Crosshaven MA, Charlene, 25/05/08

People:Crosshaven club comp

Duration:11.45-5.15

Tide:LW 3.45

Weather:Howling, sunny mostly, overcast towards the end with a few spots of rain.

Bait:Usual

Rigs:Various

Results:Pollack, Conger, LSDs to our boat.

Report:
Following the trip getting battered about all day in Dunmore, I wasnt overly enthusiastic about heading off on Sunday to fish with local club Crosshaven in their first boat comp of the year in every bit as bad conditions. I had never fished a boat outing with Crosshaven and had set my mind to make a bit more of an effort with them this year and have a crack at a few. I was drawn aboard "Charlene", a 21' Geary with the Curtins. Great little fishing boat the Geary 21' by the way and fished 4 of us in comfort for the day, well as comfortable as conditions would allow that is....

Still, despite being sore as hell from the day befores battering, there was a feeling of exhilaration as the CH convoy headed off. We set forth from Crosshaven into howling winds and bumpy as hell until out into the harbour where it flattened off considerably. After failing to get a hold on Harbour rock with the ebb tide and wind combining to continually trip the anchor we headed out of the harbour and east to anchor not far off Trabolgan. It was busy out there! Numerous charter boats and small boats dotted around a smallish area, all restricted by conditions.

Davy (?), Charlie and Dinny opted to fish for conger straight off. I hate conger fishing myself but I could become converted (more on that later) so I opted to scratch about for a while. First drop down had me into a lovely wrasse of 3-4lbs inside 2 minutes. Bad sign that, catching your first fish so fast. Some fruitless searching around for some more wrasse
followed before eventually deciding to try and pick up a few pollack. Long flowing 3 hook traces of lightish fluoro and rag baits wound 2-3 metres off the bottom and just left to flow in the tide worked well with pollack hitting every couple of minutes. Not all were to make size (35cm) but it was nice after the nightmare the previous day to have fish coming in.

With the conger gear largely ignored aside from a couple of dogs for Dinny and winds increasing further we headed back into the harbour for shelter. Anchored not far away from JCs Corkwing mark :wink: we began again with hopes for a few conger raised with approaching slack water. No wrasse or codling were to show which is unusual for this spot so it was back to tapping out pollack, they were sitting quite high on the reef, leaving your trace flowing in 6m was doing the trick.

The reason for the lack of feeding wrasse and pollack became apparent when with a grimace and a flurry of expletives, Charlie lifted into a sizeable fish, a battle broke out on the other side of the boat as Davy lit into a lump at the same time. Conger were on the hunt and 2 beauts came to the surface. When Charlie pulled in another fish, well over 30lbs 2 minutes later, it had me scampering to the wheelhouse and reaching for something a bit more substantial than the TDXU. The lads kindly lent me what could only be described as a broom stick with a reel on it bigger than the winch on my boat trailer :shock: . Overgunning? Not a bit as 5 minutes after dropping down the rod took a lurch and a battle royal ensued trying to hit and hold a lump of a fish. Halfway up however, the hook pulled.

A drop down again and a ten minute wait had me lifting once again into a lump. Now, I never usually fish conger as my previous experience from the shore and boat is that they are bad tempered, slimy creatures who are a nightmare to unhook and deal with. I failed to see the attraction in fishing for these ugly creatures. I might add that was based on smaller fish with my biggest sitting at well under 20lbs from the boat that fought like a double shot of rolled up dogfish from deep water and about half that from the shore. I often manage to pick up small fellas as a bycatch on occasion and hated dealing with the blighters. Now, hooking a good un, and this fish was heading well over 30lbs, is a totally different ball game. Add on the fact that we were fishing at most 8-9m of water and you should get a better picture. The amount of physical strength it takes to hit and hold one of these fellas is unreal, I was amazed! That fish fought like a demon and it was a real shock as to how much power these fish have at their disposal. TBarring the fish off at the side of the boat saved all the messy handlings with unhooking. Heads on them like a bulldog and spinning like ballerinas at the top of the water, several more came to the boat with a super fish of over 40lbs taken by Charlie at the death, only one of I think 7/8 conger caught aboard Charlene was under 25lbs.

And so it finished, I have to say, whilst it will take a lot to convert me from my species gathering pollack and wrasse bashing approach to fishing reefs during comps, I've had my eyes well and truly opened on the Conger front. Duke 1 will be going after these bad boys in the very near future as soon as I invest in some heavier gear..

21 pollack to size, a Ballan and the fat Conger eel was enough to finish in 3rd place overall on the day with Fred Vickery and Pat Rice taking first and second, well done lads. An enjoyable days fishing in good company despite the nasty conditions. Big thanks to the Curtins who took great pleasure in introducing me to Cork Conger and were absolute gents to fish with.

Great report there Pete, all the detail on traces etc is really good.

Well done on the 3rd place, I'm not sure if I'd have gone out after the Dunmore trip.

I love big conger but dont catch enough of em

Any advice on the rigs used Pete?

Any pics?

Hi Kev, big silver pirk with a single 8/0 attached, flowing trace attached to this (well as flowing as 200lb mono allows.... :D ) of about 5 feet with a short dropper. Bait all 3 with mack and wait for the fun to begin....