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Conger in a kayak!
In all the sports that we take part in, people do so at different levels. Kayak fishing is no exception with some happy to fish for smaller species on rivers or esturaries while others will push the boundaries with long offshore trips or the search for larger specimens.
One specimen that has captured the imagination of many U.K. kayak fishermen is the Conger Eel, a powerful predator with real attitude! Over the last two years, two U.K. anglers have had tremendous success targetting this species with over 30 caught and released between them, Extremekayakfishing's Richi Oliver and his fishing buddy Chris Fernandes-Relva. After many requests from anglers from various parts of the U.K., Extremekayakfishing decided to organise a meet to target Conger Eels. The interest was huge, in face no other kayak fishing meet in the U.K. has had so many participants.
Ocean Kayaks had also arranged for a fleet of demo kayaks to be available including the all-new Prowler Trident 15 along with all the other favorites.
Accomodation had been arranged in what can only be described as idyllic surroundings, just a few feet from the water's edge.
The accomdation was about a mile paddle to the area that had proved most prolific in producing these hard fighting fish and Extremekayakfishing had located bouys to tie up to at a couple of prime marks.
There were plenty of Mackerel to be caught during the day ensuring that no-one went short of bait.
Most anglers used half a mackerel on a 8/0 hook with 150lb mono set up as a running ledger with a 12-20lb class rods coupled with medium sized multipier reels loaded with 30lb mono.
The fishing was superb with many anglers catching new species or personal bests. Catch of the meet had to go to Chris Fernandes-Relva, who caught a beautiful Conger of around 35 lbs and managed to pull it in the kayak for a picture!
In all, 5 Conger were caught during the meet, the largest around 50 lbs and all were released.
Bass which had been scarce in the area turned up in numbers and some large specimens were caught. Martin Hurst who had travelled for four hours to get to the meet caught the two best Bass of the meet including this 8 1/2 lb specimen and another 7 1/2 lb.
During the course of the meet, around 20 experienced Kayak Fishermen took part and at least 6 people have bought their own kayaks after trying a demo at the meet.
The event will be run again next year and due to the great success of this year on a far greater scale.
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