whats top for cod?

I find arbroath fishes well to worm/squid cocktails.

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dont forget a mini squid to top it off ,i find a mixture on both hooks more clever if they dont like one they may like the other

[ 03. November 2004, 10:40 PM: Message edited by: chesters1 ]

Mackerel tends to attract doggies & whiting. Stick to lug & squid/cuttle unless you're really short of bait.

I find more success with mackerel based cocktails, and mussel is always good. Lug never helps me much, e.g. I take way more on mackerel/squid and squid/mussel than squid/lug. Oh, and I'm too cheap to bother with peeler so I can't cooment on that!

Lug is ok if the bait is big. Four lug at a time. Cod have an enormous mouth. Fish baits tend to be bigger, and Cod are greedy predators, if the bait is big and fresh, a hungry Cod won't turn it's nose up at anything. The most difficult task is, to find a Cod! When I fished Dungeness in the sixties, Cod used to move along the shore in big shoals. It didn't have to be rough, as the modern idea goes, you could catch Cod on calm sunny days, and cold calm moonlit nights. 100lb of fish in two hours was not uncommon. The difference today, is that they are very scarce, and set to become even more so. As the North sea warms up, and it is, very quickly, our winter species will migrate away to colder seas at the rate of 30 miles per year. Cod love very cold water. At the same time, warm water species will invade. Sea horses are now being found along our southern shore. Also Sunfish, Trigger fish are now common off Chesil beach. Unheard of a few years ago. I think instead of trying to catch a species that is on the verge of extinction, we should leave them alone, and concentrate on what is there in numbers. OK, Whiting are small, but so are most Codling. Scale down hook sizes, and catch more of the smaller fish in the winter. Then, if you want to hunt a bigger fish in the summer, only fish for Bass. I only started fishing for Bass last October, and caught two after two weeks of trying. A four and a half pounder, and a five pound fish. Caught on fresh mussel, driftlined near a jetty. A fish caught in this targeted way is so exciting to catch. So give up on the elusive and overfished Cod, you will find that the head makes up half the fish anyway!

your absolutely right kent angler, the days of catching cod off the beach are gone for good, you may still get the odd codling? but boy do you have to put the time in to achieve even that, i have had about enough trying to catch whats not there so i am selling up the useless stiff poles and now using only carp,avon,and fly rods for my fishing and enjoying it far more, this is the future, but i am still amazed at amount of anglers who still think otherwise and continue to fish the same way we did 40 odd years ago, still there loss. as for warmer water species well ive lost count of the times i have caught red mullet this year and shed loads of black bream including 2 small gilt heads within 20 yrds of the beach, i also know that the triggers are there as well and next year be the first in this area to catch one off the beach hopefully, along with the grey mullet and bass i catch on the fly rod i am thinking only to start my fishing in may and finish in october, and forget about the cod fishing for i fear it as gone the same way as it did in canada.

Glad we agree Stavey, how about this for an idea?
Bass rod able to cast about 2oz 70 yds. Single hook, and fish for whiting.Loads of fun, whiting will put up a fight on a spinning rod, and there are loads of them! You are still fishing, and it's not as boring as waiting two months for possibly one Codling!

absolutely kentangler, ive caught them on float gear off my local harbour arms, 3AA crystal waggler size 8 hook 5lb line and avon rod, bait was breadflake, which has also acounted for mullet grey and red,bream black and gilthead bream,macs,gars,shad,herring,pout,and loads of school bass oh, and i did hook what seemed a very large mac at first but after emptying half the spool of line it came off, no mullet has ever taken that much line at that speed before so dont no what it was? all this action on a few loaves of homepride, who needs lug? reminds me of holidays in the med years ago so things might be changing, and for the best.

Top bait is crab here.

Codling are few and far between this year. Having said that ive only blanked twice in our 10 club matches to date. No cod in numbers but I keep getting the odd one.

I think that you must be unfortunate in where you live the east coast of scotland is currently doing really well as far as this day and age go, good numbers of cod and pollock have been caught already this year hopefully that will increase no the seasons finally here.