with cod being the main stay.
With a few exceptions cod will appear around our coastline at most venues. The North East, East Anglia, Kent, North Wales, Cumbria and most of Scotland will produce large numbers of cod over the winter months. Unfortunately, the bigger cod of the late 60's and 70's have all but disappeared and have ceased to be caught on a regular basis. The cod caught nowadays tend to be on the smaller size, a 5lb cod is considered in most places to be quite good, where as, in the 60's, 70' and even the 80's, a 5lb cod was really 'run of the mill.'
A lot of the cod that get caught, especially in the N/East are caught over rough ground and in the most inaccessible places you could imagine. If climbing down 300ft cliffs, carrying your gear and using a rope to make sure you don't fall to your death appeals, then that is the place to head. You will require a good solid cod rod for use at these spots to force the cod out of the rough ground and kelp. A rod with a soft action would be no good at all.
You can catch double figure cod in these places but unless you have a guide, someone who knows these area's like the back of their hands, then stay well away!
Plenty of beaches still fish well for cod and Norfolk and Suffolk are no exceptions.
One great place is Aldeburgh on the Suffolk coast, one very steep shingled beach and very deep water in places but the whole area will produce very good cod over the winter months. Cod into double figures are not a rarity here. You must be prepared to walk across deep, energy sapping shingle for around an hour to access the best and deepest places though. Of course the trek back when you are tired, weary and probably carrying a couple of double figure cod can just about put you in an early grave. As some of the local's call it, 'Heart Attack Alley' and for a very good reason!
On a personal note, I have a good friend who went cod fishing up what they call 'The Wall' a few years ago now on his own and did actually suffer a heart attack. He lay on the beach for 45 minutes on his own and then managed to get himself to hospital, but not before making sure all his gear was packed away first! Well you do have to get your priorities right, as the late great Bill Shankly said about football "the sport is not about life or death - it's much more important than that!"
The south coast area's like Deal, Dover and Folkstone fish very well over the winter months and can produce some superb sport over summer which will include the likes of double figure Smoothhounds, Bass to nearly double figures and over at times, with lots of dogfish and other species. This month (November) has produced a Cod to 8lb off Deal pier already. More of the same can be expected if the conditions are right. Deal pier is a popular spot to fish but is only open overnight on a Friday and Saturday and can be fished up until 9.45pm on all other days. It is very snaggy, expect to loose a lot of gear. It should be slightly better now as it has been dredged down the length of the pier but as I was told, it only managed to loosen some of the snags and didn't get rid of all, so still expect to loose some gear.
Talking of which, Aldeburgh in Suffolk is like that, very, very snaggy, the last time I fished it I lost 2 full sets of gear, which is considered by many to be not too bad at all! And I do know that a lot of venues in Norfolk suffer the same. There must some amount of lead weight if only one could get to it!!!
The cod fishing in the Bristol Channel produces well but unless you know the area it's not recommended you venture too far, the tidal range is tremendous and the speed of the flooding tide has caught many a person out.
South Wales doesn't seem to fish very well for cod over the winter. I have a friend who doesn't do too badly for cod over the winter around the Cardigan Bay area but he fishes aboard his own boat using 'jigs' for catching his favourite species. North Wales, Cumbria and right around the Scottish coast do produce some cracking cod at times.
Cod Fishing on the East Coast of Scotland
The east coast of Scotland has some famous Cod marks, the most notable being Arbroath a small see fishing port about twenty minutes to the east of Dundee. Within Arbroath there are a number of different marks, depending on how brave you are.
The Harbour
Arbroath Harbour is a fantastic venue for Cod fishing. It has easy access for the sea angler, with parking in the harbour itself. One of the more notable features about this sea fishing mark is the harbour wall, around every twenty meters some kind person has installed cages onto the sea wall, providing the ideal rod rest and more importantly stopping you from being washed into the sea in rough weather.
The key to fishing in Arbroath harbour is the wind. This venue fishes very well when the prevailing wind is from the east. A strong East wind causes the sea to be rough and the Cod to come in to within 20 meters of the harbour wall. This venue fishes well two hours either side of high tide. It should be noted though this venue gets very busy when the wind and tide are correct however it is a big venue so space is not an issue.
As with all types of fishing, tackle is one of the key factors. A simple beachcaster rod, 12 or 15ft with 30lb mono line is all you need. Terminal tackle tends to be clipped down rigs. The bait of choice is fresh lug worm or crab, with squid being a good last minute option. It should be noted the Cod love big baits so don't be shy give the Cod what they want. Over the last few years Bass have also been caught from this venue, so you never know it could be a silver bass you a landing or a large cod.
