Conga eel

Conga eel

Conger Eels favour very rough ground and inhabit deep water wrecks, reefs and broken ground. In shallow waters Conger are mostly nocturnal feeders, but in depths of 20 mtrs or more they feed at any time. All the fish of over 25lbs are usually female.

Conger are bottom feeders more than capable of catching live food. They will hole

up in a wreck or rough ground and ambush lesser species. They will take fish baits, Crab, Cuttlefish and Squid. The most popular bait is a Mackerel ‘flapper’ produced by taking the whole fish and removing the backbone and tail, allowing the flanks and innards to flutter in the tide. If it is available, a whole live Pout or Cuttlefish are deadly.

Catching Conger Eels is the desire of most UK sea anglers. To do so for wreck fishing you need a 50lb class rod for larger wreck fish. You can use a lighter gear but you never know when you may latch into the ‘big one’. With today’s modern mono filament it is suggested the line strength be no greater than 50lbs. The reason for this is that if you should get stuck in the wreck, the skipper can break it out without doing himself any mischief. You then need a range of leads in the order of 12ozs up to about 3lbs. In some area’s you may require even heavier leads if the tides are strong.

The trace, you can either use wire of a breaking strain of 250lbs or mono filament. We prefer in the order of 400lbs. You cannot tie this stuff so you need some crimps. Hooks need to be 10/0 to 12/0. Big baits, big fish.

Best baits are whole fresh Mackerel, Squid or Cuttlefish. Some people prefer the Mackerel to be cut into what is known as a ‘flapper’ others prefer to use a whole Mackerel, threaded onto a trace using a baiting needle with the hood protruding from the Mackerel mouth.