EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
A couple of years back, another angler commented that I had a little bit of everything in my shore tackle box. He was right! Over the years I've learnt to expect the unexpected.

Back in August my lad and I were fishing Kilmore Quay harbour in southern Ireland. We were fishing very light gear behind the Ice Plant targeting small corkwing wrasse, little ballan's, pollack and the odd goby using very light round bullets weighing a 1/2 oz or so and a short section of line to a size 12 hook.

While watching for bites, I noticed a silver flash about 15-yards out from us in about 8-feet of water. Putting the Polaroid's on, I could see a silver fish working inside the rim of an old digger tyre that had been discarded. We figured this was a bass as proper identification was impossible given the range and depth of water.

Stocking up the tackle box for everything

We had spinners and plugs with us, but this fish wasn't at all interested in these. Checking the fish out again, it got me to thinking it might be a mullet feeding on its own. Now I always carry a few floats in all my bags and boxes and figured this might do the trick.

We tackled up with lightweight stick floats, with just a couple of small shot to get the bait down. We only had ragworm and mackerel for bait, so my lad went with a tiny bit of king ragworm on a size 12 hook, and I baited with mackerel flesh. We couldn't actually see the fish now, but knew the general area it was working in. I cast to the right and Mike Jnr left side of the tyre. I had a quick touch and the float shot under. No weight there and I was a tad disappointed it turned out to be another small corkwing.

While unhooking the corkwing Mike's float disappeared and his reel screeched as a big fish belted off out to sea. A little bit of everything we had, but no net. I got wet landing the fish, but what a cracker. A 5lb mullet! A chance fish, but caught because we had the means to switch tactics when an opportunity presented itself.

Expect the unexpected, carry a few odds and ends that you can adapt to light ledger, float fish, spin etc, and you're in with a shout whatever nature throws at you.

TIPS AND TRICKS
Here's a quick alternative way of rigging an uptide trace for boat cod. Take 2 1/2-inches of 18-gauge stainless steel wire. Bend an eye in to one end using long nosed pliers. Slide on a bead, followed by a size 6 Mustad rolling swivel and another bead. Now form an eye in the other end of the wire. Attach a Mustad 3/0 oval split ring or similar to one eye to take the lead weight and a 4 to 6-foot hook trace of 30 to 40lb mono and the hook to the swivel. Tie your shock leader to the free eye and you're ready to fish

This is a simple piece of tackle to make but allows you to quickly re rig when tackle is lost to snags and the cod are keen to feed, especially if you have pre tied hook traces ready. It also works well for any species like ray, huss, and strap conger you target on static ledgered baits.

DAYLIGHT SHORE COD TACTICS

Codding in daylight

Cod are shy of daylight and mostly stay well offshore, only moving back in to shore as the light fades. But there are exceptions to the rule that you can use to your advantage if you have no choice but to fish by day.

If you try open sandy surf beaches, then you need to fish just after a good blow when a big surf is starting to subside. This will have coloured up the water with suspended sediment and limits daylight penetrating to any great depth, plus there will be good amounts of washed out food available that might hold a few fish closer to shore. Look for areas where there are rocky outcrops or patches of boulders, alternatively deeper gullies along the beach that have access to deeper water, also fish the ends of the beaches where there are rocks, not the middle of the beach. These are the fish holding hotspots.

If you have to fish beaches, then cut your main line down to just 12lbs and fish smaller baits to maximise casting distance by minimising air drag. Gaining just 15-yards more might not sound much, but every yard counts in daylight.

Far better is to go for totally rocky ground. Cod will still stay out further than they will in the dark, but slowly work inwards with the tide using deeper gullies and depressions as feeding areas. This is a typical tactic on many Northeast marks. The better marks are where the water depth within casting range can average 8-feet or more. Also concentrate around kelp beds where the cod can find some cover to feed in. Again you need coloured water to get the best chance of a catch.

The more reliable daylight opportunities occur in our major estuaries such as the upper reaches of The Severn Estuary around Redwick, The Humber Estuary or The Mersey. Here the water is always coloured like tea, plus you have a good run of tide that creates ideal conditions for holding feeding cod. Making a day of it and travelling to one of these venues rather than staying close to home and fishing in clear water and flat calm seas will maximise your chances of daylight cod.