Post by mark8 on Dec 18, 2013 9:15:13 GMT
I’ve been asking myself this for months, it’s the one trip I haven’t done yet. I really wanted to get my first kayak conger and knew this could be the place but it’s a hell of a long way to go, so is it worth the trip ?
Russ (Tfed ), Fishboy (Dave ) and others have been kind enough to keep me aware of their plans over the last couple of months. So far days and weather haven’t coincided but yesterday it all looked good but still, is it worth the trip ?
The decision was made. Leave home at 4 am, drive for three and a half hours, fish for five hours then drive home for three and a half hours - if the traffic was good - just to catch a conger. Even my wife is asking me ‘ is it really worth the trip ?‘
Well on the beach seven guys were ready to go. It was a glorious morning and great to put some faces to names. Everyone had one thing on their mind – cod, except me who really wanted a conger and maybe a ray. I can catch cod on the east coast so don’t need to come all this way for them. That would be a waste of a trip.
I paddled out with Dave and dropped anchor nearby. While he stayed still I seemed to be heading to Minehead at a disturbingly rapid pace. Big tides here ! Try again and still drifting. In the end I tied both 1.5kg grapnels to the line and dropped them over which held me while the tide raced past. Finally I’m fishing. This had better be worth the trip
5/0 hooks loaded with squid lug were being destroyed by the smallest dogfish in the world. This wasn’t the plan. In the first hour or so I had over a dozen of them. This definitely wasn’t looking like it was worth the trip.
Then the left hand rod bounced nicely and after a spirited fight my first kayak conger came aboard. Only a baby of around 4lb but that was a nice one to start with, at least I could handle it on the boat, maybe it would be worth the trip but it would be nice to get a bigger one.
Happy days. Shortly after another strap conger about 8lb. this was getting to be fun. Now where was that ray. Then the left rod rattled gently. I held it, felt a tug and lifted into the fish, a much better fish. It was diving and taking line and I was convinced it was a good conger. When after five minutes the bucket head of a cod come out of the murky depths I went into panic mode. It looked huge, easily the biggest cod I have ever caught, but I could see the hook in the lip and it didn’t look a good hold. I was sure that when trying to get it to the boat in the ferocious tide the hook would pull. Every time it dived or rolled my heart froze and a variety of expletives exploded from my mouth, but finally it was in the net, where I sat looking at it on my lap not really knowing what to do with it next. How big ? came the cry from Baz, well easily over 15lb, maybe a twenty. No video or photo on the boat as I was in shock and just wanted the fish safely stowed. This was definitely looking to be worth the trip.
I ended the day with six congers to around 15lb. I wanted the biggest one in the boat and on the go pro but we had issues. While I looked at it wondering about my next move for several minutes, it looked at me and kept going into a manic death spin making it very clear that he didn’t want to come aboard. The situation was eventually resolved when he bit through my line. If anyone has a method for handling these fish please tell.
A pic of one of the smaller congers.
Also a nice Thornie.
Once back on the beach the cod was weighed, on a variety of spring scales that ranged from 18lb to 19lb 8 oz depending on rust. Back home I weighed it at 18lb 4oz which is the weight I am claiming. Easily my pb cod. Now for the money shots..
So a 4am start and seven hours driving…..
Two points for the species hunt, a new target species caught and a new personal best cod, that will take some beating from English waters….
Was it worth the trip…?
Hell yeah..
Russ (Tfed ), Fishboy (Dave ) and others have been kind enough to keep me aware of their plans over the last couple of months. So far days and weather haven’t coincided but yesterday it all looked good but still, is it worth the trip ?
The decision was made. Leave home at 4 am, drive for three and a half hours, fish for five hours then drive home for three and a half hours - if the traffic was good - just to catch a conger. Even my wife is asking me ‘ is it really worth the trip ?‘
Well on the beach seven guys were ready to go. It was a glorious morning and great to put some faces to names. Everyone had one thing on their mind – cod, except me who really wanted a conger and maybe a ray. I can catch cod on the east coast so don’t need to come all this way for them. That would be a waste of a trip.
I paddled out with Dave and dropped anchor nearby. While he stayed still I seemed to be heading to Minehead at a disturbingly rapid pace. Big tides here ! Try again and still drifting. In the end I tied both 1.5kg grapnels to the line and dropped them over which held me while the tide raced past. Finally I’m fishing. This had better be worth the trip
5/0 hooks loaded with squid lug were being destroyed by the smallest dogfish in the world. This wasn’t the plan. In the first hour or so I had over a dozen of them. This definitely wasn’t looking like it was worth the trip.
Then the left hand rod bounced nicely and after a spirited fight my first kayak conger came aboard. Only a baby of around 4lb but that was a nice one to start with, at least I could handle it on the boat, maybe it would be worth the trip but it would be nice to get a bigger one.
Happy days. Shortly after another strap conger about 8lb. this was getting to be fun. Now where was that ray. Then the left rod rattled gently. I held it, felt a tug and lifted into the fish, a much better fish. It was diving and taking line and I was convinced it was a good conger. When after five minutes the bucket head of a cod come out of the murky depths I went into panic mode. It looked huge, easily the biggest cod I have ever caught, but I could see the hook in the lip and it didn’t look a good hold. I was sure that when trying to get it to the boat in the ferocious tide the hook would pull. Every time it dived or rolled my heart froze and a variety of expletives exploded from my mouth, but finally it was in the net, where I sat looking at it on my lap not really knowing what to do with it next. How big ? came the cry from Baz, well easily over 15lb, maybe a twenty. No video or photo on the boat as I was in shock and just wanted the fish safely stowed. This was definitely looking to be worth the trip.
I ended the day with six congers to around 15lb. I wanted the biggest one in the boat and on the go pro but we had issues. While I looked at it wondering about my next move for several minutes, it looked at me and kept going into a manic death spin making it very clear that he didn’t want to come aboard. The situation was eventually resolved when he bit through my line. If anyone has a method for handling these fish please tell.
A pic of one of the smaller congers.
Also a nice Thornie.
Once back on the beach the cod was weighed, on a variety of spring scales that ranged from 18lb to 19lb 8 oz depending on rust. Back home I weighed it at 18lb 4oz which is the weight I am claiming. Easily my pb cod. Now for the money shots..
So a 4am start and seven hours driving…..
Two points for the species hunt, a new target species caught and a new personal best cod, that will take some beating from English waters….
Was it worth the trip…?
Hell yeah..