Those of you with an accurate memory will remember the middle of November for the gales. However, on Sunday the 15th, the weather changed and the forecast for the Monday, when Reg Talbot had booked John Rawle's boat Daphne Carole for a days cod fishing, was good with winds only reaching 20mph. However, in a true Michael fish moment, they got it wrong with winds of 45mph which made life 'interesting' on the boat.
We met at Bradwell Marina just after 7.00 am for an early start. I had travelled up the previous evening to sleep at Keith Elliott's house just outside Huntingdon. When we arrived, it was overcast and a bit blowy but in line with expectations. John's boat is a pretty substantial catamaran so the effects of the wind would be far less that the conventional single-hulled vessel. There was also plenty of room for the nine of us in the party spread about the boat.
The technique recommended was uptiding, which is basically casting the bait with a break away lead to hold it on the sea bed. A loop of line is allowed to curl down the tide, this allows the boat to move without dislodging the bait, but takes are still shown by movements in the rod top. A typical take causes the lead to bounce along the sea bed with the tide which is shown as repeated pulls at the rod tip.
After anchoring up, John told us that the most successful bait for the cod was a worm and a small squid. The squid were from a frozen block and some of the larger ones were cut into two to make the offer the right size for cod's mouths. After a short time, we started getting bites. As with Florida, I have a real problem not striking; this has become a reflex action from years of touch legering, so as John had warned, I missed the first few takes. The techinque for hooking a fish when uptiding is to give the fish a little slack after the initial pull, and when the bite continues, wind in furiously which sets the hook. Striking merely reduces the bow in the line and doesn't apply sufficient force at the hook point to get a hold on the fish, resulting in the bait being spat out.
Eventually, I did manage to improve my technique, and caught a whiting, photographed here before it was returned. However, by this time the tide was fully in and starting to turn, just as the wind increased which made the boat swing around. John told us not to fish for half an hour until things settled down; fishing now would result in tangled lines. We took this opportunity to eat lunch, drink coffee and talk which is always one of the most pleasant aspects of a day out with good company. We watched two other boats being thrown around as the waves and tide increased. They did the sensible thing and return to port. Our boat was larger and the double hull ensured that as the boat was much steadier, we could carry on fishing.
The wind was now in the same direction as the tide, and the flow had really picked up to a point where john thought that the sport would be slack for an hour or so. As usual, he was spot on, and as the tide slowed, the sport and the weather really picked up. At one point the were three fish being played at the same time off the rear of the boat.
As I am not an experienced sea angler, I was still having problems casting with a multiplier, especially into a high wind, and took the safe option of casting on a low trajectory, and not trying to cast too far. With help and guidance from John, I started to catch fish, having three in three casts including this nice cod, my best of the day. On the fourth cast however, I didn't have a bite. John told me to cast another 10 yards downtide, and amazingly, I was immediately into another fish.
As the tide slowed right down, so did the sport and we returned to the marina at about 4pm. I had caught my first ever cod, in fact four of them, and six whiting. I should point out that I wouldn't have been this successful without the education from John and would recommend that if you want a good days sport, as an experienced angler or a novice, the John is the man to go with (you can see his details in the cod picture over my head). He also has the advantage of the better boat which makes the conditions we had faced bearable, and despite the foul weather being thrown at us, nobody was sea sick and we all caught fish and enjoyed our day out. We are now planning next years trips!