TIDE TALK
TIDES AND TACTICS TO BATTLE A SHORE CONGER AND BIG WINTER COALIES FROM A BOAT
SHORE CONGER
Mild winters over the past decade have produced good shore conger fishing in February with some bigger than average sized fish taken.
The best action is typically off the deep water rock ledges during the small to medium sized tides. These fall from the 1st to the 8th, and again from the 16th to the 23rd. Congers feed best on tides rising higher each day rather than the dropping tides, but the latter still produce.
They usually feed for short intense periods of time within the first and second hour of the new flood, this being the prime time for overall numbers. Congers can switch on and off like a light bulb when it comes to feeding and often do this in numbers at the exact same time. Bigger fish will roam freely over rough and broken ground either side of slack water, but go back to their holes for the main tide flow. If you catch smaller strap conger that suddenly go off the feed, then there’s also a chance of a bigger eel being on the prowl.
Timing evening or early morning darkness with a new flooding tide can be excellent, with darkness always likely to give the best results. By day, choose overcast skies with low water early morning or late evening.
Good spots are where a headland creates a tide run into a bay with the eels sitting just off the edge of the tide in the slacker water.
Rods required are rated 6oz with a reel holding 300yd of 30lb mono and 60lb shock leader, though some anglers prefer an 8000 sized fixed spool loaded with 40lb braid and 80lb braid shock leader.
Fish a clipped down pulley rig made from 80lb mono, but with a short 12-inch section of 150lb mono or 80lb wire hook length crimped to a size 2/0 swivel. Slide on a crimp, a size 5mm bead and then an 8mm bead. Lightly crimp this in place a couple of inches above the hook to act as a bait stop. The hook needs to be a 6/0 to 8/0 O’Shaughnessy pattern.
Good baits are 4 to 5-inch sections of mackerel or bluey fillet or body sections, whole squid, whole small fresh pout, rockling or poor cod. Conger are also partial to cuttlefish baits. Overly big baits see conger pick up and drop the bait.
Devon and Cornish rock ledges. The Bristol Channel, west and north Wales rock ledges, west coast of Scotland. South-west and west coast of Ireland, especially Donegal.
Huss, ling, maybe ray over broken ground.
BOAT COALFISH
A good option for February are coalfish over the wrecks and reefs. Wreck coalies reach double figures with reef fish smaller but in greater numbers.
Smaller tides are prime for deep water wrecks. Tides from the 3rd to the 7th stand out, with the 4th and 5th very small neaps and offering excellent opportunities. The next tides fall the 17th to the 21st with the
