Specimen List

Matt,

There's one here on the well hidden club records page, which should be the same as the published one as part of the competition pack linked to the home page which you can find here be comp rules and specimen data ......ahhhh

Never actually thougt of targetting fish - I just head out acording to conditions as I would any weekend and hope a good'un hooks him/herself. I think I am record as having made some comment to the effect that if I ever weighed in a dog or a pout..........

I'm still trying to work out what the hell you would do with 40lb of dead conger as well!

All the best

Hi All

Looks like Duncan beat me to that one

thanks mate

We hope to be printing the list to hand out at registration, but they are already available as Duncan points out

40lb eels are not that common to the scales Duncan

Tight lines

Charlie

Didn't James win last year's comp with a 46lb(?) conger?

If he did weigh this one in,and he hasnt dumped it yet,could I have it for the cat,rather than waste it ? jack

hadn't thought of that - do cat's like conger?

I have 5 (well I have a boat and she has 5 cats actually - and buys fish for them all the time!)

How the hell do you cook a conger?

Duncan,

Conger's quite good to eat .......... but very bony....... esp. towards the tail end.

A small bit !! is very filling with a sweet flavour and very white meat. The texture is unusual....... the opposite of flakey.... soft but firm at the same time !!{ I know this sounds contradictory......but try it and you'll see what I mean !}

Cutlets from the shoulder end are best ....... the rest is mostly used for soup, to which it adds good flavour; the basic fish in those wonderful Frech soups.

Any help ??

Alun.

The bones make a very good fish stock. The flesh is a little like a overcooked freshwater eel expect tougher/chewier, but it taste superb. I would rate it one of the tope 5 eating fish caught in club water.

There are lots of way you can eat it, just don't store it for too long in fridge/freezer, they don't keep very well. You can batter it, bread crumb, or sweet and sour it with small chucks/strips. One advice is too skin it and when cutting it, cut it along the body rather than across it, as if there are any bones, they lay along the fish, cutting it long way, help keep the bone long and not into millions of 10mm bits.

Conger are actually very worthwhile targeting during the comp as 100% is only 40lb. Keeping them alive is the tricky bit.

We used a large continental carp sack which we tethered to the stern cleat, this kept the fish alive all day and its in the dark also.

Coming back a large bin or drum filled with freshwater or a livebait tank will keep it alive long enough for the run back.

Last year we didnt have the latter and as we got caught out in snotty conditions it took longer to get back, the eel died about 2 miles from shore.

Personally I think their are many other fish that taste better than an eel, but if you have a dead one on your hands then have a taste. My advice - if you dont think you can get it back alive and dont want to eat it, put it back - is it really worth the prize money???

Failing that, pout and doggies are worth targetting!!!

Coming back a large bin or drum filled with freshwater or a livebait tank ...........

Why freshwater?

"is it really worth the prize money???"

For

it is possible if you have a big enough bait tank to put it in and keep saltwater running through it, it will be fine.

in our boat there is hold in the floor which dad has had loads of congers in and you can manage to keep them alive if you fill it with water every now and again.

since i have been competing in the november comp i have seen dad wrestle with a few lively conger and its never been a problem they have always swam away from baiter without a problem.

but please dont kill it unless your going to use it one of my friends kills all his conger just to show his mum and they go in the bin ( lets just say he aint much of a friend anymore)

sam

Well said Sam,

If I caught a 50lbs conger ( highly unlikely) in the competition and had the capability of keeping it alive I would, but we haven't all got a live tank capable of keeping a large fish alive.

The fish would definitely not end up in the bin though. Personally I think conger tastes awful but I know someone who loves the stuff.

I shall duck after posting this..........BUT........I regularly eat dogfish, skinned and filletted early after capture, they, along with Bull Huss and skate, are my favorite fish, Bass and beam coming in a close second.

Specimen wise, there are still some huge garfish floating about, but conger, bullhuss, a late mackeral, or even a stray bass double will play a winning tune at the prize table.

Rich

I don't think conger is in anyway in danger as is the case for cod. How many cod/percentage do we take home in a year (if we can catch them)? I bet most cod caught in a chartered boat are taken home, but conger? I would be suprised if more than 5% caught are kept.