Plenty of fish, but no cod

• Should have been there the night before !! Both Simon Jackson and I reckoned there would be a fair sea running at Chesil after the winds we have had recently, but in actual fact it was virtually flat calm and incredibly bright with the moon out. A stunning night and great fun to catch a load of fish, but really we were after cod - and they resolutely were not playing ball at all. I reckon the previous night would have seen far better conditions, for recent reports have been of some cracking fishing up there.

• Whacking out baits off the beach is a little bit different to the bass fishing that I have been concentrating on, but it was a blast to get the Penn 525 Mag reels out, clip on some pulley rigs and make up some delightful looking squid, lug and crab baits. Apart from light tackle bassing on the Irish beaches, the majority of my shore fishing is off the rocks, and I tend to feel a bit "lost" on a huge beach like Chesil where I can't read the water and make head or tail of what is going on beneath the surface. But I was lucky to be fishing with Simon who knows the beach well, so I was in safe hands. Rest assured that he comprehensively outfished me on the dogfish and whiting side of things, but I was concentrating more on putting out big baits and hoping for a nice cod. That's my excuse anyway.

• Above is one of the generally small and somewhat anemic whiting we had last night, but at least they kept the rod tips bouncing away. Dogfish I can always do without, but we all know that they have saved many a potentially blank session. What surprised me last night was the number of anglers all along the beach - great to see and I hope this carries on right through the winter. Cod have an almost mythical allure to us UK shore anglers, and I dread to think of the countless thousands of hours I have chasing them in years gone by. Worth every single minute though.

• Any of you with young kids out there will know all about a problem I have right at this very moment - and it is driving me completely mad. My wife and I let our two young girls have no more than half an hour of children's television a day, right after their tea and just before we take them upstairs to give them a bath. Most of the stuff they watch seems to be complete drivel to me (Lazy Town anyone ?), but they seem to love it, and we make sure they watch programmes with at least a little "merit".

• But what is this problem ? The f£%$&%$ songs that are played during the programmes, when they get in your head and refuse to leave you alone. Not very extreme metal or rough and tumble I know, but at the moment I simply can not get this "Iggle Piggle" song from the programme In the Night Garden out of my head !!!! My youngest daughter was given an Iggle Piggle teddy for her birthday on Monday and it keeps playing the tune. Totally inane, completely stupid, designed for kids, and last night on the beach I had this wretched song going off in my head all the time. I even had it bouncing around my skull when I was taking Jess for a walk early this morning. What do I do ? Help me.....

New issue of Catch magazine

• A new online fly fishing magazine was launched a couple of months ago, see here for all the details. Called "Catch" magazine, it is full of the most outrageously sexy fly fishing photography and short films, and I even managed to have a load of my stuff in the premier issue. Not bad for a little old UK fishing photographer !!

• Anyway, the next issue is out, and you owe it to yourself to have a good look through it, especially if like me you live in the UK where we are heading into (grey) winter. Blue skies, good looking fish, locations to dream of, and some very cool short films as well. Check here for issue number 2. I had the "Greatest Hits" slot in the first issue, and I am really glad to see that one of the all time great fishing photographers quite rightly has those pages this time (I was merely warming the seat up) - to anybody with any interest in good looking fly fishing, I am sure the name R. Valentine Atkinson needs no introduction at all. The man is pure class and I had the privilege of meeting him in Denver a couple of years ago. Yes, you guessed it, we talked photography and fishing !! Check out Val's website right here, and look in the new Catch magazine from page 8 onwards for some truly breathtaking photos of the world of fishing. He is what I call a proper photographer.

• Catch magazine is full of material that will inspire you, and if the New Zealand photos from page 90 onwards do not have you staring slack-jawed in pure wonder then you have no soul. I have to get down there someday, but I have always been a bit worried that I might love it so much that I never come home........

• Anyway, with my talk of grey UK winters, I can't see a cloud in the sky today here in Plymouth - what a stunning morning. Later on I am heading off up to Chesil Beach to shoot a bunch of photos. If some cod turn up then that would be great, but we will take whatever comes along. As anybody who reads this blog will know, I have been doing mainly bass fishing this year, so perhaps tonight I might actually swing a lead (safely and without any attempt at a pendulum cast) in anger. Could be interesting......

• My mates over in south east Ireland I know are getting highly overexcited about this decent weather and the building tides - I think they rather fancy some serious time on the bass over the next few days. Best of luck guys, and I will post info here as and when I hear it. It is this time of year when a proper crocodile of a fish can turn up, whether on bait or lure. Seriously, every single day I am wrestling with a desire to sell up over here and move over to Ireland - all I have to do is to persuade my wife that we should do it, and that "no, of course not, I wouldn't go fishing all the time" ??!! She knows me too well.