THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

The one remaining option was to go over and give it a go anyway, then trail the boat back to Rostock
for the summer. Not unfortunately the favoured option, but I allowed myself to be persuaded and rebooked
the flight to Hamburg, then on by train to Rostock where I was met at the station by Sven, and
later Christian Bruckmer.
Up to that point, everything was going according to plan. Well, sort of. Unfortunately when we got to
the water-front at Rostock, we could hardly stand up as the wind was that strong.
It was no better the following afternoon either at Schaprode looking out across the lagoon to the small
island of Hiddensee. There were white horses literally everywhere, and this was arguably the most
sheltered area, with the small island acting as a natural wind break for the powerful westerly gale.
Even so, wanting to sample everything on offer, we still took the boat out for a couple of battered hours
spinning for pike which can grow huge in the brackish waters close in to shore. Then it was off to bed
in a caravan for a long night of buffeting by the storm.
The following morning when we re-grouped it was unbelievable. No wind, no waves, and lots of
pleasant spring sunshine. The big unanswered question was, would there be any residual swell,
particularly up around the northern edge of the main island, where most of the offshore deep water
trolling takes place.
But first things first. We dropped in
over a small wreck just on the edge of
the open sea, on the one hand to see
what conditions were going to be like,
and on the other to catch a few cod
which live in the saline water beneath
the brackish surface water floating
above it where the salmon, sea trout
and pike prefer to live.
Inshore Baltic Cod
Out deep in say a hundred feet of water
over the wrecks, cod are always going
to be present, and with no tide to
contend with, we were able to fish ultra
light rods with fixed spool reels
working light pirks and weighted
shads.
Both on and off the wreck we found plenty of cod in the one to three pound bracket, and no doubt had
we stayed longer, we could have caught dozens of the things, as well as being in with a good shot at
some of the better fish. What an amazing place. Then later, with the trolling lures out, we also picked
up quite a few garfish.
It's weird how the fish distribute themselves there, with the cod under the lighter density brackish water,
the garfish, salmon and bigger sea trout offshore close to the transition level over the deeper water, and
the pike and smaller sea trout in closer to the islands shore.
Fortunately, with conditions improving all the time eventually leading to an oily flat calm, all options
were open, so offshore we went, where Sven put on a full trolling demonstration for a YouTube video,
and at last, the real fishing was able to get under way.
This involved the use of double clipped down-riggers, deep diving vanes, and side trolling vanes,
collectively all working a spread of something like a dozen or so lures at various depths, and all without
even a hint of a tangle which was an art form in itself. I was well impressed.
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