tough cod bite, Severn river

[dirvin21]

Me and a good mate headed out to Ashford for a cod overnighter, thought we might be in for a struggle judging how dry it looked on the trip out but we arrived to find the river looking perfect got the kayaks on the water and started casting.

That was where the positive confidance ended, we cast the spinnerbaits for ages with one swirl as a result, after casting a snag multiple times with a spinnerbait grabbed my spare rod with a 5" curly tail plastic rigged weedless and put a cast in the same snag, it was instantly hit no fish but soemthing. Kept working along the river casting the plastic with the occasional hit and miss, with the day getting on and a long paddle back to camp I came to a small backwater for a last ditch effort at a fish.

The area was narrow and fairly shallow, running a cast along some rock trenches under an overhang the plastic just disappeared with the road loading up I couldn't believe it a fish, he fought hard for a small fish but soon had him yak side

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A 45cm fish but didin't care it was a fish

worked to the end of the backwater and heading back out saw a similar bit to the where I'd caught the fish that I hadn't casted on the way in, so cast along there and sure enough a thump on the line, I was dumbfounded when I realised the dark shape in the water was the fish as it took off, staright away this was a better class of fish, what I've been trying to catch for ages, all hell broke loose got dragged up into trees my spare rod got tangle in branches made for some frantic untangling, got nervous once I realised the fish had swallowed the plastic and only running 20lb leader, finally got the upper hand and decided to lip grip and land the fish onshore rather than in the yak

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ended up measuring 66cm not a monster but a beast for the water it came out of and destroyed my previous pb of 52cm

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and really heavy, had to reach inside the mouth to get the lure out left me with "cod fist"

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came from a shallow skinny piece of water

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that was it for fish kept casting all the way back to camp but didn't matter I had a smile from ear to ear

cheers for reading

Dave

[Ads22]

Very nice Dave! Such nice fish and the joy of catching them after substantial effort is immense. Well done!

Cod fist - I had to do the same with a Barra last week (whole hand down the hatch on my video). Don't think I ever have had Barra fist. Did have a flatty rip my thumb up on the weekend, that was my stupid fault!

[Rory222]

Good stuff Dave, there’s nothing like reward for effort and the satisfaction it brings, even to those reading your report

And a 66cm cod is a fine reward!

Well done!

[HARTE]

Great stuff Dave, well done!