Beach fishing at aldeburgh is in the top 5 for cod in the UK - Suffolk's star spot for anglers with its steep shingle access to deep water. See map of area for fishing spots, fish you can catch, and live spring tide updates for the best time to fish.
From September until the
end of January the 'Dirty Wall' is the best-known area for its catches of cod, sole, and whiting with some cod topping the 20lb mark. Big bass can also come from anywhere along this area.
Cod are one of the UK fisherman's favourite sea fish because they put up a decent fight from the shore and taste good. The average codling is between 1 and 5lbs, Cod are 6+lb but double figure fish are there and 20lb-ers possible off Aldeburgh occationally.
The depth at casting distance is approx 5M at the "dirty wall" by the radio masts, going to 7M at high tide and can go to 9M for very long casts with a big beach rod. The location is 500M opposite the shallows at Aldeburgh ridge that is awash at low tide and funnel the cod within casting distance.
As you go further north towards the town the beaches get shallower with 2M at the Martello tower and in front of town. They get shallower as you get closer to Thorpness with 1.5M at casting distance.
Summer evenings can produce sport with soles, flounder and school bass but there's always the chance of a monster.
Cod feed better in coloured or dark seas, so the best time is to fish at night. The cod feel secure undet the cloak of darkness and are more likely to move closer to shore in numbers. The best window of darkness seems to be from 8.00pm to 2.00am. They say night fishing increases your chances of catching fish tenfold.
By day, look for weather conditions that have stirred up the sea bed. In rough coloured seas cod will feed with a good surf running, Ideally conditions often after a full gale has blown through and the sea is just beginning to lose its full swell. A calm clear sea at daytime will usually be unproductive.
Tide For cod fishing from the beach, you need plenty of tide running which means spring tides that occur fortnightly and on an ebb tide. An ebb tide at night might will out-fish the perfect flood tide by day.
Best spring tide fishing daysFebruaryThu 23-02-2012 to Sat 25-02-2012MarchFri 09-03-2012 to Sun 11-03-2012Sat 24-03-2012 to Mon 26-03-2012AprilSun 08-04-2012 to Tue 10-04-2012Mon 23-04-2012 to Wed 25-04-2012MayMon 07-05-2012 to Wed 09-05-2012Tue 22-05-2012 to Thu 24-05-2012
Weather On shore North or NE winds are best that stirs up more food near the beach and colours the water is best. The stronger the wind the better.
Bait Cod are an eating machine and like big and juicy bait, they do not hang around so grab their attention when they swim by. You can use one or two whole squid on a pennel rig. Whatever bait you use for cod make it at least half the size of your fist.
Before year end a big lugworm bait is good for cod. Push two or three worms on the hook and put two more worms alongside the hook bait splint style and wrap together with bait elastic to form a big sausage shape about 6 to 8-inches long. These is made more effective by tipping off with mussel, queen cockles or squid strip.
In early New Year period cod may lose interest in worm baits and take big mussel baits. Plenty of musseles pushed up the hook and bound on with bait elastic to form a sausage shape about 4 to 6-inches long. Frozen mussel bags from Asda are very economic.
In late January cod move offshore, but those left inshore can have a preference for fresh peeler crab.
Rig A pennel or pulley trace which is good for Aldeburghs rough ground with a 5/0-6/0 hook big enough to hook a cod's mouth.
Long cast Long rods and a pendulum cast from the steeply shelving beach will launch a whole squid bait into a stiff onshore breeze. Choose a stiff 6oz fast taper beachcaster ideally between 12ft 6ins and 13ft 6ins or 14ft Shakespeare K2 Blue Metal matched with a middle range fixed spool reels or Penn 535 and Penn 525 favoured reel by the majority of anglers due to its gear strength. Load this with 18 to 22lb line and a 60 to 80lb shock leader. You can also load these with 25 to 30lb line and a shock leader which allows you to bully fish back through the snags.
Best Time of week If you avoid busy times like Friday and Saturday nights. It helps to visit the beach during the week, when there are few anglers to get higher odds of sucess.
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click to refresh aldeburgh sea fishing in suffolk
fishing spot, clickon icon on map for full angling information
Pelican cottage, click on icon on map for full details
forecasted speed of tide at Aldeburgh Ridge, each bar on tail is 0.5 knots tide strength. This icon has two bars so is running up to 1.0 knot. Click on icon on map for full tide narrative
direction at Aldeburgh high street, click for full wind narrative. Wind speed here is sheltered under cliff and not as strong as on beaches.
lighthouse, click on icon on map for full details
Pelican cottage is a great place for anglers to stay on fishing trips in Aldeburgh. A stones throw the beach, located in central aldebugh close to shops and resturants with an ideal outside games room to store tackle. sleeps 4 adults and 2 children.
Click to see Pelican holiday cottage facilities
Data is provided for informational reasons only and is not related by any means to the safety or safety of navigation. Speed, direction and state of tide is a forecasted approximation and is not actual tide state.
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