THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

On the larger boats such as when we went wrecking, particularly with Dave Ellworthy aboard 'Anjonika'
out from Plymouth, all fish as they fell clear of the hook using the T-bar disgorger would drop down
into the fish hold below decks, and you wouldn't see them again until you got back in. But not every
large boat I fished on was built that way. Even so, I still don't recall ever having any problems.
Generally, a fish would slither off into some dark corner out of the way and sulk. If not, it was given
something to sulk about with a base-ball bat. Cruel and totally un-necessary I know. I'm not condoning
any of it, merely telling it as it was.
Thank goodness in these enlightened times, the first thought is often of release, which is as much an
individual gesture towards that fish as any sort blow struck through conservation against dwindling
conger stocks. And conger fishing was very big business. Actually, more so as wreck fishing started to
loose its edge in terms of fish numbers and huge catches than when it was at its peak.
Big eels were still caught way back then, but even bigger ones came later after the bait robbing ling had
slipped into decline. Otherwise, it was a case of spending most of the day thinning the ling out
sufficiently to give a big eel even half a chance of finding the bait, and sometimes it would take a few
sustained days of effort to do that, which is why so called 'fished out' wrecks neglected out there in deep
water are often more likely to produce the very best conger fishing.
Most of the mid Channel wrecks would have big conger, some even bigger than the record. But if the
ling were on the baits first, that counted for nothing.
Tactics for ling and conger fishing over wrecks and
reefs can be both the same and different. Ling are
better fished for on the drift with fish baits or squid
on a short heavy duty dropper above the lead to
minimise hangups, whereas conger are best
approached with a static bait at anchor, though each
tactic will still work to an extent for the other.
Specifically targeting big conger on a wreck is
pretty much exclusively done at anchor, which for
the skipper is a massive skill set in itself. Some of
the legendary wreck skippers were incredibly good
at it. Others less so, preferring to stick with the
pollack and coalfish on the drift.
John Trust and Ernie Passmore aboard 'Our Unity'
out from Brixham set the standard. But far and away
the person most adept at positioning a boat over a
wreck at anchor for me was Guernsey based Dougal
Lane, who could scream up to a wreck, lob the
anchor overboard without any trial positioning runs,
and bingo, we were over fish.
Paul Maris, 91 lbs 14 ounces
A man who could think and visualize the world in
terms of Decca lanes, though just how that converts over to GPS I wouldn't like to say. He was good.
But anchoring is a short term slack water affair where the dying run, angle of breeze, and predicted
swing angle on the rope as the new tide kicks in all have to be considered in the calculations.
Despite the fact that conger aren't dentally blessed to the same extent as sharks, in the early days, wire
traces were seen as must. Nowadays heavy commercial monofilament of maybe two hundred pounds
breaking strain is widely used for a lot of fish with teeth, and could easily suit conger fishing when used
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