COD BAIT BASICS
Lots of anglers tend to skimp on bait for  cod fishing, and if there’s one fish that likes a big mouthful of food, it’s  the cod!

For shore fishing, even when codling are  the quarry, you need a worm bait that’s a good 8-inches long. A whole black lug  with the tail crimped off mounted head down but put on the hook with a baiting  needle is the simplest bait to present. The baiting needle helps to stop the  lug fully bursting and prematurely releasing all that essential fish attracting  blood.

Another option, and just as effective using  cheaper frozen black lug, is bulking the bait up with the black lug, but then  adding three fresh juicy blow lug below. This is an excellent all round cod bait,  but can be added to by slipping a strip of squid over the hook point, or  binding a couple of mussels splint like alongside the worm with bait elastic.  This is also a good bait for codling and middle sized cod on the boats.

For bigger boat cod though, you need more,  much more. A bait between 10 and 12-inches long is about right. Again, use  either fresh black or frozen black lug as the main bulk bait, but then three or  four sizeable blow lug to get the juices flowing. Top this lot off with two  razorfish bound on splint style alongside the worm, and just for good measure  add a couple of mussels or a strip of squid to the hook point.

You can also use a stretched squid bait. A  cheap alternative when you want to fish two rods but need to economise on worm baits  This is basically a squid, cut down the middle lengthways, remove the long  clear cartilage, then bind these two halves one at a time to a two-hook pennel  rig. If you need a bigger bait, add another half of squid for bulk and length.  This is a messy, oozy looking bait, but one that’s ultra effective at finding  cod, especially on days when fish are few and far between. If you need extra  scent, then add mussels again at the hook point end.

If you’re using king rag, then I favour a  different approach. Rag is relatively thin less juicy bait than lug. Making a  big long bait is therefore less effective. Aim for a smaller bait, something  about 6 to 8-inches long but cram the worm on and really bulk it out to form a  rough sausage shape, then add splints of mussel or razorfish.

Another good tip for cod bait, is to gut  any cod caught, remove the liver and bind this around any prepared worm or  squid bait. Cod go bananas for this as it’s oily with a highly concentrated oil  slick that they find easy to follow up. I’ve seen it work many times used just  on it’s own.

TIPS AND TRICKS
Big game anglers here and overseas use push  on luminous plastic crimp sleeves to help streamline trolling lures, protect  the crimp and mono, and for added attraction.

You can utilise these as attractors on two  and three hook rigs by sliding a rubber stop bead up the hook trace and over  the hook trace swivel, then sliding on the luminous sleeve and in turn pushing  this over the rubber stop bead to hold it in place.

Alternatively slide the sleeve down thin end  first and position it just over the eye of the hook, then bait up as normal.  This puts the luminous sleeve adjacent to the bait. This works especially well  on boat used for drift fishing.

Use two or three of these individually in  either position on the hook trace and you present a huge target area for fish  to home in on.

BOAT WHITING TACTICS
Whiting are not a difficult fish to catch,  but getting the quality whiting is a different matter. These bigger fish are  most likely from November through to late February.

The smaller fish to 1lb or so, tend to live  over sandbanks and shingle banks and will take small fish baits on two-hook  rigs armed with size 2 hooks. Also try a slow drift over the banks with a long  flowing trace off a boom, but add attractor spoons and beads above the hooks to  draw the whiting in.

The bigger 2lb plus whiting are found  either over broken ground adjacent to reefs, or more likely alongside wrecks on  the banks created by the tide flow around the wreckage itself.

These bigger fish are serious predators  armed with sharp needle teeth. They take baited feathers, especially luminous  Hokkai types, usually size 2/0 to 4/0 again baited with mackerel, herring,  squid or sandeel strips. Work the feathers in a slower lift and drop motion than  you would for mackerel, letting the lead pause briefly on the seabed before  lifting off again. This imitates a small shoal of fish rising in the tidal  current off the seabed.

Another good tip is to tie a 2 to 4-feet  length of line to the base of the feather rig and then tie the lead weight to  the end of this. This gets the feathers further up off the seabed and will  intercept bigger whiting, which often hunt a few feet up in the water,  especially when working over sandbanks and the like.

Big whiting also respond well to a whole  sandeel fished on a long trace off a boom with again 2 to 4-feet of mono below  the boom to get the bait up off the bottom.

If you really want to sort out the very  biggest whiting, then there is a way, but its inconsistent regards numbers of  fish. Make some small bar pirks from 10mm chrome gas tubing, arm these with a  single Mustad 3261BLN size 2/0 and bait with a long strip of mackerel or  herring and work this jigged just above the seabed. I’ve seen more 2lb plus  whiting fall to this technique than any other.