portrush harbour for conger?

[jonnyarchi]

i tried fishing portrush harbour for conger yesterday, fished for 5 hours and had one decent bite but i dont think it was an eel.
ive read and heard that the harbour is good for conger but was wondering if anyone could advise me on which part of the harbour i should be fishing? i was fishing just beside the slipway and used mac flappers. my bait kept coming in a bit shreaded but i guess thats just crabs and tiddlers! i fished from 3 untill eight so 3 or so hours of darkness.
any help will be much apprecaited (spelling? lol) so please drop me a reply or pm if you can help!
thanks jonny

[biker]

sorry i dont know that particular spot man but could just be your timing aswel, they could have just ate scraps off the boat and have no interest in your bait ! try make a rig so that your bait is off the bottom to avoid the crabs (non swimming ones anyway) if any particular part of the pier is obviously older than a newer part, id try the older parts more cracks etc bring a pair of gloves in case you have to hand line a big one

[weedave]

hi mate,

first off - the harbour aint great for eels anymore - the last big one was killed by a tourist over the summer months.
i fish boats out of the harbour and we would still clean fish there and chuck overboard so there prob are a few congers in there but no diggies but i could be wrong
Ramore head would be much more productive area for them - plenty of rocky ground and kelp for them to hide ii, i have had and seen some nice eels around that headland.
if youre set on fishing the harbour then fish from the jettie that boats launch from or just down by the slip - keep baits farily close to the walls.
or you could go onto the south leg of the harbour and fish under the boats but beware of the anchor points that the boats use and the sunken line between them.

i'd still fish ramore for them though.

dave

[Al and Jordan]

more bad news i'm afraid jonny . like dave said the resident eels in the harbour have taken a hammering in the past few years. you were fishing the right spot man, but a lot of eels have beek killed from there, the same as ramore head in the past few years too. since the demise of the eels in the harbour there has been a lot more big brown crab and lobster about (probably what was shreadding your baits).
ramore head used to be a good eel mark but fell to the same fate as the harbour. still a few about the mark, but no where the same numbers as a few years ago

[jonnyarchi]

thats really sad ive just started to take an interest in fishing for them so far ive tried ballintoy and portrush harbours but with no joy.
ive had one of the rocks around the 15 pound mark and although it was small in comparison it gave a hell of a fight compared to what im used to catching! so with that im hooked and would love to catch more. i guess i will just have to experiment with different areas.
thanks very much to all who have helped

[alannelson]

There was a conger caught off portrush harbour a month or two ago 21 lber

[weedave]

There was a conger caught off portrush harbour a month or two ago 21 lber

not a bad fish - they are still in the area, just not any of the big boys.