Carrigaholt Pier -Thu 20 oct -Conger high

[bigkev]

Fished low water 3pm to high at 9

Expecting dave b at 6.30, I turned up early with 4 frozen skanky mackerel. Dave was to turn up later with the "proper bait"
In bright sunshine, I lowered my nasty half mackerel in 5 feet of water off the end of the pier. And as has been the case in all my shore conger sessions, the rule book was turned on its head.
A short run, a strike and a mighty tussle brought a fish to the surface over 5 feet long. Guestimated at 25lbs, I was then unable to make the run to the pier steps, as a broken down yacht had tied up to the wall. After a hilarious effort of trying to hold the fish against the pier wall, whilst photographing the fish on the phone, I persuaded the nice man on the yacht to haul the fish in, cut the line at the fishes mouth and release it.

Quiet then until 7pm, and with dave b armed with good quality mackerel, hopes were high of more conger and some thornbacks. As luck dictates, I caught two pollack of about a pound, and an enormous whiting of about 2 lbs.No conger ,no ray. Poor indeed.
On the conger front, it was reminiscent of my many late night trips last year to fenit and tarbert, which resulted in no conger!!! Go figure!

Still, my largest conger
Kev