Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 410
- Reaction score
- 3,705
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
With settled high pressure over the country, it would have been rude not to fit in two sessions last week, so Thursday evening saw me heading out once more in search of Congerzilla. As on Tuesday, I was joined again by Steve O but this time we headed for the west coast of the island. Conditions were dry and overcast, perfect to cover up the bright full moon, but with light winds forecast I was surprised to find quite a large swell crashing onto the rocks when we arrived at the mark ?. It wasn’t a concern though, as our ledge was well above the water and safely out of any danger.
As usual, first out was the conger gear, and a running ledger baited with a juicy mackerel and squid cocktail was soon consigned to the depths. This was followed by a 2 hook flapper baited with lug and sandeel, intended to provide me with a supply of whiting for use as both live and dead baits. I didn’t have to wait long for a bite, and the first ‘ting of the night was soon landed. This was followed shortly after by the first bite on the conger rod, and within 20 minutes of arriving I was also off the mark on the eel front, with a strap of around 2lb ?.
For the next 90 minutes I fished the same tactics, catching another 3 whiting and a dab, before I switched to fishing 2 rods for the snakes, the first rod baited with either squid, mackerel or herring, and the second rod baited with a fresh whole whiting. Sadly, after such a promising start to the evening, the conger were right off the feed now and the next 3 hours were completely dead for me ?.
After starting out with just the 1 rod for eels, Steve had gone the opposite way to me, and he was now fishing a second rod with smaller baits, but by just flicking this out a few meters from the rocks, he was catching a steady stream of surprisingly decent sized whiting, sadly though, he was also struggling on the eel front and we didn’t get another run all night.
Eventually we called it quits at 00:20, and headed home to plan our next move of what has so far been a very disappointing winter campaign ?.
As usual, first out was the conger gear, and a running ledger baited with a juicy mackerel and squid cocktail was soon consigned to the depths. This was followed by a 2 hook flapper baited with lug and sandeel, intended to provide me with a supply of whiting for use as both live and dead baits. I didn’t have to wait long for a bite, and the first ‘ting of the night was soon landed. This was followed shortly after by the first bite on the conger rod, and within 20 minutes of arriving I was also off the mark on the eel front, with a strap of around 2lb ?.
For the next 90 minutes I fished the same tactics, catching another 3 whiting and a dab, before I switched to fishing 2 rods for the snakes, the first rod baited with either squid, mackerel or herring, and the second rod baited with a fresh whole whiting. Sadly, after such a promising start to the evening, the conger were right off the feed now and the next 3 hours were completely dead for me ?.
After starting out with just the 1 rod for eels, Steve had gone the opposite way to me, and he was now fishing a second rod with smaller baits, but by just flicking this out a few meters from the rocks, he was catching a steady stream of surprisingly decent sized whiting, sadly though, he was also struggling on the eel front and we didn’t get another run all night.
Eventually we called it quits at 00:20, and headed home to plan our next move of what has so far been a very disappointing winter campaign ?.
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