Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 375
- Reaction score
- 3,427
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
I’ve hardly done any conger fishing this winter, just the one half-a****d session to be precise 
, but after a few increasingly quiet outings on the beaches lately, I fancied a change this week. It wasn’t to be purely a conger hunt though, as after lots of research I decided to try and catch a species which has always eluded me, the mysterious tadpole fish.
Now you’re probably thinking that given the length of time I’ve been unsuccessfully chasing a 20lb conger that I’m a glutton for punishment in choosing to target something else, which is possibly even more difficult to catch, but I do like a challenge, so it was worth a go
.
My chosen venue has produced several tadpole fish in the past and though I’ve fished there many times and never seen one myself, I’ve never fished specifically for them. My normal 2 and 3 hook rigs, armed with 1/0s and cast out to distance, are usually in doggy, whiting and pollack territory, but this time I would be fishing smaller baits, closer in, where I hoped my quarry would be lurking
.
Now it was a breezy night to begin with, and the wind was forecast to increase further through the evening, gusting up to 38mph by midnight, but I hoped to be sheltered at my chosen ledge. As it happened though, I arrived to find that the wind was more Westerly than promised. It was still perfectly safe to fish, so I set up base camp behind a rocky outcrop, to at least get some shelter for my gear.
First rig out was a running ledger, consisting of a 200lb mono snood and armed with a Varivas 8/0, which I baited with a mackerel and squid cocktail, this was then lobbed out 20 meters or so. Once this rod was set in the tripod, I set up a second rod for the tadpole fish, this was rigged with a 1 up 1 down paternoster with size 4 hooks, which were baited with mackerel on one hook and black lug tipped with mackerel on the other. I then resisted the urge to whack it out and instead I flicked it underarm, only a few meters out from the rock face.
Though conger fishing is a waiting game, I was hoping for plenty of action on the small baits but it didn’t start that way. The first 20 minutes were quiet, before I had a rattle on the conger bait, but sadly it didn’t come to anything. On the next cast I baited it with a whole squid instead, which was lobbed a similar distance to the first cast.
While I waited for congerzilla to find my offering, I searched the area in front of me with the small baits, hoping to find where the tadpoles might be hiding, but the baits remained completely untouched.
15 minutes or so after I cast it out, I spotted another rattle on the conger bait, but this time it slowly developed into something more positive. I gave it 5 minutes before I reeled in and though it wasn’t very big, I had at least caught one of my target species, a small strap of around 2.5lb in weight
.
With my confidence boosted, I baited up again and cast out a little further than before, in the hope of finding something a little bigger.
The next hour was quiet again, but eventually I had some more interest in my conger bait. It started off as a couple of small pulls, but then suddenly things got a lot more serious. I was sitting on the rocks directly behind my gear when the tip of the conger rod started to pull over, then as I started to get up to grab the rod, it just kept on going. By the time I reached the rods, the back leg of the tripod was starting to lift off the ground and the whole lot was heading over the front of the ledge!
Thankfully I got there just in time and as soon as I picked the rod up, I felt a series of massive pulls. Sadly it wasn’t to be though and before I could settle in to the fight, the rod tip sprang back up as the hook pulled! 
I was gutted to have lost what felt like a very decent fish but there was no point in dwelling on it, so quickly re-baiting with mackerel I got the rig back out with the minimum of fuss.
The next hour was quiet again but eventually I had another small bite on the conger rod, typically it wasn’t anywhere near as big as the one I lost, but I was still happy with my second strap of the night, a slightly bigger eel than the first at around the 3.5lb mark
.
Unfortunately that was the last of the conger action, and the rest of the session passed by without incident. I could only manage a solitary dog on the conger bait, while the small baits remained completely unmolested for the whole evening
.
So that’s another conger session without sight of the 20 and my hunt for a tadpole hadn’t got off to the best of starts either, but I’ve got a few weeks left to put that right, before the lure season begins all over again.
, but after a few increasingly quiet outings on the beaches lately, I fancied a change this week. It wasn’t to be purely a conger hunt though, as after lots of research I decided to try and catch a species which has always eluded me, the mysterious tadpole fish.Now you’re probably thinking that given the length of time I’ve been unsuccessfully chasing a 20lb conger that I’m a glutton for punishment in choosing to target something else, which is possibly even more difficult to catch, but I do like a challenge, so it was worth a go
.My chosen venue has produced several tadpole fish in the past and though I’ve fished there many times and never seen one myself, I’ve never fished specifically for them. My normal 2 and 3 hook rigs, armed with 1/0s and cast out to distance, are usually in doggy, whiting and pollack territory, but this time I would be fishing smaller baits, closer in, where I hoped my quarry would be lurking
.Now it was a breezy night to begin with, and the wind was forecast to increase further through the evening, gusting up to 38mph by midnight, but I hoped to be sheltered at my chosen ledge. As it happened though, I arrived to find that the wind was more Westerly than promised. It was still perfectly safe to fish, so I set up base camp behind a rocky outcrop, to at least get some shelter for my gear.
First rig out was a running ledger, consisting of a 200lb mono snood and armed with a Varivas 8/0, which I baited with a mackerel and squid cocktail, this was then lobbed out 20 meters or so. Once this rod was set in the tripod, I set up a second rod for the tadpole fish, this was rigged with a 1 up 1 down paternoster with size 4 hooks, which were baited with mackerel on one hook and black lug tipped with mackerel on the other. I then resisted the urge to whack it out and instead I flicked it underarm, only a few meters out from the rock face.
Though conger fishing is a waiting game, I was hoping for plenty of action on the small baits but it didn’t start that way. The first 20 minutes were quiet, before I had a rattle on the conger bait, but sadly it didn’t come to anything. On the next cast I baited it with a whole squid instead, which was lobbed a similar distance to the first cast.
While I waited for congerzilla to find my offering, I searched the area in front of me with the small baits, hoping to find where the tadpoles might be hiding, but the baits remained completely untouched.
15 minutes or so after I cast it out, I spotted another rattle on the conger bait, but this time it slowly developed into something more positive. I gave it 5 minutes before I reeled in and though it wasn’t very big, I had at least caught one of my target species, a small strap of around 2.5lb in weight
.With my confidence boosted, I baited up again and cast out a little further than before, in the hope of finding something a little bigger.
The next hour was quiet again, but eventually I had some more interest in my conger bait. It started off as a couple of small pulls, but then suddenly things got a lot more serious. I was sitting on the rocks directly behind my gear when the tip of the conger rod started to pull over, then as I started to get up to grab the rod, it just kept on going. By the time I reached the rods, the back leg of the tripod was starting to lift off the ground and the whole lot was heading over the front of the ledge!
Thankfully I got there just in time and as soon as I picked the rod up, I felt a series of massive pulls. Sadly it wasn’t to be though and before I could settle in to the fight, the rod tip sprang back up as the hook pulled! I was gutted to have lost what felt like a very decent fish but there was no point in dwelling on it, so quickly re-baiting with mackerel I got the rig back out with the minimum of fuss.
The next hour was quiet again but eventually I had another small bite on the conger rod, typically it wasn’t anywhere near as big as the one I lost, but I was still happy with my second strap of the night, a slightly bigger eel than the first at around the 3.5lb mark
.Unfortunately that was the last of the conger action, and the rest of the session passed by without incident. I could only manage a solitary dog on the conger bait, while the small baits remained completely unmolested for the whole evening
.So that’s another conger session without sight of the 20 and my hunt for a tadpole hadn’t got off to the best of starts either, but I’ve got a few weeks left to put that right, before the lure season begins all over again
.
.
