No sign of codling but there’s still time for them to show

by Ian Holmes
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
1:33 PM

SEA FISHING: I had hoped some of the good fish hanging a mile or two off Lowestoft might have put in a beach appearance over the holidays, unfortunately they’re still hanging about well out of casting range.

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We had some decent seas in the north and east of the region though I haven’t heard of any codling caught here the last week. I fished myself just before New Year, the seas made the beaches unfishable so I fished Cromer pier with a mate.

We had some of the biggest whiting we’d seen in a while, some chunky 40cm plus specimens, but unfortunately none of the codling we’d hoped for in the heavy seas. On the shingle ridge in north Norfolk there’s some decent whiting amongst the palm sized dabs, they’ll probably hang around for a week or two now and should make for some good match catches.

Southwards to the Yarmouth area and I could cut and paste last week’s write up! There are a few codling, but they are few and far between and I get the impression from reports that the whiting are thinning a little though they are still there snaffling baits meant for others.

The boats off Lowestoft have had more decent fish a mile or two off and rumours persist of some good fish off Orford, though beach reports tell a familiar story of whiting and little else.

I’m surprised that we haven’t had hordes of immature codling this year as I would have imagined last year was a pretty good spawning year given the cold weather, they may well turn up on our beaches as thoughts turn to bass so it’s not all doom and gloom just yet, and as everybody knows they are a fickle fish. The wind from today onwards has a lot of north and west in it, this could provide some sport in east and north Norfolk but do take care on the beach with a heavy sea.