Cod

Cod Fishing Charter – New England

Kayman Charters is noted for the best Haddock and Cod fishing trips on the East Coast! This is our primary fish that we target. No one has ever left the boat without dinner for their family and usually much, much more!! When you book a trip with the Kayman Too you can be confident that the Captain gives 110% to put the most fish in the boat as possible during your cod fishing charter trip!

Kayman Charters has been fishing Stellwagon Bank, Jeffery’s Ledge, and Tillies Bank for 17 years. We have consistently taken catches of Cod to 25-60lbs, Haddock to 15lbs, Pollock to 42lbs, and Wolfish to 35 lbs.

The average catch on your cod fishing charter can be anywhere between 500 to 1000 plus pounds of whole fish.
Gloucester is approximately a 1½ hour ride to any of these great fishing spots. We are in the center of the best Cod fishing on the East Coast!

The rich cod fishing grounds within a short ride from Gloucester provide excellent cod fishing!

The Kayman Too and the Lisa & Jake leave the dock before 6am and return around 3-4pm. The ride out can be spent playing cards below or watching for Whales and dolphins on the deck.

Cod fishing is an art of following fish migration patterns and bottom types. During your cod fishing charter, a keen eye and a good bottom machine aids to the knowledge of knowing were to look. The bottom machine does not always show fish even when they are ample. Large Cod tend to lie flat on the bottom making them difficult to see. The type of bottom is always displayed, i.e. gravel pebbles or coral covered rocks, and will always look different than a soft sand or mud bottom. Years of experience can distinguish between the types of bottoms to begin the search.

Tackle

Kayman Charters is equipped with an arsenal of 4/0 reels plus 6’6″ and 7′ fiberglass rods. The reels are Diawa 40 series reels with a 6.5 to 1 retrieve. We also have Shimano 4/0 reels also with a 6.5 to 1 retrieve. The fast retrieve is very helpful when using the jigging method explained on this page. These fishing reels are spooled with 80lb Berkley Power Pro braid line. On our cod fishing charters, we use and suggest at least 80lb line because it is much easier to untangle. The 50lb braid is impossible to get out of a snarl and usually must be cut. These 4/0 reels combined with a light but strong rod make for an excellent Cod and Haddock combo strong enough to handle a 60lb Cod and light enough to have a good fight with a 6lb haddock.

Introduction to Jigging

Jigging is a very effective way of catching Cod fish on your New England cod fishing charter. The jig represents an injured bait fish squirming in distress flashing its white underside. This entices the Cod as it appears to be an easy meal. There are many jigs on the market of all shapes, sizes and colors. Most of these attract the fisherman more than the fish. There are different methods that are very minute to fish different jigs. There is no set protocol; you just have to see what works best for you.

Jigging

Tides and currents play a very important part in how the fish react to the lures and baits and must be presented in a manner that makes it attractive to them. When the fish are biting on the drift and the current is fast the experienced angler will cast down tide. They will then jig the lure and retrieve the line to prevent slack (keeping the jig 6-12″ off of the bottom) line as the jig comes closer to the boat (now the jig is straight up and down) this is where he will get 90% of the hookups! If there is not a hookup and the angler must let line of the reel to hold close to the bottom an experienced angler will retrieve the lure and recast. This method is repeated throughout the day. The ideal spot on the boat for this type of fishing is the transom. A good group of Cod fisherman will rotate spots to the down current position to cast. This method of jigging will always out fish the person who just keeps letting line out and fishes at a hard angle.

When the tide is light he down current method is still very effective but not as important as a strong current. When the current is light the straight method drop method works fine as long as the angler keeps the jig consistently 6-12″ off the bottom. This is done by constantly adjusting the line so the lure is in the proper spot. Some anglers are a crackerjack at this method and will always out fish there partners.

Teasers

The common jig set up consists of a loop or swivel, two feet of leader material (60-100lb test) a dropper loop (for a teaser) then 18″ of line to the jig. The teaser is designed to be much smaller than the jig. When properly presented, it will represent an injured herring trying to capture a much smaller fish or shrimp for its last meal. The teaser can appear to be the easiest meal and that will be the one that gets hit first.

The color and shape of the teaser will intrigue many fishermen. Most are fascinated by trying to figure out this puzzle. There is no set color or shape that consistently works better than the other. Some days different colors seem to work better than others even though it is a fact that to the human eye all colors except chartreuse turn neutral after 33′ of depth. A variety of feathers and rubber are always good to have in your tackle box.