My intention, now the scratching season is upon us, was to concentrate on the shallow surf beaches, but with the easterly winds dominating again this past week, one look at the colour of the surf told me my efforts would be best placed elsewhere. The sea was that miserable grey colour, showing a good degree of snow melt run off that for me always indicates very poor fishing.

I decided to go back to the rock ledges for the deeper water they offer and the better water clarity. I set out more with the intention of just trying to catch a few fish rather than aiming my sights high and hoping for something that pulled back.

I chose a venue that usually fishes well the two hours before and after low water and sees me casting in to about 50-feet of water.

I set up two MTI300’s with ABU 9000’s and 30lb main line as the snags are horrendous here. One rod with a basic two-hook rig armed with size 2 hook’s and the second rod with a heavy pulley rig and 6/0 Mustad Viking aimed at any conger and huss that may be out in front of me, though I knew the latter would not show until the early flood tide.

Straight off I started dinking out poor cod, then a dog on the scratching rig. These were taking tiny strips of bluey and mackerel. I switched the bottom hook over to sandeel wondering if there might be a pollack about. A couple of casts later the rod tip pulled over a couple of times and I set the hook in to what was obviously a round fish. I swung in a plump little pollack about 2lbs.

Apart from dogs the conger/huss bait had been quiet, though the small poor cod had been ripping at the bait and tapping the rod tip now and then which meant fairly regular bait changes. I prefer to leave a big bait a good 30 minutes in these cold conditions as big fish are less inclined to move far to feed and will only chase up a consistent scent trail.

As low water came the poor cod disappeared which is the sign that the predators are about. I brought in the big bait and changed over to a single big squid which is always a key conger bait here.

The first cast brought nothing, but about 45 minutes in to the flood I saw the rod tip shudder and pull ever so slightly over. Now conger, again due to the cold conditions, can barely show on the rod tip when they feed, so I leave a bite to develop. Sometimes the eel will slowly move away with the bait showing a proper bite, other times they literally eat the bait and just sit there. This bite was the latter.

A good tip when this occurs is to pick up the rod and hold it, bass surf style, across the body and gently reel in any slack line to just, and I mean just tighten the line to the rod, but do this without putting any pressure on the fish. You’ll now be able to feel if the fish even twitches. I could feel the eel mouthing the bait and when I was sure he had it, I struck.

I knew immediately this was no monster, but it fought well in amongst the kelp and felt like it might make double figures at first. Coming up through the water column it came up to the surface quite a way out, but my headlight picked it up and after one brief attempt to dive again right in tight by the edge of the rock, I swung in an eel that looked around 7lbs maybe slightly more, not long in the body but thick and well set still with the juvenile pointed head.

The hook was only just in the mouth and the bait only half taken in illustrating how slow conger can feed when the sea temperature is at its coldest.

That was the end of the action. I fished on for another hour or so, but apart from the odd rattle on the smaller baits there was nothing else interested out there.

That sums up a scratching session for me. Make a decision on the conditions on the day and don’t get lulled in to choosing marks just because they’ve been good to you in the past. Work out where will give you the best chance of fish and commit to it, but keep your sessions short and to coincide with what you think will be the peak feeding time. Long sessions, fun though they can be, rarely produce much at this time of year.