Luring cod

[JonC]

I do seem to remember something about an irritating fat prick who kept trying to be funny and upsetting him, but I can’t remember the specific details. 

[Andy135]

9 minutes ago, JonC said:

I do seem to remember something about an irritating fat prick who kept trying to be funny and upsetting him, but I can’t remember the specific details. 

I wonder who that could have been? 🤷‍♂️

[Malc]

3 hours ago, Saintly Fish said:

So @Malc, what's the rule of thumb when selecting different coloured jellies/lures (whatever) for different seasons or light conditions??

This mostly...

3 hours ago, Andy135 said:

My 2 pence is that it's the silhouette/size/vibration/movement that gets the bites, not colour that much. Colour can of course help to present a clearer silhouette when seen from below/to the side, but isn't the only (or indeed primary) factor when selecting a lure to use [speaking as an ex-bass lure angler].

Curious to hear from others on this as it's a subject that comes up fairly frequently in lure angling discussions.

If you have confidence in it, go for it. I like light colour for bright days and vice versa, but I fish clear(ish) shallow water (sub 60ft).

[suzook12]

11 hours ago, Malc said:

If you have confidence in it, go for it.

I think that's the biggest factor  right there with anything fishing related. If we have confidence in something, we are more likely to work it properly. Although more coarse related, in my younger days, I used to go fishing either with a single rod/method or bait. My catch rates would increase dramatically as I effectively added to my armoury another method/bait I had confidence in using

[Odyssey]

Good read this 🙂 

I plan to try and do some more lure work around the west wales reefs with a spinning rod to pick up the bigger pollack and maybe cod. 
 

Feathers works well but once got some fillets I’m keen to try something else to see if can pick up some bigger ones/have more sport 🙂 

[GPSguru]

Both of the rigs are mainly used by the LRF guys, which is why you will struggle to get gear heavy enough for what we like to do.

stand up heads are also called triangular heads , so include that in any search. I used to sell a lot of stand up’s but they are all gone now and my source of supply dried up. To my mind this was the best setup for ‘cod hopping’. 

I used to use all this stuff up until about 2016, since then, for me, most of the above has been replaced by SPJ, which due to its versatility can replicate most forms of lure fishing.

Edited January 6, 2022 by GPSguru

[Malc]

Another thing that came to mind was using flasher spoons.

I have heard about it being used off Arbroath and further north and it works well in a tide. The flasher spoon was made out of thin metal similar to the type you get on herring/mackerel in tomato sauce tins with a hook length behind it baited and sometimes with a Muppet too. I saw them a couple of years ago on £1 fishing tackle and bought a couple LIKE THIS but unless the tide is quite strong the spoon will drag rather than flutter due to it's weight and thickness. The line hooks and swivels were also suspect so I changed them and hope to give them a try at some point. In the northern isles they also use flasher spoons for ling, usually on either end of a spreader bar. I have some bars and will be attaching a couple of white plastic spoons to them along with a suitable trace and hook as the plastic will flutter nicely in lesser tide flows.

[GPSguru]

5 minutes ago, Malc said:

Another thing that came to mind was using flasher spoons.

I have heard about it being used off Arbroath and further north and it works well in a tide. The flasher spoon was made out of thin metal similar to the type you get on herring/mackerel in tomato sauce tins with a hook length behind it baited and sometimes with a Muppet too. I saw them a couple of years ago on £1 fishing tackle and bought a couple LIKE THIS but unless the tide is quite strong the spoon will drag rather than flutter due to it's weight and thickness. The line hooks and swivels were also suspect so I changed them and hope to give them a try at some point. In the northern isles they also use flasher spoons for ling, usually on either end of a spreader bar. I have some bars and will be attaching a couple of white plastic spoons to them along with a suitable trace and hook as the plastic will flutter nicely in lesser tide flows.

It is common in the south west to use the head if a large desert spoon / serving spoon as a flasher spoon. Again, not as common as it was 10 years ago, most anglers now just use 2 fillets of mack on a 10/0 muppet rig with a multi-strand or titanium wire trace.

 

[GPSguru]

17 hours ago, JonC said:

I do seem to remember something about an irritating fat prick who kept trying to be funny 

[Ivan Tuna]

So the Cutbait Puffin pattern swept the boards in Shetlands for Cod - you always caught with that and on experiment it was always taken first regardless of size. Depth was about 100m don’t know if that made any difference. 

[Andy135]

22 minutes ago, Ivan Tuna said:

So the Cutbait Puffin pattern swept the boards in Shetlands for Cod - you always caught with that and on experiment it was always taken first regardless of size. Depth was about 100m don’t know if that made any difference. 

Good reporting back @Ivan Tuna. Thanks.

Although... I'm amazed that cod have even seen a puffin to know it's worth eating! 🤷‍♂️🤣

[Malc]

On 6/30/2022 at 9:05 PM, Andy135 said:

I'm amazed that cod have even seen a puffin to know it's worth eating! 🤷‍♂️🤣

We used to live bait with them until the RSPB stopped it.

[Malc]

Just an update on one of the rigs I use, it was originally similar to a dropshot rig with a weighted lure instead of a lead but the dropper lure was too close to the main body and I had drop offs and missed fish so I set them up as droppers of 3" or so. This has been causing problems at times as they are spinning around I think it is due to depth, tide flow, dropper length (I have been getting sloppy as some rigs are 4 or more inches long) and possibly rig strength. 

So first thing is to tie some shorter droppers and also some heavier rigs as the depth and flow can't be altered by myself as much. 

watch this space. 

[Saintly Fish]

2 hours ago, Malc said:

Just an update on one of the rigs I use, it was originally similar to a dropshot rig with a weighted lure instead of a lead but the dropper lure was too close to the main body and I had drop offs and missed fish so I set them up as droppers of 3" or so. This has been causing problems at times as they are spinning around I think it is due to depth, tide flow, dropper length (I have been getting sloppy as some rigs are 4 or more inches long) and possibly rig strength. 

So first thing is to tie some shorter droppers and also some heavier rigs as the depth and flow can't be altered by myself as much. 

watch this space. 

A diagram or photo of your finished rig may be helpful to some Malc. Maybe you could photo one and give a materials list with it?

Edited June 28, 2023 by Saintly Fish

[Malc]

1 hour ago, Saintly Fish said:

A diagram or photo of your finished rig may be helpful to some Malc. Maybe you could photo on and give a materials list with it?

Will do. 

[Malc]

OK, rig.

(Snood/body) 30/50lb or 50/80 lb flouro is what I am going for now 20/30 didn't seem to stand off from the body enough with bigger lures but you can use mono if you aren't a tackle tart. Even though the rig will be lost or worn out within a couple of trips I use premium swivels and hooks and the link on the bottom is unusually from decathlon and has proved its worth as both bronze and chrome don't corrode easily. 

The finished rig, not to size. 

Both upper hooks have sandeel type lures attached as below, I prefer weedless wide gape worm hooks and the main lure weedless if possible. 

I was rushing to rig the top one and it is a bit squint but a little jiggling and it will sit straight but I also prefer to rig them weedless as below by skinning the hook point so that there is less chance of snagging weed etc and it doesn't affect hooking fish. This is how straight it should sit.

Rig body length is up to you and your preference and rod length. From bottom to first dropper is 12-18" and similar above that depending on whether you get pollock on the ground or not, you could also go to 24" to the first dropper if pollock are prolific and you want the sport but I have found that on really rocky reefs when you might get 3-6' lifts and drops due to rocks the codling will come up to the top dropper and have on occasion had them take both droppers! Over flatter ground 12-18" might be fine for you. 

Generally it is better fished as close to the vertical as possible and if you don't have a big enough bottom lure then it might be worth using a weight instead. If you are plagued with smaller fish then use bigger sandeel slug lures but the little gits will probably start tail grabbing and there is the possibility that they may twist the lure or damage the head. If the head gets opened up too much just clip it off to solid plastic and use as if new, the silver lure below is close to being clipped as you can see the opaque tear in the head.

I will start another post to show how to tie the droppers.

[Andy135]

Good post @Malc. Thanks for sharing.

Your point about lure weight and maybe needing a lead instead of a lure got me thinking about whether a large (200g+) slow jig could work in place of a lead. They fish best vertically, flash and vibrate on the drop and on the jig (obviously) and catch better than a 200g lead weight.

[Malc]

Tie on a swivel to one end and the link the other as this helps identify the top and bottom of the rig.

At the appropriate distances tie an overhand knot but go through twice and pull slightly until it forms a figure eight as below. 

Next tie your hook to the snood/dropper line with whatever knot you prefer and cut off at 6", push the end through the upper loop that was formed by the double overhand knot then over the twists and back out the bottom loop as below. 

As you can see the hook is up the rig body and the free end down towards the bottom. Loop the free end around and twist 3-4 times around itself and the rig body moisten and snug up slowly so you can control the snood/dropper length. I get the hook as close as possible to the knot for ultra short snoods but practice will help you get the length you want. 

As you can see the dropper should stand up the rig body and if it hasn't you may have put it the wrong way round and it needs scrapping as the lures don't sit properly and are less effective. 

[Malc]

5 minutes ago, Andy135 said:

Good post @Malc. Thanks for sharing.

Your point about lure weight and maybe needing a lead instead of a lure got me thinking about whether a large (200g+) slow jig could work in place of a lead. They fish best vertically, flash and vibrate on the drop and on the jig (obviously) and catch better than a 200g lead weight.

Go for it!

Strangely enough I don't work my lures as sandeel tend to hang in the current rather than keep dashing about and the boat/kayak moves enough IMHO. I do use jigs on my mackerel/launce/herring rigs below the sabikis and I think it works very well, but again I don't jig the rig. However it's all academic as the mid channel charter boats used to use the big eddystone eels on droppers above a metal jig regularly. 

[Ivan Tuna]

We have a return to the Shetlands next week. Last time and like most of my down south fishing I only ever use either one SP or one jig.

Now muppets above a jig work and can stand off the main line, but I’ve tied up some rigs with an 8 inch Hoggy above the 500g SP. Not sure it would work with a jig but a SP can be fished less vigorously as a jig so hopefully the big hoggy will hang.

[Malc]

25 minutes ago, Ivan Tuna said:

Hoggy

What's a hoggy please?

[Andy135]

23 minutes ago, Malc said:

What's a hoggy please?

Suspect it's these, used like a redgill above the main lure.

https://hogylures.com/collections/original-series-soft-baits

[Saintly Fish]

4 minutes ago, Andy135 said:

Suspect it's these, used like a redgill above the main lure.

https://hogylures.com/collections/original-series-soft-baits

Quality googling!!

[Andy135]

1 hour ago, Saintly Fish said:

Quality googling!!

Yeah, but I have some old Hogy's that I remembered the name from.

[suzook12]

18 hours ago, Andy135 said:

Yeah, but I have some old Hogy's that I remembered the name from took a mould from and produced under my own banner.....

 

Fixed that for you Andy 🤣