Day 4 sandland brygge

The general  forecast for the week was pretty poor, today looked to be the best day so we pushed a long way off today in search  of some better cod. There was still a decent under lying swell along with a short chop on top. The boat handled it well to be honest, we ran her at 25 knots in the fjord and around 20knts as we got further out. it may not have been as comfortable as the galloper but for a 6.5m boat she did well. After all that banging and crashing I hoped it would be worth it. I set up the first drift and we dropped our lures down. lee had a couple of small coalies before the first cod came out. they were a nice stamp with only the odd one below doubles. Lee had the first decent fish at 27lbs which was a new PB for him. Just a few minutes later he smashed this with a fish of 43lbs!  we were loosing a fair bit of fishing time trying to get the fish back alive. This payed off with most although a couple didn’t survive.  With some great fish on the first drift we set up the next drift. This produced some cracking fish. several 20’s some 30’s including one upper 30 for me. Dad and lee had a brace of 30’s just before I had my biggest yet. it burst onto the top like a submarine surfacing! After several choice fraises we got it into the boat along with the fish dad and lee had been playing at the same time. We put it on the scales and it topped out at 53lbs! it was a stonking great fish and something impressive to behold. After this we carried on for a couple more drifts as I wanted dad to break the 40lb mark. So far he had managed a 36lb fish which was a pb for him but I did want to be able to say we had all managed one. More big fish came out over the coming drifts including another fish well over 40lbs for me. To be honest with a 53lber in the bag (and although dad thought it was I don’t believe it was bigger) I unhooked this one in the water and didn’t even have a picture as I was more concerned that it went back alive. I must admit I never thought I would unhook a 40 odd pound cod in the water ! the tide died after this and although we were still picking up the odd fish our drifts were slow and messy. Coalfish were also a pain and we fancied some lighter fishing for the afternoon. So by just after 1pm with over 30-40 decent fish boated we headed back for the afternoon in search of some flatties. Dad had a couple of halibut on his light rod including one of 13lbs and a PB for him.