Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 367
- Reaction score
- 3,376
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
After easing myself back into the dirty bait fishing with a victory in the latest club match, it was time last night for some big fish hunting. After changing my mind a couple of times, I finally decided to fish one of my favourite rock marks, where my plan was to fish moderately sized baits out on the clean ground, to target the rays and potentially huss, and bigger baits close in, where I hoped Congerzilla might be lurking. After many years of unsuccessfully hunting the beast, I have decided this year that a drastic change of tactics is called for, so after trying the technique to target halibut in Norway, I have resolved to give live-baiting a serious go.
For my first attempt of the year, I would be fishing 3 hours up to high and an hour or so down, and I arrived at my destination to find decent enough conditions, with only a light swell lapping at the rocks, so I immediately set up my base camp. My first priority was to catch some whiting for bait, so I began setting up my first rod with a 3-hook flapper, armed with size 4’s and baited with frozen black lug, but I had barely begun getting it ready when I heard a familiar sound behind me
. Having heard it many times before, I knew exactly what was responsible for the loud snort and so I wasn’t surprised at all when I turned around and came face to face with a bloody great big seal 
.
Now I’ve encountered many seals over the years while fishing, so I knew there was a potential risk that it might take the odd fish off my line as I reeled it in. This isn’t usually too much of a problem though, and I carried on setting up my gear, then after baiting the flapper with frozen black lug, I launched it out onto the clean ground. The rod was rattling away even before I had placed it on the tripod, and I knew that obtaining fresh bait wouldn’t be a problem, so I immediately began setting up my next rod with a pulley dropper rig, armed with pennel 4/0s to target the rays. Once this was done, I baited it with a squid and sandeel cocktail before it joined the flapper out in the depths. As soon as this was done, I turned my attention to the flapper. I could tell from the weight that there was a fish on the line and sure enough a whiting soon emerged from the water, but I couldn’t quite make out what the strange object was on the other hook
. As I swung the rig towards me I recognized it to be the remains of a second whiting 
.
Normally this would have raised the question of the identity of the attacker, as both huss and rays will take previously hooked fish, but in this case I was pretty sure I knew what was responsible
.
Having re-baited the rig I cast out again and just like on the first cast, the rattling started almost immediately. I decided to give it some time while I tidied things up a bit but only a few minutes after I cast out the rod bent hard over, almost taking the tripod with it!
Thankfully I manage to grab the rod before any damage was done, but sadly the culprit was gone 
. This time I reeled in nothing more than 3 severed whiting heads and there was now no doubt in my mind that the culprit was the seal I saw earlier 
.
Though I had plenty of frozen bait, I still needed some fresh to give myself the best chance of catching my target species, so I had no choice but to carry on with the small baits for the time being. This time though I had a cunning plan and instead of placing the rod in the tripod, I held onto it, then after a couple of minutes of constant rattling I reeled it in before anything big had the chance to find the tethered fish. This plan worked to a degree and despite a sudden increase in weight on the line half way back to the shore, when my friend grabbed one of my fish, I still managed to land 2 live whiting
.
With 3 live whiting swimming safely in a rock pool, I now had enough bait to be getting on with but obviously my conger plan A was a no go
, a live whiting in prime seal territory just wouldn’t stand a chance 
. I had to re-think my plans and as the larger squid and sandeel cocktail on the other rod had remained unmolested by the whiting and the seal, I decided to risk a whiting fillet instead, hoping that the seal was only interested in a live snack.
For the next couple of hours I stuck to my guns, with the large whiting baits on one rod and large squid or mackerel baits on the other, but apart from a solitary doggie on mackerel, the baits remained untouched.
Eventually I had baited up with my final small whiting, so I had to risk a single cast with the flapper to replenish my bait supply. Thankfully, this resulted in a single larger whiting, with no sign of the seal, so I wondered if it might have got bored by the lack of small live fish to eat, and had finally moved on.
It was very likely to be the case, so on the next cast I decided to try another squid and sandeel cocktail on the pulley dropper, if the worst happened and a whiting managed to impale itself on the pennel 4/0s, then hopefully the seal wouldn’t be there to devour it
.
After baiting a spare snood in readiness, I picked up the dropper rod and as I leant back and swept the rod tip upwards, in order to breakout the grip-lead I was surprised to feel quite a weight on the line. I hadn’t seen any indications of a bite, but there was definitely something there. In case the seal was still around, I tried to reel in as quickly as possible but whatever was on the end of my line put up a decent scrap in the swells, which were now starting to increase quite markedly. I persevered though and eventually the fish was beaten in front of me, and when it finally appeared in the light from my headlamp, I was very pleasantly surprised to see that it was a reasonably sized ray
.
After attaching the freshly baited snood, I cast the flapper back out before I unhooked the ray, which at 4lb 12oz wasn’t a monster by any means, but I was still happy to catch one of target species
.
Over the next hour I caught 2 more rays, a small around the pound mark, followed by a second on at 4lb 4oz
but then just as suddenly as they had started feeding, the rays vanished again and apart from the odd small rattle, probably whiting, the rod tips stayed motionless. I fished for another hour but there was no sign of any more action, so I eventually called it a night at 00:15.
So thanks to Sammy the seal, my first conger hunt of the autumn hadn’t really got off the ground, but a busy hour on the ray front had made up for that, and I was still more than happy with the final result
.
There will also be plenty more chances between now and next March for me to make the acquaintance of Congerzilla, so watch this space
.
For my first attempt of the year, I would be fishing 3 hours up to high and an hour or so down, and I arrived at my destination to find decent enough conditions, with only a light swell lapping at the rocks, so I immediately set up my base camp. My first priority was to catch some whiting for bait, so I began setting up my first rod with a 3-hook flapper, armed with size 4’s and baited with frozen black lug, but I had barely begun getting it ready when I heard a familiar sound behind me
. Having heard it many times before, I knew exactly what was responsible for the loud snort and so I wasn’t surprised at all when I turned around and came face to face with a bloody great big seal .Now I’ve encountered many seals over the years while fishing, so I knew there was a potential risk that it might take the odd fish off my line as I reeled it in. This isn’t usually too much of a problem though, and I carried on setting up my gear, then after baiting the flapper with frozen black lug, I launched it out onto the clean ground. The rod was rattling away even before I had placed it on the tripod, and I knew that obtaining fresh bait wouldn’t be a problem, so I immediately began setting up my next rod with a pulley dropper rig, armed with pennel 4/0s to target the rays. Once this was done, I baited it with a squid and sandeel cocktail before it joined the flapper out in the depths. As soon as this was done, I turned my attention to the flapper. I could tell from the weight that there was a fish on the line and sure enough a whiting soon emerged from the water, but I couldn’t quite make out what the strange object was on the other hook
. As I swung the rig towards me I recognized it to be the remains of a second whiting .Normally this would have raised the question of the identity of the attacker, as both huss and rays will take previously hooked fish, but in this case I was pretty sure I knew what was responsible
.Having re-baited the rig I cast out again and just like on the first cast, the rattling started almost immediately. I decided to give it some time while I tidied things up a bit but only a few minutes after I cast out the rod bent hard over, almost taking the tripod with it!
Thankfully I manage to grab the rod before any damage was done, but sadly the culprit was gone . This time I reeled in nothing more than 3 severed whiting heads and there was now no doubt in my mind that the culprit was the seal I saw earlier .Though I had plenty of frozen bait, I still needed some fresh to give myself the best chance of catching my target species, so I had no choice but to carry on with the small baits for the time being. This time though I had a cunning plan and instead of placing the rod in the tripod, I held onto it, then after a couple of minutes of constant rattling I reeled it in before anything big had the chance to find the tethered fish. This plan worked to a degree and despite a sudden increase in weight on the line half way back to the shore, when my friend grabbed one of my fish, I still managed to land 2 live whiting
.With 3 live whiting swimming safely in a rock pool, I now had enough bait to be getting on with but obviously my conger plan A was a no go
, a live whiting in prime seal territory just wouldn’t stand a chance . I had to re-think my plans and as the larger squid and sandeel cocktail on the other rod had remained unmolested by the whiting and the seal, I decided to risk a whiting fillet instead, hoping that the seal was only interested in a live snack.For the next couple of hours I stuck to my guns, with the large whiting baits on one rod and large squid or mackerel baits on the other, but apart from a solitary doggie on mackerel, the baits remained untouched.
Eventually I had baited up with my final small whiting, so I had to risk a single cast with the flapper to replenish my bait supply. Thankfully, this resulted in a single larger whiting, with no sign of the seal, so I wondered if it might have got bored by the lack of small live fish to eat, and had finally moved on.
It was very likely to be the case, so on the next cast I decided to try another squid and sandeel cocktail on the pulley dropper, if the worst happened and a whiting managed to impale itself on the pennel 4/0s, then hopefully the seal wouldn’t be there to devour it
.After baiting a spare snood in readiness, I picked up the dropper rod and as I leant back and swept the rod tip upwards, in order to breakout the grip-lead I was surprised to feel quite a weight on the line. I hadn’t seen any indications of a bite, but there was definitely something there. In case the seal was still around, I tried to reel in as quickly as possible but whatever was on the end of my line put up a decent scrap in the swells, which were now starting to increase quite markedly. I persevered though and eventually the fish was beaten in front of me, and when it finally appeared in the light from my headlamp, I was very pleasantly surprised to see that it was a reasonably sized ray
.After attaching the freshly baited snood, I cast the flapper back out before I unhooked the ray, which at 4lb 12oz wasn’t a monster by any means, but I was still happy to catch one of target species
.Over the next hour I caught 2 more rays, a small around the pound mark, followed by a second on at 4lb 4oz
but then just as suddenly as they had started feeding, the rays vanished again and apart from the odd small rattle, probably whiting, the rod tips stayed motionless. I fished for another hour but there was no sign of any more action, so I eventually called it a night at 00:15.
So thanks to Sammy the seal, my first conger hunt of the autumn hadn’t really got off the ground, but a busy hour on the ray front had made up for that, and I was still more than happy with the final result
.There will also be plenty more chances between now and next March for me to make the acquaintance of Congerzilla, so watch this space
.
.