6th Dec Bristol Channel

[jonnyswamp]

Caught the usual 7.30 AM lock out and made a short 15min steam up to a mark I wanted to try just off the Cardiff north buoy

With all the other boats (all 3 locks full) seemingly heading straight out, or west, just a couple ended up nearby

With only 2 hrs ish left of the flood, the pick was dug in and baits hastily cast out, where straight away one started nodding

Target species on the first cast, albeit no monster at 4lb 4, but achieved nonetheless

While I was waiting for MY rod to twitch, Mark was in again with a smaller Codling of just over 3lb

Next to pull a Cod over the gunnels was mike, with a fish of bang on 5lb, to say he was pleased is like saying Hitler was a bit of a bugger

Really pleased for Mike as he's into his 70's, can only drop off the back due to shoulder injuries (old ones) but still comes out whenever he can and loves fishing

Slack water produced the Congers and as soon as we had a bit of tide, upped anchor and moved a couple of 100 yds to a mark that looked really fishy (gradual bank with a deep hole behind it

This gave Mark his 3rd Codling of 2.5lb and absolutely nothing (not even a bite) for me or Mike in the 2 hrs we stayed there

Made a move a bit closer to home for the final anchor drop, off Cardiff foreshore

Here I finally caught a Codling, all of about 4 inches, so sent it back down to get a bit fatter

All 4 Codling were full of crab, making a change from sprat and sandeel

Decided to come in earlier than planned due to the sheer amount of boats out there, so caught the 2.45 lock back in, where we stopped and had a chat with a charter boat we know

He had been out since 6 am and had dropped off his first party of anglers and had his second on board ready to go back out through the locks

His first trip yielded 6 Codling between the 10 on board and within 2 hrs of going back out, had 10 with 4 or 5 between 7.5 and 9.5lb and finished the night with 14 in total

I had planned on a trip out this teatime to the same mark the charter had been on, but woke up this morning feeling like I'd been runover, so gave it a miss

Speaking to some others in the lock back in and not all boats are finding them just yet

But, there are some good signs

[Andy135]

Excellent report Swampy 👍. Lots of good detail there. 

Sounds like a productive day afloat with something for everyone -  good work.

[jonnyswamp]

It sounded better than it was TBH, but I was genuinely over the moon that Mike had that 5lber

 

[Odyssey]

It’s very patchy out there at the moment, if be on the Corel by clevedon banks or Penarth as nice bit of rough ground

[JonC]

32 minutes ago, jonnyswamp said:

It sounded better than it was TBH, but I was genuinely over the moon that Mike had that 5lber

 

Sounds a fuck load better than my local fishing 

[jonnyswamp]

On 12/7/2020 at 8:56 PM, JonC said:

Sounds a fuck load better than my local fishing 

There's been plenty of reports of good catches, 7lb and upwards with doubles a very regular occurence

But not all boats are finding them and for the amount of boats that go out, I'm not sure the catch ratio is as high as it seems

Plenty of charters on facebook posting their catches up, good publicity so no bad thing for them

EDIT

There's also a lot of smaller Codling from 4" up

Edited December 9, 2020 by jonnyswamp