A lunch time cod.

So much has been said about the lack of coastal cod in the east of Norway but here in the west things ”rock and roll”. One particular day comes to mind. The boss and I have never really had the chance to fish together. He’s got his job and I’ve got mine. So a plan was hatched to sneak out of the back door and bag a little fish. What was planned and what happened was a world apart!

The boss showing me how it is done

Always the slave

A deep sinking herring is always a good start!

Here is where you will find your fish.

Reports of cod vanishing from our coastal waters are partly true. There is no doubt that Oslo fjord is in trouble. Local Norwegian researcher Jakob Gjøsæter has come to one simple conclusion. Over fishing. Countless hours of research has discovered that the few fish caught have fat bellies but strangely enough miscloured livers. No traces of pollution have been found. So logic has led him to the fact that over fishing is the reason. He has recommended that “catch and release” should be practised on the smaller fish. This makes no sense to me but that is what he wants.

The good news is the Hordaland coast is in great form. In the course of my travels around the west coast I see large numbers of cod. To demonstrate this Torbjørn and I took a long lunch break and set out to find a cod. As with all boss / slave relationships I was out to show him why he pays me to have more fun than a circus clown.

There we were standing on the rocks casting, punch for punch. I had to catch the first, biggest and the best. The anxiety was enormous. Kicking the boss’s arse was my underlining plan. I would then have the fuel to ask for a fat pay rise. You see then he could see that he had the best in the trade. So I worked hard at placing my lure where it counted. This went on for some time before my nicotine habit took control. It was at this point Torbjørn destroyed my dreams in the blink of an eye.

With a small spin rod loaded with o.16mm line and a 16-gram herring he was going one for one with the best fish and chips Ingredients the world has known. With such light equipment this would prove to be a challenge. You see cod live their lives on the oceans floor. When hooked all they want to do is run deep. This is fine but when you are fishing from the rocks you need to be aware that cod will snag you on the first rock they find. They only way to avoid this is pump your fish to the surface as soon as possible.

Torbjørn did this with great skill and managed to play a fish that was well beyond his rods weight class. As you can see landing the fish was the slave’s job. It wasn’t long before I had to bow my head and admit I’d been out fished and once again I’m the slave and He’s the boss. More importantly we proved that five minutes from the office you could catch a great cod.

There is no need to be troubled about resent reports that coastal cod are in decline because they are fresh and healthy here in my home range. If you happen to on the West coast give it a try, it is a lot of fun.

P.s Stay tuned and I will illustrate how it is you catch cod a long the shore line!!

Skot