Hauling up the cod!

[stinger]

Hi folks. I've got a question for yers. I'm quite new to sea angling and have been fishing the cliffs near Aberdeen for the last few weeks. The fishing has been ace and most nights we have caught some cod. The problem I have is the mark where we fish is about 40ft above the water and any fish over 5lbs are impossible to land. A drop net is out of the question as there are some overhangs. I'm using a 25lb mainline but am considering going up to 40 as casting long distance isn't an issue. Once we have the fish on the surface its a nightmare, especially if a good swell is running. The other night between 2 of us we landed one fish about 3lbs, lost 3 bigger cod and a strap conger, all snapping us off on the surface when we try to get them out. Anyone got any tips for hauling the fish up or are we going to have to find a mark nearer the water????

 

Thanks for all replies.

[chesters1]

i did see whilst roaming around last year a chap fishing from a rocky perch (through binoculars ) he landed a fish by attaching a ring with two very large hooks welded??? to it to the line ,the ring had a thin rope attached to it ,he clipped the ring to the mainline and it went down the line to the fish ,the hooks seemed to be angled ( i was looking through binoculars remember) on pulling the rope the hooks caught the fish and he pulled it up ,maybe a rock fisherman could elaborate

[Cranfield]

Increasing the strength of you mainline may not help the situation.

A large fish struggling for that distance, will usually pull the hook out.

 

I,m suprised that a drop net won,t work.

We have used them off rocks with an overhang, without any problems.

 

The "flying gaff" that chesters mentions is another alternative, but can be quite difficult to master.

However, practise makes perfect.

[OldGit]

I got one of these fedexed over from Australia, worked out about £50.

 

http://www.campbellsprotackle.com/store/pr...uct.asp?ID=1349

 

Should do the trick, I haven't used it myself yet but I bought it after seeing one used in anger on an 8lb bass hauled up a 50 foot cliff (not mine unfortunately) and it did the job perfectly.

 

Cheers, OldGit

[chris parker]

If the overhangs are not to severe you could use a trick I saw a few years ago at Flamborough head. The fishermen there were using a thick bamboo pole with a 'V' shaped end to pole out the rope on the drop net keeping it clear. The one with the rod stood on the pole to secure it and his m8 had the rope.

 

Chris

[chesters1]

quote:

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I got one of these fedexed over from Australia, worked out about £50.

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it obviasly the shop bought version of what i saw ,at £50 i can see why he made his own