Having conjured up a few mackerel on the way out, I anchored up at my favourite bass mark with,surprisingly for a Sunday, not another boat in sight except Brian who later joined me on the mark .
The usual half mackerel baits were sent down on circle hook rigs and before long i had a couple of bass of around 3lb, followed by a very decent sized fish (7-8lb) which rather disappoint ly shed the hook at the net rim. At least I'd got a good look at him and I suspect that the circle hook had torn a hole in the bass' lip membrane especially as it had fought with some tenacity.
The next take,quite a slow and measured bite, was obviously something bigger, and,judging by the nature of the fight, I would hazard a guess at it being a sizable conger but will never know as the trace parted(was bitten through)a minute or so into the struggle.The sky had clouded over and the light intensity had reduced considerably so, I suspect that may have induced the conger to feed.
It wasn't long before another slow take ensued, and this time I managed to hold on to the fish all the way to the surface and get a good look at my biggest ever conger. It looked to me like,at least, two twenty pound pike end to end so I'm going to estimate it at 40-50lb.
I would loved to have had a picture of the beast but although i managed to get a firm grip on the traceat the side of the boat with one hand and tried to reach over to grab my camera, the writhing eel made good it's escape by twisting and breaking the weakened hook length.
Immaterial really. It was a very impressive fish and huge fun to tangle with especially on the light 8-12lb class rod.Final action came in the shape of a blistering run which I failed to stop before the braid shredded on the reef.A big tope?......or perhaps even a 'porgy'.....once again, I'll never know.
So, a day of contrasts but very excting fishing.
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