Reef conger

[Adam S]

Hi all

just as a starting point .. in the summer we plan to fish a big reef we know. it comes up from 150 to 40 feet of water and holds lots of pollock, wrasse, pout.. the usual suspects.

we are planning to anchor over it for conger as i am sure it holds them but as a starting point, where would you anchor on it.. the peak, half way down, at the base, off the base?

any info would be great.

[Stan]

The direction & strength of the tide will determine where you will anchor. If you want your baits to fish up along a pinacle at various depths as it rises up you will anchor uptide from it and let the bait drift towards the pinacle. How far you anchor away will be dermined by the strength of the tide.

[JOHN1]

in my opinion and its only mine i think you would be better off fishing for congor's either over the HIGH or LOW water slack periods as they should be more active and as it happens it's easier to anchor over a particular mark at these times. i think as the tide increases the bites decreases.

[Mohawk]

Just find a peak of rock on the reef and anchor on top of it! You need a run of tide for conger for the bait scent to attract them. Spring tides are best, slack water is usually the quietest period for Conger. You need to have your big bait nailed to the bottom for the most success. They are probably the easiest fish to find so I wouldn't put too much thought into them, where there is rock they is usually conger the more rock the better and depth makes little difference!

To wet your apatite here's a photo of a specimen of 50lbs taken from a reef here this summer the following day Timmy O' Driscoll aka "Timmy" had one of nearly 70lbs in close, in much shallower water on his boat

Gerry's Conger (600 x 800).jpg

[Adam S]

hi all

thanks for the input

yes i am sure there must be conger in the area. the peak is swarming with fish and we have never drifted over it without a fish to almost every rod.

thats what i would be after mohawk, looks great!!

the reef is about 300 meters in diameter, not quite round as its a bit narrower on a couple of sides and runs east/west.

at the base and all around is 150 feet, coming up to about 70, dipping again to 80 and then right up to 30 on the peak. if you anchored on the peak it would be a long enough cast out to reach the 70 foot point.

i was thinking of either starting in the 80 foot dip, or just above the base with the baits just down off the reef to ty to pull fish out of the rock face. sound reasonable??

thanks again

[Dave Jolly]

I would fish into the base of the peak, in 150' of water you should even get ling, but as Mohawk says if you anchor up anywhere on the peak you will attract the conger to your baits.

[Adam S]

thanks dave

yes we have picked up a couple of ling off the base, nothing big up to about 6lbs. but they give a good scrap on light gear. for drifting over the reef we use left hand wind multipliers with 60lbs braid and pike jerkbait rods. really good fun.