Why I think the fish have gone

i don't think the water temp or the salinity of the water has much to do with the scarcity of cod along our coast line during this December i have fished the ne coast now for many years and i have not seen a regular pattern when the fish are close inshore or in deeper water out at sea, sometimes they are there sometimes not,whatever the month or the weather is during the winter season,the more plausible reason could well be the large shoals of sand eels just off shore,why they are there i don't know, what i do know is that the sand eels are a very easy source of food for the cod and other species of fish so that's where the predators will stay right on top of a reliable food source,and don;t forget, a few people have said that if the eels go into deeper water offshore then the cod will come back inshore, the cod are quite capable of following the abundant food source into even deeper water.
 
well i keep saying, we will never know.
only partial evidence is what is in the cods stomaches what are caught off the boats.
even that doesnt give us a proper answer.

I have fished every week for many years now and it is different every year. (like paulthespark says)

last feburary was freezing and the water was probably colder than it is now as it had longer to chill. - yet the fishing was good.

the only strong patterns I have noticed is that the fishing dips at some point early winter. and that the best chance for a lunker is jan feb march with feburary being the best time- why , I do not know and I don't want to know.


it would take a scientific research team to work this one out lads, if you think you can work it out yourself - your mad
 
quote the only strong patterns I have noticed is that the fishing dips at some point early winter. and that the best chance for a lunker is jan feb march with feburary being the best time- why , I do not know and I don't want to know.


come on mate you no that is when they are inside full of spawn, thus being the reason you have a better chance of a lunkler lol.
 
spawning cod looking to fatten up before they shoot off. yea an obvious point.

but is that the only reason?

dunno marra
 
Shilbottler said:
I'm not convinced that water temperature plays a great part in things in the North-Sea. Pure water is densest at 4 degree and sea water is denser still and will depend upon its salinity. This means the densest water is always at the bottom of the sea and I guess the temperature at the bottom of North-Sea would be fairly constant. Colder water starts becoming ice which is less dense than water and therefore floats on the top. Water warmer than 4 degrees will also be less denser. We all know the water on the surface can change considerably between summer and winter but it would be interesting to know by how much it changes at the bottom, at say 60-100 feet, any divers fancy a dive this weekend ?

Another factor is the time it takes to change the temperature, a quick cold snap isn't going to affect the temperature at the bottom. I think I read somewhere that the sea is coldest in Feb/March time, when its had all winter to cool and presumably warmest in Sept/Octoberish when its had all summer to warm up. To actually change the temperature of the entire North Sea would take many months and would also depend on the air temperatures.

Heat always moves from hot to cold so after this month of sub-zero figures we'll probably start having some 5-10 degrees weather which will start to warm up the sea again.

Cod are found in such a varied range of depths I guess they don't mind too much what the temperature is. It's probably their prey that mind the temperatures more.

The North Sea always seems damned cold to me whatever the tme of year.
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from what we get told when we do our offshore survival, the temp in the north sea only changes up or down a few degrees through out the whole year, there is only 3 months (june, july and august)of the year when we dont have to wear a thermal liner underneath our survival suit, every other month it is mandatory we wear a thermal.

we will have to see what happens when the temps go up, i recon its the cold temp and shallow waters on the coast line.

soon find out if they come back lol ;D
 
Isn't it just the fact we've had NO strong northerly / north easterly winds on now for over a month ??

Thats the last time I remember blyth fishing well, and the winds have been flat as a fart since - along with the fishing.
 
captainhook said:
Isn't it just the fact we've had NO strong northerly / north easterly winds on now for over a month ??

Thats the last time I remember blyth fishing well, and the winds have been flat as a fart since - along with the fishing.
Click to expand...

nout to do with that mate ive already said what it is. ther isnt as many sandeels now out over ( no were near what there was) and the odd fish has been showing from cullernose point etc up north. we have had northerlies there was a good sea on the other day but no fish round our way on the rods.
 
I've been working on an algorithm for catching Cod in north east for many years now! Its based upon time, tides, winds, temperature fluctuations, bait fish distributions patterns, atmospheric pressure, alignment of the planets and even the prayer I should use before casting!!! And still I catch jack all!!! Or maybe i'm just sh!te!!!!

Great thread lads and lasses!
 
saw on the news and heard on the radio, we have had the coldest december since 1890, or consistant low temp whatever the bloke was blabbing on about lol, some boffin thats works for the met office.

got to be a major factor, always get fish full of sprats and sandeels.

fish are starting to pop up around the coast :D
 
cod are deffo on the way back in and are sick of sandeel my mate had 3 cod upto 5lb8oz from a rocky seaham mark on monday night tried using sandeel as bait but they wanted non of it all they where interested in was smelly or froozen bait
 
cod gone

cod gone

its simple, jan feb is breeding time. the last few years have been exactly the same. they return end of feb, when bigger fish turn up. watch out as cod eggs float and with the very cold temperatures, more will hatch out as the predaturs that feed on them are staying deep because of the cold. you wont see the benefit for about three years! cod put on weight about one and a half pound per year so in three years we should have a bumper season. :)
 

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