ALL DOING THE CONGER
On his first fishing trip since the lockdown was eased Richard Martin caught and released a 29lb 10oz conger eel at Budleigh Salterton, Devon.
The angler, from Exminster, was using his last strip of mackerel on a pulley rig with size 2/0 Mustad Viking hooks and a 15lb Amnesia snood.
He said: “I had a couple of small bass after high tide and had just recast when I noticed a small rattle on my other rod and lifted into what could have been a train. After a 10-minute struggle it threw the
Anthony Georgiou hook. I gathered my thoughts and baited up my last strip of mackerel and recast. Two minutes later it was off again. After nearly half-an-hour, I finally got it on to the beach and found the eel only lightly hooked with my hook nearly straight.”
A personal best conger, weighing 14lb, fell to Anthony Georgiou, from Bristol, while fishing a whole squid bait on a pulleydropper rig at Portishead. An eel of the same size was landed by Geraint Mitchell while fishing locally at Porthcawl Pier. The fish took a squid bait on a Pennell rig.