Cod Bite in Full Swing

With all the Cod boats running almost daily, now is the time to get your cod trips booked.

The Journey

Capt. Joe Huck and the crew of the Helen H were pretty well beat when Joe called around 7 p.m. this evening (Saturday, January 22) to relay a report for the day’s cod catching. Huck noted it was bit snappy when they left the Montauk slip at 3 a.m., the wind still up out of the NW. Good news is that wind from that direction is on their stern for the eastward steam to the grounds south of Block Island, providing a relatively comfortable ride out. Arriving on a fair-sized plot of broken bottom south and east of the Island around 5 a.m., Joe marked some decent shots of bait and scattered fish. With less-than-ideal drift/sea conditions, he elected to set the anchor and deploy a mix of jig/teaser set-ups and bait rigs around the rail, hoping to find some of the larger ten-plus and teen-sized fish that have been moving in lately.

The Bite

Unfortunately, the pre-dawn bite was dead quiet-nothing really doing. Once the sun crested the eastward horizon, the bite started to take shape, with a slow but steady pick of mixed-size codfish that gained momentum-and size-as the day progressed. During the morning, Huck made several moves looking for the right pile of fish to work on, eventually setting up on a piece around 10 a.m. that immediately began turning out a flurry of nicer-sized stuff, all keepers and many of them from 10 pounds into the teens.

The Gear

Most of that fast action was on undecorated bait rigs armed with fresh sea clams, though a couple of jig purists swinging 12-ounce Vik-E’s with pink grub teasers (the hot teaser of late) had no trouble keeping their rods bent on quality cod. Incidentally, for bait hooks, Huck recommends nice, sharp octopus-style hooks in the 7/0 to 9/0 size range. Some days, dressing these hooks with smaller grub teasers before threading the clam on can contribute to your success

The Island Current out of Wakefield, Rhode Island has also been having amazing trips with their customers often limiting out or coming close.

Both boats have been absolutely slaying the fish these past few weeks and the bite shows no signs of letting up.