October - Conger / Wrasse Ullcatch Nominated Species

[jd]

October - Conger / Wrasse Ullcatch Nominated Species

[jd]

Off you go lads..

[sailnfish]

Just to get the ball rolling

East Cork 07/10/12

Having been given the rare opportunity of a whole day's fishing, I checked the weather and tide situation and began to hatch a plan (of sorts).
Tides were small and the wind had East in it, a combination which usually provides for less than ideal fishing conditions 'round these parts. Adamant that I was going to have a days fishing, I set out with a buddy, our gear. a bucket of feisty live peelers and the prerequisite that is the flask of tae.
We set out for a remote rock mark in the hope that the Wrasse would play ball when other marks would be throwing up little more than specimen sized clumps of weed ! Like men possessed, we set up our gear and baited up while the wind howled around us, taking comfort in the fact that the lack of phone coverage would eliminate any detrimental distraction from this most important of duties . It wasn't long before I was into my first little Ballan which gave us the impetus to stick with the task in hand. Two more Wrasse followed for my buddy, which was enough to justify our sitting on the edge of a rock ledge in the wind and rain.
Towards the end of the session a lively fish legged in with my bait which prompted me two leap up and strike back, spilling me tea down my leg. As the retrieval commenced, I got a footing on the windy rock ledge and tried to forget about the by now rapidly cooling tea on my left trouser leg. I gave the fish a chance to adjust to the pressure on the way up and was happy to see a lovely Ballan breaking the surface. Safely on dry land, the fish kindly posed for a photo - even allowing himself to be weighed in at 3.75 pounds - before being safely returned to the water to fight another day.
All in all a reasonable session considering the less than ideal conditions !

[Ric0shay]

People:Me ,Kev and the ol'fella

Duration:10hrs

Tide:filling to filling

Weather:Beautiful

Bait:mackerel,lug,crab and plastics

Rigs:

Results:mackerel,coal fish,pouting,dogs,cuckoo wrasse,ling,conger

Report:We decided to take advantage of the break in the weather and head out early Saturday morning.We were heading out the harbor at six,stopped for some bait on the way and were fishing for seven.Nothing much going on for the first 2-3 hrs until the bottom chum started working.Fishing was thick and fast after that with pouting,wrasse,coals and dogs making up the majority of the catch.

After some grub and a change of location again the fishing slowed with nothing been taken on anything other then half and whole macks.As the chum started to work the conger and big ling started to show up with 5 conger up to 25lbs and the same with the ling.

At four if what time to make our way home and just off the head we stopped to try for a few ballan.As with earlier nothing was taking the smaller baits so time to head off.A turn of the key and went to put her in gear and nothing........oh no.
We knew the weather for forecasted to change that evening and for some reason there wasn't one other boat out all day.We tried for an hour to find out why the gearbox had lost hydraulic pressure and wont engage but could find nothing.

If was time to get a tow from the RNLI.Made the call and the lads were with us within 10 minutes and towed us in.
I'm amazed at the speed they were with us and cant thank them enough for their help for keeping a great day out just that.

[sailnfish]

Lovely Conger. Hats off to ya

[escapade]

Lower Aghada 06/10/2012
One of the nicest mornings yet this year, dry ,calm warm and sunny.
Decided to head to sea. Launched from Lower Aghada Tennis Club .
After a couple of hours scratching around, decided to go to anchor for a few conger. Headed to a mark close to shore stuffed with good conger. We didn't manage to pick up any fresh mackeral so the frozen ones would have to do. Due to the size and quantity of conger taken here previously I decided to use only a baited perk. It was about 20 mins before we had our first conger and for the next half hour it was just one after another but nothing of any great size. For the next 15 mins we didn't get a single bite until I felt the slightest tap, I reeled in the slack and struck - then the fun began. After 10 mins I managed to shift the monster off the bottom and 5 mins later I had it on the surface - over 6ft long - the biggest conger eel I have ever seen!
After a bit of a struggle I managed to net it, I weighed the fish in the net but it went off the scale (55lb), so I knew I had my specimen. Out of the net and into the fish-hold filled with water, anchor up and back to the slipway to retrieve the boat, measure and weigh the fish.
Weight: 22.26kgs (49lbs)
Length: 1.90m
Girth: 54cms
Sadly for some reason the fish emptied the contents of its stomach (whole dogfish) and bled heavily from its mouth in the fish-hold. Unfortunately it did not make it back.

Results for the day: conger eel (including 1 specimen)
poor cod, grey gurnard, dogfish, pollack, dab, blonde ray, plaice

conger (1).pdf

[sailnfish]

Lower Aghada 06/10/2012
One of the nicest mornings yet this year, dry ,calm warm and sunny.
Decided to head to sea. Launched from Lower Aghada Tennis Club .
After a couple of hours scratching around, decided to go to anchor for a few conger. Headed to a mark close to shore stuffed with good conger. We didn't manage to pick up any fresh mackeral so the frozen ones would have to do. Due to the size and quantity of conger taken here previously I decided to use only a baited perk. It was about 20 mins before we had our first conger and for the next half hour it was just one after another but nothing of any great size. For the next 15 mins we didn't get a single bite until I felt the slightest tap, I reeled in the slack and struck - then the fun began. After 10 mins I managed to shift the monster off the bottom and 5 mins later I had it on the surface - over 6ft long - the biggest conger eel I have ever seen!
After a bit of a struggle I managed to net it, I weighed the fish in the net but it went off the scale (55lb), so I knew I had my specimen. Out of the net and into the fish-hold filled with water, anchor up and back to the slipway to retrieve the boat, measure and weigh the fish.
Weight: 22.26kgs (49lbs)
Length: 1.90m
Girth: 54cms
Sadly for some reason the fish emptied the contents of its stomach (whole dogfish) and bled heavily from its mouth in the fish-hold. Unfortunately it did not make it back.

Results for the day: conger eel (including 1 specimen)
poor cod, grey gurnard, dogfish, pollack, dab, blonde ray, plaice

conger (1).pdf

Monster Conger there fair play !

[agardiner22]

My son matt with his biggest Ballan Wrasse of just over 2 lbs. priceless to see the panic when he hooked him.

[jd]

After some discussion the prize goes to Ric0shay for his excellent report, photograph and fish.