RE: Wrasse. The first time I caught one I was around 10 and still a novice. I was fishing the west arm of Brighton Marina in the middle of the summer around 9am and the tide was very low (I was waiting for the rush of mackerel you get there when it starts rising). I took it on a legered rag worm cast very close to the wall.
When the thing came up I didn't have a fucking clue what it was! Weighed it up and it came to just under 4lb which I later discovered ain't too shabby for a ballan wrasse.
Anyways, there was no one there to help identify it so I just stood there staring at this beautiful creature, wanting to know what it was and whether I could eat it!
The naive little sod that I was, I was a bit scared of unhooking it; we take a lot of weavers and blennies at that mark and whilst they look nothing like I was shitting myself!
I decided to chuck the guy back but with the long drop (low tide) and the amount of time out of water I'm not sure if he made it

It was my first and biggest wrasse to date.
RE: Shore cod fishing...Now that's a brave man's sport! It's just long cold nights, expensive equipment and not much to show for it usually!
UNLESS you are prepared to walk, and by walk I mean trek. There are some great shore cod marks, just ask Alan Yates!
Ceres just seen you mention ragworm and wrasse! Indeed they do (go mental). Have you ever had much joy using jelly sand-eels and similar lures from the shore? I caught a few small pollock from rocks in West Ireland once but that was about it. Think they are more of a boat thing.
Oh to have my own boat

And not live in central fucking London!
MR. MONKEY: Congratulations on your new job, I hope it's not a pain in the arse. And I will try to behave myself :D Wish I could drive and lived where you do I would be fishing everyday. WELL JELL.
Didn't we have another fishing thread?