An offshore mark visited by the Plymouth charter boat Sea Angler 11, operated by Malcolm Jones, provided a great day’s sport of long-range wrecking for Plymouth-based enthusiasts.

Upwards of 40 cod took bait and lures, the heaviest at just shy of 20lb going to Simon Thomas, and pollack were eager strikers during the drifts across the wartime hulk.

Many were in double figures, the best at 18½lb going to Rob Bailey. There could be at least another two weeks of offshore opportunity before the pollack shoals traditionally break up.

Fishing inshore close to Plymouth Breakwater, dinghy angler Tony Vallack took a dozen pollack averaging about 3lb, all falling to a Megabass lure spun with a light rod.

Plymouth Rodbender members fished marks along the north coast of Devon and were rewarded for the long trip.

Mike Hodge topped with a blonde ray of 15lb 2oz and the best of the cod a fish of 10lb 2oz fell to Rob Wheaton.

Much the best opportunity to make contact with cod from the shore is along the coastlines of North Devon and West Somerset.

A cod of 43lb 9oz caught off Pevensey Bay was billed on local television as the biggest ever caught with rod and line in the English Channel.

Although a very fine specimen, it only ranks third heaviest in recreational angling from the area.

In 1972 a fish of 53lb 5oz was caught from the Brixham charter boat Our Unity and was accorded British Record status. Seven months later, a fish of 50lb 14oz was caught off Deal, Kent.

The British record passed out of Devonian hands in 1992 when a fish of 58lb 6oz was caught off Yorkshire’s Whitby.

The current European record is 82lb 11oz, set off Norway in 2005, and the world record for the Atlantic cod is 98lb 12oz, set at the Isle of Shoals off New Hampshire USA in 1969.

The relentlessness of the cold weather has brought coarse anglers back to fisheries. At Paignton’s Town Parks, Pat Williams fished a strawberry boilie at Peg 14 and this was fancied by a linear carp that tipped the scales at 17lb 2oz.

Local fireman Samuel Wilson fished an Indian spice boilie for a common carp of 16lb 2oz and anglers who fished the venue’s Match Lake enjoyed good bags of mixed species, with silvers much in evidence.

Brixham rod Brenda Morrisey was said to have “emptied the lake” when she took a huge bag of roach at Peg 13.

Angling from all disciplines of the sport, representatives of game shooting, the tackle trade and the angling press gathered at the tiny church of St Paul’s, Gulworthy, near Tavistock, for the funeral of Claude Osborne, whose obituary was in last week’s column.

The first of the year’s Wyvern Division’s Fish of the Month results shows that all the senior places were filled by specimen-rated fish.

Boat Category: 1 Denise Stacey, Torbay & Babbacombe ASA, flounder 3-11-4 (148.1 per cent), 2 Rob Jones, Paignton SAA, Conger 67-10-11 (135.3), 3 John Short, Paignton SAA, small-eyed ray 13-11-7 (124.6).

Shore Category: 1 Alan Hobbs, Roving Rods SAC, small-eyed ray, 13.2.8 (164.4), 2 Lee Vosper, Rodbenders SAC, thornback ray 13-6-0 (133.7), 3 Craig Pope, Roving Rods, Smoothound 10-3-8 (127.7).

Junior Shore Category: Jack Burnett, Roving Rods, golden grey mullet, 2-5-0 (115.6).

Junior Boat Category: Sam Jordon, Brixham , golden grey mullet, 1-11-3 (84.9).

The Cornish Lure Fishing Festival will be held this summer on July 6-8. The whole of the Cornish coast can be fished in this “catch and release” tournament. The event contact is Ben Field. (e-mail ben@artoffishing.co.uk)