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Conger & Ling aboard "Gemini" out of Dartmouth |
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"Gemini" Conger & Ling Video - Here's the video of Bank Holiday Monday, fishing for Conger and Ling aboard Dave Harrison's Dartmouth charter boat "Gemini". You can also read the complete tale on this page . View Video approx 5½ minutes "Conger
& Ling aboard Gemini" Just single left click on the controls
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continues to download Monday 9th April 2007 - Conger and Ling aboard "Gemini" - Today, Norman Berry, Patsy and I joined several pals who are amongst the best company that anyone could ever ask for to enjoy a day on the high seas out of Dartmouth aboard Dave Harrison's Dartmouth charter boat, the new Blyth 33 catamaran, "Gemini". Dave is renowned for the success of his Conger fishing expeditions of which this was his first in the 2007 season. I know that Dave is particularly conscientious and had 'phoned me a couple of times during previous days expressing his concern that it is earlier in the year than usual for this specie and wondering if they had started to feed yet after their Winter torpor. He was understandably concerned that he did not want a blank day. I responded that the water is warmer than normal for the time of year, so it would give us a chance to find out if his reservations were justified. Dave came alongside and picked us up in the River Dart at 7.15 pm prompt, and we set off to find a favourite wreck. Mick Hallam offered us all hot tea, coffee, advice and repartee during our journey, which was very welcome. I always reckon that the banter and general chat while afloat is one of the best parts of the day. After more than an hour we came upon the wreck we wanted to fish but it was shrouded in gill nets, set on the neap tide. We headed on several miles to another wreck which was similarly un-fishable. Dave saved the day and took us to another wreck a couple of miles further on which was free of the fine monofilament nets which so effectively catch Pollack, Bass and Ling for the domestic market. As Dave set up a drift over the wreck, to determine tidal flow together with the effect of a light breeze from the west, he offered us the chance to fish a lighter rod and line for a few minutes. I put down a 6/0 Sakuma "Manta" hook, attached to a 30 lb Berkley "Big Game" monofilament trace, with a frozen "Calamari" Squid as bait. I used the new "Snowbee" 20 lb class 7' 10" "Deep Blue" boat rod, fitted with an Accurate B870M reel, loaded with 300 metres of 30 lb b.s. Berkley "Fireline braid. I used 8 ozs of weight attached to a sliding lead link with a bead above the swivel on my 30 lb mono leader rubbing length. I was delighted when I caught the first fish of the day, a hard fighting Ling of around 14 lbs which gave a good account of itself. Now I could settle happily back to enjoy my own fishing, while taking time out to record the antics of my fellow anglers with my Canon EOS 30 D digital still camera and also shoot some video clips, complete with sound bites, on my Panasonic NV-GS250 3 CCD digital movie camera. I helped Patsy to rig her 40 lb class "Star" stand-up boat rod, fitted with a Shimano 2-speed 30 lb class reel, loaded with 65 lb b.s. Berkley "Fireline" braid to which she had attached, with a "Double Grinner" knot, a rubbing leader of 7 metres of 70 lb clear monofilament, which makes it far simpler to tie on swivels and absorbs the abrasion of the rusting plates of the wreck some 220 feet below. Patsy chose a 2 lb lead weight for fishing at anchor in the last of the flowing tide. She attached it to a sliding clip swivel with the rubbing leader passing through its eye. Below the sliding lead link she put on a single 8 mm black bead to prevent the link chafing the mono leader as it slid and stopped against a game fishing ball bearing clip swivel, which she tied to the end of the rubbing leader with a 6 turn "Grinner" knot. Patsy clipped on a 1 metre Conger trace with a 200 lb "Berkley" swivel crimped to one end and a Mustad 10/0 bronzed hook, (honed to a needle point by my American made "Donmar" double round file hook sharpener), crimped to the other. She baited her hook with a frozen "Cuttle" fish about 6 or 7 inches long and waited until "Gemini" had swung on her anchor to lie just in front of the wreck. The wreck was one to two boats length astern of us. Perfect on the tail end of the tide. Our baits would lie on the sea bed just ahead of the wreck, allowing the flow to take the scent trail back to tempt the big Congers from their lair amongst the rusted steel on the ocean floor. I used a similar set-up to Patsy with a Shakespeare 50 lb class braid rod fitted with Aftco roller eyes and a 50 lb class 2-speed Shimano reel. Norman chose an 30 - 50 lb class Shakespeare "Atlantis Salt" rod also with Aftco braid roller eyes and a matching Shakespeare "Albacore 30" 2-speed big game reel, also loaded with braid line. Alan Jones, from Plymouth, preferred a Shakespeare rod fitted with a big Penn Senator 6/0 HS single speed reel. "Rocky" Marshall, a member of Brixham S.A. club, chose a longer but very responsive heavy rod, fitted with a workmanlike gold coloured Shakespeare Albacore single speed reel, filled with monofilament line. Dave Pakes, who is a representative on the Devon Sea Fisheries Committee, and a very good and active all-round angler, chose a 30-50 lb class "Shimano" rod with a matching reel. Graham Dryer, a member of Brixham SAC, and proprietor of "Brixham Bait and Tackle", preferred to fish a much lighter rod and line combination in search of Ling. It demonstrated the diversity of approaches that can be employed, using different varieties of quality tackle from a wide range of manufacturers. Dave told us that it was OK to lower our baited rigs and within a very few minutes we felt the tentative bites of some big Congers. Dave looked pleased that the fish were obliging his anglers. Patsy was quickly into fish. In all, she had a great day out and caught 7 Congers and 2 quality Ling which also seized her Conger baits. She was excited but disappointed when something much bigger grabbed her bait with a single slashing bite before moving off at great speed. The disappointment came when the weight of the fish suddenly departed. Patsy retrieved her 250 lb monofilament trace to see that it had been cleanly bitten through. It was not scraped or marked, just cleanly severed by something with voracious jaws and awesome power.
We all caught good fish. In all we caught more than 40 hard fighting Conger Eels, every one of which was returned alive to grow and do battle again on some future occasion, and more than a dozen beautiful sharp toothed Ling. My best Eel of the day was between 40 and 50 lbs. Alan Jones found some fine Congers and several hard fighting Ling all of which gave a good account of themselves.
I don't know if it is a sign of the early stage of the season, but several of the Congers were very beautifully marked. Their eyes were surrounded by sky blue coloured pigmentation on the skin, almost as though the lady fish had applied their eye shadow to meet us. Their dorsal fins were glowing with the same electric bright blue colouration. I know it is not a breeding colouration as Congers are said to swim off to the Sargasso sea, like silver Eels do, to reproduce. Dave told me that he has seen it before, particularly when Congers are angry after a hard fight. I know that the same is true of other hard fighting game fish such as the Marlin and Sail Fish.
Best fish of the day was a Conger Eel in excess of 65 lbs, caught by Rob "Rocky" Marshall. I'm not certain who put up the hardest fight, "Rocky" or the Eel, but "Rocky" won, just like in the movie.
As the tide died, the bites decreased, but still the fish were caught until late in the afternoon when we headed for home, tired but very happy after a good day's fishing with a top Skipper in excellent and entertaining company. I will add some video clips of our day to this site within the next couple of days, once I've had an opportunity to edit them into some semblance of order. "Thank you" Dave for a great day afloat and for putting us on to some very good fish. We are all delighted that your early reservations proved to be unfounded. We all appreciate just how much you care about the success of your anglers. Visit www.geminifishing.co.uk or Email dave@geminifishing.co.uk to book your own trip, or call Dave Harrison on 01803 851766 or boat 07968 599245.
Tonight we dined on Turbot - Thanks Norman. Here's how Patsy cooked it. As it says in Mrs' Beeton's famous cookery book, "First catch your Turbot". Ingredients : ¼ of an
Onion, very finely chopped. Method : Melt the
Butter slowly in a pan. Do not allow it to brown.
Add the Onions and all ingredients except the Egg Yolks.
Cook gently for about 15 minutes until the Onion is soft.
Next, whisk in the Egg Yolks and add salt and pepper to taste.
Cook gently for 3 to 4 minutes until the sauce thickens,
then take it off the stove. Cover the fish steaks or fillets in well seasoned flour. (Flour seasoned with salt and pepper). Gently fry them in a pan with Butter and a dash of oil. (Which will stop it burning.) Cook the fish skin side down 'til it gets "milky" on the flesh side, then turn it over and cook it for just another couple of minutes more until it is "set." Serve : Serve the fish with the sauce together with vegetables and new potatoes. Yummy! This recipe works fine with any firm fleshed white fish such as Turbot, Cod, Ling and Pollack. It is not suitable for more delicate fish such as Bass or Plaice. |
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