UPTIDING FOR COD
Winter cod fishing in our river estuaries can produce good numbers of cod
Expert tips and tricks for boat casting.
Casting into relatively shallow water from a boat, known as uptiding, is a proven method that is particularly popular among winter cod anglers. Although you’ll generally be fishing in water 20ft to 60ft deep, the tidal flow in estuaries can be very strong at times, so you must tackle up accordingly. You’ll require a decent uptide rod matched with a multiplier or fixed-spool reel to fish this method effectively.
Match your chosen rod to a suitable reel. I prefer to use a multiplier loaded with 30lb braid, which is the standard for all my UK boat fishing these days, apart from when using lure rods with fixed-spool reels. The braid reduces the amount of lead weight you need to hold bottom and will show the savage bites from the smallest of codling far better than mono line.
I quite often fish 30lb braid straight through at this time of year, rather than using a shockleader, unless I know that I’m fishing into some really rough ground. I do this because of the amount of weed and rubbish that often gets washed down these tidal river estuaries. There’s nothing worse than a leader knot that keeps getting clogged with weed while you’re trying to bring fish to the boat.
THE METHOD
The basic technique for uptiding is simply to cast your baited rig away from the boat, uptide. Then, once you feel it all hit the seabed, you let out a bow of line to allow the grip lead to take hold. Once it has all come to rest, your line will be pointing downtide, even though your lead weight will be anchored uptide.
When a fish takes your bait, it will often trip the weight out of the seabed and the whole lot will trundle downtide, giving an unmistakable bouncing rod tip bite.
There are two things you can do to improve your chances of anchoring a bait in position and making sure it stays in the feeding zone – choosing the right sinker and using the correct rig. Combine both and you’re halfway there.
Just because a lead weight has wires sticking out from it doesn’t mean it’s going to hold bottom in a strong tide. A good uptiding grip