Wreck Conger Fishing With Spot On! Charters

Geoff with the biggest of the day at 52lb

Tuesday saw Dan and I accompanied by Geoff and Roy (friends and customers of Cadbury Angling) hop aboard Ross Parham's Brixham based charter boat Spot On! for a days wreck fishing targeting conger eels. First job was to catch the bait and after half an hour of feathering we had a load of mackerel. A quick trip to one of the many inshore wrecks and we were soon anchored up and dropping our baited hooks down to where we hoped the eels would be lurking. We didn't have to wait long for the action to begin and I soon brought conger number one along side the boat, a strap of about 10lb. Roy soon hooked a bigger one, about 25lb. Dan was next with an eel similar in size to mine and it wasn't long before Geoff caught his first, an eel of about 15lb. Others on board were off to good starts as well, one of them getting very lucky and landing a bass of 11lb on his conger gear. Dan, Geoff, Roy and I all soon hooked our second conger each and more and more followed. Averaging 15lb or so the eels were great sport and put up great scraps, fighting all the way to the boat, often making dives for the wreckage below. A bit of black bream fishing for an hour or so gave our aching arms a rest but the bream weren't as forthcoming as the congers and all we managed were a few pouting to strips of squid fished on paternoster rigs. Time for round two with the conger and we all reached for our heavier gear again. 30lb - 50lb class rods, large reels loaded with 50lb plus braid, running leads to 200lb mono traces and 12/0 hooks were our chosen set-ups and did the job just fine. More eels were caught including a personal best for me of 35lb, a strange capture as the greedy conger had taken two baits, both mine and that of one of the other guys on board! Two hooks in one fish is a first for me! Anyway, Geoff was next to bend in to an eel and it was obvious to all that this was a big one. After fighting hard for a long time it finally surfaced and Ross was able to gaff it and heave it on to the boat. At 52lb it was a personal best for Geoff and the biggest conger Dan, Roy and I had ever seen. Well done Geoff! With the tide picking up it was time to pull up the anchor but before heading in we set up lure rods and did a few drifts over the wreck. We didn't catch much but did manage a few small pollock and pouting. As always another great day out with Ross and Spot On! Charters. Information can be found at www.spot-on-charters.co.uk