North Wales Mission conger / tadpole 2023 – Part 4 & 5.

[Andy 1965]

After a couple of weeks hunting rays, I’ve spent the last 2 weeks back on the trail of my other winter targets, the double whammy of a 20lb conger and a tadpole fish. First off was a return to a mark I last fished over a month ago, on that occasion I only caught 2 strap conger around the 2lb mark, but I did lose something which felt a lot bigger. Knowing there was a beast decent lurking in the area, meant that I was feeling confident of getting something a little bigger on my return visit, but it wasn’t to be .

Sport was patchy to say the least and almost 5 hours of fishing resulted in just another 3 straps to around 3lb, and a solitary doggie.




Fast forward a week to this Thursday night, and continuing strong South Westerly winds saw my scurrying once more to the top of the island for shelter. I arrived at my chosen mark to find that it wasn’t quite as protected from the wind as I hoped it would be, but I decided to give it a go regardless. This turned out not to be then smartest move, as on the very first cast of the evening, the tripod blew over, sending my rod crashing to the floor . Hoping for the best but fearing the worst, I picked the rod up and examined it for damage, and my heart sank when I found a large piece missing from the lining of one ring . On further examination today in daylight, the missing piece is on the opposite side to where the line runs, so hopefully I’ll be ok to use it for now, but it wasn’t a great start to the session.

Once everything was tied down , it wasn’t such a bad evening and as I got used to fishing in the blustery conditions, I caught a steady stream of dogs and whiting on the bigger baits.




The big conger baits also accounted for a couple of dogs, with eyes bigger than their bellies, but otherwise they remained largely untouched.

As for the scratching rod targeting the tadpole fish, the first couple of casts resulted in 2 small pollack, but after that it stayed quiet for the next 90 minutes.


It did move eventually though, resulting in the only real bit of excitement of the evening.

I had just reeled in the other rod and landed a double header of dogs, when I just happened to glance over at the other rod, and I was shocked to see the tip bent almost double as something angry tried to get away with one of my baits . Placing the first rod carefully on the ground, with the dogs still attached, I picked up the scratcher and I could immediately feel something struggling in the depths below me. For the next couple of minutes I played a game of tug of war with the crab muncher, as it tried to find the safety of a snag, but eventually I gained the upper hand and the culprit soon surfaced in front of me. It wasn’t a monster, but on light gear, even a strap of around is capable of putting up a great scrap .


That was the last bit of real excitement on the fishing front, and I only caught another couple of dogs, but I was fortunate to get to see the Northern lights too , they weren’t quite as impressive as they were in Norway but it was still good to see them.

So that’s another week of dirty bait fishing on the books, and next up though is the second club match of the year later tonight. It won’t be long now though, until the conger are forgotten about for another year, as spring arrives and the 2023 lure season finally gets underway. Bring it on I say .

 

[Tatunka joe]

Nice sesh mate

 

[JLD]

Good session. Tadpole fish aren't that easy to find so I wish you luck with that. Only place I ever caught one was Fishguard breakwater. That was years ago and you needed to be a club and get permission in advance to even get on there.

 

[Bass&Chips]

10/10 for effort. There must be a big eel with your name on it somewhere out there.

 

[Wolf]

Nice one mate good catches,piccys & write up

 

[Andy 1965]

Thanks for the replies all .

Good session. Tadpole fish aren't that easy to find so I wish you luck with that. Only place I ever caught one was Fishguard breakwater. That was years ago and you needed to be a club and get permission in advance to even get on there.

You're not wrong there , I've been sea fishing for 50 years now and I've never even seen one.

The marks I've been fishing lately are all places where I've heard of them being caught, and around this time of year too, but so far they've stayed on step ahead of me.

Time is running out now for another year though, and I'll soon be back on the lures again for the next 8 months.

10/10 for effort. There must be a big eel with your name on it somewhere out there.

I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever get to meet it now, I've been chasing a 20lber for at least 10 years and it still feels like I'm a million miles away from catching one .

There's always this Thursday though, the weather and tide aren't fit for anything other than a deep water rock mark, so I'll probably give it one more go .

 

[Si-fly]

Nice write up mate, and good luck with your quest

 

[richtic]

Great report and pictures, I'm sure your efforts will be rewarded one day