PIKE BAITS FOR CONGER
Although sea fish baits work pretty well in  freshwater for pike, zander and catfish, freshwater bait fish are rarely tried  by sea anglers. You can see why. Sea baits like mackerel and herring are usually  oily with a high scent content, whereas freshwater fish tend to have little  obvious body oil and you’re relying on the blood to give the main scent trail.

Doing a fair bit of rock conger fishing, and  conger being territorial, I was keen to find new baits to give these static  heavily fished for eels something else to choose from amongst the traditional  mackerel, herring and squid. It’s often the case that a “new” distinctive bait  will take territorial sea fish that are wary of commonly used baits after being  hooked previously, as occurs in carp fishing.

The first bait I tried was lamprey. Being  very bloody with a high scent trail, these were an instant success for the  conger, and transferred over well to general boat fishing taking thornback  rays, huss and tope. Being streamlined they also cast very well.

Farm reared supermarket trout also work  well in the sea, though fed on pellets the flesh has some oil content and gives  a good scent trail when punctured or split in to a flapper bait. Trout is a good  bait for estuary bass too, but also worked well on the conger and huss, plus is  a good bait for offshore sharks and wreck ling.

Smelt were another obvious one to try and  gave some surprising results for a relatively small biat. This proved to be a  selective bait generally taking a higher percentage of bigger conger over  20lbs. Whereas the lamprey would take all sizes of eels, and generally be eaten  pretty quickly after being cast out, the smelt needed to be left to fish far  longer to get a bite. No surprise really, due to the limited scent trail  emitted even from a well punctured smelt compared to the bloody lamprey. Having  the selectivity towards bigger eels though, was a useful edge to have.

Primarily using these baits for conger has  finally proved something I’ve suspected for a long time. Small conger up to  about 15lbs are not at all territorial and are very active feeders roaming over  a wide area searching for food most tides, but tend to concentrate on following  up heavy dense scent trails, hence the effectiveness of the lamprey and  traditional baits like mackerel.

Big eels over 20lbs are territorial and  tend to dominate a much smaller area, literally their own piece of ground with  little or no competition from other eels. These eels rarely move far to feed  relying on ambush and water borne food. Being more static, and having learning  time behind them, these fish as suggested have been more than likely hooked and  either lost or released previously, undoubtedly on traditional sea baits. Putting  unusual baits out like smelt, with a weak but steady release of juices appeals  to the much more cautious feeding pattern of the bigger suspicious eels that  often leave a bait right by them untouched for an hour or more before taking  it.

In a nutshell then, experimenting with  freshwater baits has led me to deliberately try and identify where bites from  smaller conger are few and far between. This indicates a much bigger eel  dominates this area. Avoid traditional baits and fishing smelt, trout or  lamprey in these areas puts you in with a shot at catching her.

TIPS AND TRICKS
Pirks and jigs used for wreck and deep  water reef fishing rely mainly on movement to lure predators like ling, cod,  pollack and coalfish towards them when they pick up this movement through their  lateral line.

You can though, increase the effectiveness  of this type of lure by adding a 4-inch section of luminous yellow tubing to  the line above the pirk or jig. Use a strong link or link swivel tied to the  main line to attach the lure. Slide the tubing up to the link or link swivel  and tight to the jig or pirk, and make sure it is well charged with light  before consigning it to the deeps.

This combination of luminescence and the  bulky movement of the lure being jigged tight to the seabed adds extra vital  attraction to the lure and increases your overall catch rate, especially when  the fish are less inclined to feed.

BOAT COALFISH TACTICS
The bigger coalfish are always found over  deep water wrecks, with the biggest fish often showing in the February to April  period, especially in the English Channel. In  fact you can pretty much guarantee that the coalfish get bigger the deeper you  go. Remember this as it helps you choose the right class of tackle on the day.

In experienced hands a 12lb class rod and  reel holding 12 to 15lb line gives maximum sport in water up to 175-feet deep.  In very deep water over 200-feet, go for a 4 to 8oz uptide rod, and a 7000  sized reel holding 300-metres of 20lb line.

Coalies are predators feeding mostly on  sandeels, mackerel, herring and small white fish. Launce sandeel form much of  their diet and using artificial eels and plastic worms on a long 15-foot trace  off a 15-inch metal boom is the most effective method. Coalies have hard  abrasive mouths and coupled with their diving power can break weak hook  lengths. Use a 20lb hook trace on 12lb gear, and a 30lb hook trace on the 20lb  tackle.

They take primary lure colours like black,  white and red, but when you only seem to be able to catch pollack on these  named colours, switch to a luminous green, orange or yellow lure and this can  often selectively pick out the coalies. Carry eel in sizes 6-inch to 10-inch  and experiment on the day.

The way to fish these eels in this long  trace is to release line until the lead hits the seabed, then begin a steady  retrieve to make the artificial eel swim. Pollack tap on the rod tip, but keep  winding until the rod tip pulls over and the fish crash dives setting the hook.  Coalies fight harder even than pollack and don’t suffer decompression as much  as pollack, so fight right to the surface.

The biggest coalies live right in amongst  the wreckage and almost at seabed level, but average sized coalfish are often  found in huge shoals at a level just above the pollack and way above the wreck  making it difficult to reach the bigger coalies below. Changing to a heavier  lead and releasing the line at speed to crash through the coalfish shoals is  the best way to get to the bigger fish below.