North Wales Mission conger 2020/21 – Part 3. A cunning plan.

[Andy 1965]

With heavy rain forecast for the third consecutive Thursday, I couldn’t bear the thought of another soaking, so I came up with a cunning plan. There was no way the conger would expect me earlier in the week, so I decided to sneak up on them on Tuesday night instead . The venue chosen was a mark where I’ve only ever caught straps to around 5lb, but where I did once hook what felt like the biggest eel I’ve ever been connected to. On that occasion I got it up off the bottom, only for it to dive again and snap 30lb mono like cotton, but I’ve upped my gear since then and I’m confident now that it won’t be so lucky next time.

Following a good run to the venue, 10 minutes quicker than the Google Maps estimate ?, I arrived at the car park to find it completely sheltered from the wind, then after quickly getting kitted up I set off along the coast on the 20 minute yomp to the mark. With the wind forecast to be offshore, I expected calm conditions on the rocks too, but it was definitely blowing more from the east than forecast and was blowing across my chosen ledge. Despite this, conditions were still relatively calm and safely fishable, so I pressed on. 10 minutes after I arrived a mackerel head impaled on an 8/0 was lobbed 20 meters out and as the bait sank to the bottom, followed by a good amount of line trickling off the reel, I was reassured by the sheer depth of water I was fishing in. Soon after this a 2 hook flapper was cast further out in the hope of finding some fresh bait for the night, and it was game on.

Encouragingly, the first sign of life came on the conger rod, as a series of pull downs betrayed the presence of something intent on snaffling my bait. Sadly it didn’t come to anything but judging by the damage done to the skull of the mackerel, it was most likely my intended quarry.

Next up was a bite on the scratcher, but I was a little disappointed not to see a tell-tale whiting rattle, this was altogether bouncier and I had my suspicions as to what it might be. Sure enough, when I reeled in a few minutes later my suspicions were confirmed when the first strappy of the evening was landed, a proper beast of around 1lb in weight ?.


Undeterred, I re-baited the flapper and cast out again.

Over the next hour, I had several rattles on the conger rod but they didn’t amount to much and again it was the scratcher which produced the goods, this time with a slightly bigger strap around the 2lb mark. Double the size of the first, so at least I was moving in the right direction .


The next hour was quiet on the conger front and I could only manage a dog on the scratcher, but a few minutes before high tide, I belatedly had a decent bite on the conger rod. Now when I say decent I’m not talking about a screaming run, but the culprit was definitely keener than the fish which chewed the big bait earlier. I gave it a few minutes to be sure it was hiked before reeling in my third eel of the night ?.


At around the 4lb mark, this strap was double the size of the previous one again and I couldn’t help thinking to myself, that if the size of my conger kept doubling, and I continued to catch one conger every hour, then I would get an 8lber at midnight, and a 16lber at 1am before finally breaking the 20lb barrier with a 32lb beast at around 2 in the morning ?. That was never going to happen though and with my alarm set for 7am for work, I couldn’t possibly fish that late, so with no sign of the elusive whiting, I decided not to waste any more time fishing for them. The flapper rig was duly replaced with a second running ledger baited this time with bluey, and I sat back to wait for a leviathan to find my offerings.

For the remaining 90 minutes, I fished all out for conger but my hope that the eels would keep on coming proved to be wishful thinking and I didn’t see another one for the rest of the session. I did catch another dog though, before finishing the evening with a bonus huss of around the 4lb mark, which promptly threw up a whole octopus ?.


With time for just one last throw of the dice, the octopus was promptly impaled on the 8/0 and lobbed out into the depths from where it came. Sadly this last gamble failed to pay off though, and I didn’t get another bite before I packed up at 00:15 .

So that’s 3 sessions gone in this winter’s hunt, with only 5 straps to show for it, and with the largest weighing in at a paltry 4lb 2oz it’s not looking good for my quest. It’s early days yet though and I’m still hoping to fit in another few sessions before the year is out, starting on Saturday night, so watch this space to see if I get an early Christmas present .

 

[Viaductbaggies]

Pictures as well this time ?

 

[richtic]

Excellent report and pictures, nice fishing Andy