ANGLING ADVENTURES
Ready to catch cod on Chesil Beach, the lads from Sea Angling Adventures have to think on their feet when the conditions dictate a change of plan
Seeking out big conger eels.
With big south-westerly winds to speeds of around 43mph set to hit the Dorset coastline as the weekend arrived, the sea would be churned and the water coloured. It had to be worth a try for cod at Chesil Beach.
The plan was to get together with two fellow club mates at Teignmouth Sea Angling Society, Bobby Drew and his brother Joe, and my travelling companion Luke Johns.
With everything packed and ready to go by teatime on Saturday, it was only a case of trying to get an early night ready for my 1.30am alarm call. As is often the case, I couldn’t sleep. Soon it was time to get up and load the motor before heading up to Exeter to meet Luke. Everything looked good for the day, with the wind turning northerly and switching straight off.
Ninety minutes later we reached our destination, Abbotsbury, at Chesil, and after a short wait beyond the planned 3am rendezvous, the Drew brothers arrived. We headed over the shingle bank to be greeted by only a slightly choppy sea. The weather had not churned the sea as much as we would have liked for cod, but the water had flattened enough to target conger eels. With mostly fresh crabs and black lug, we would have to make do.
TIME TO SWITCH
Sharing a beach shelter made life easier for Luke and me to sit and chat while having our fishing rods out to the left and right-hand sides of the shelter. Bobby and Joe positioned themselves a short distance away.
With the sea rolling in and about two hours until high water, we decided to first try our luck for a cod. Out went our pulley rigs with size 4/0 and 6/0 Cox & Rawle Specimen Extra hooks carrying fresh crab baits along with black lug. It was now a waiting game, and the chance to prepare fresh baits on spare rigs ready for our second casts.
It was not long until we hit into a few fish, but the whiting and pouting were snaffling the baits first. As the sun rose, we could tell that cod were unlikely, and it was time to try fish baits for the chance of a conger. At least we could catch some pouting or whiting for bait.
Chesil – often called the ‘Big Beach’ – is no stranger to large eels, with anglers catching fish over the 50lb mark here, even in recent years, and so we fished on with renewed confidence.
Soon Joe Drew showed us a possible sign of conger activity when a hooked whiting came back with only its head intact. Something big had bitten the fish clean behind the head, and we agreed it might be a big eel.
Soon our rods were baited with our meagre supply of frozen Bluey and mackerel, alongside fresh sprats to give that added fresh scent to the bait. Normally, I would use different set-up for targeting big fingers. A wire trace would be my must-have in conjunction with big hooks and much stronger mainline because I normally target these fish over rough ground.
Since the main focus had been for cod, we had only size 6/0 hooks and some 100lb mono to press into service for conger fishing. Thankfully, with the beach being clean, it meant we could play any fish and ease it to the shoreline. Well, that was the plan.
EBB ATTACK
The flood and over high water had produced only pouting and whiting, which seemed to be present in plague proportions, but as the sea began to ebb my rod bent over and then the line went slack. I jumped up, grabbed the rod from its stand and started to regain the slack line around my spool.
Soon I felt the fish begin to bend my rod tip and suspected it was a conger. I seemed to be pulling in a dead weight, and soon an eel of 6-7lb hit the sand. The fish was released and I walked back to my tripod, clipped on another big bait and sent it out to sea.
By now Joe and Bobby had each decided to put on a bit of fresh pouting for bait. It did the trick and soon afterwards Bobby’s rod bent over to signal what appeared to be something big on the other end, but after a few seconds the fish dropped the bait.
As Bobby applied a fresh bait to his hook, I walked back towards my rods. As I passed Joe, I noticed his right-hand rod’s line was under my lines. I thought this may have been caused by the tide, but as I turned to look towards Joe, I saw his fishing rod buckled over in his hands. “Fish on!” he shouted.
It was clear that there was something big on the other end. I made my way down towards
the water’s edge, but due to the groundswell, it was going to be tricky to land the fish. If it did turn out to be a big eel, it would be a case of letting the swell beach the fish and then running down to grab it.
Chesil can be very dangerous at times, and in such conditions you don’t want to be caught out and end up in the water. As soon as the fish neared the shoreline I could tell it was not the monster we sought, but still the biggest fish of the trip so far. The eel sped through the sea and the swell started to push it on to the beach. We tried to land it, but with Joe having only an 80lb trace line, we had to resist the urge to put too much pressure on it.
As the swell hit the beach again, we had to retreat up the shingle. Fortunately, this time the fish was actually on the sand. I ran down the slope, picked it up and dashed back again. The fish weighed just under 17lb and, after a couple of photos, was released.
Sadly, that was it for the entertainment in our session, although not long afterwards I heard about a 28lb 11oz conger caught in the same area by Denny Snell.