Saturday night just gone, me and Paul were planning on trying for rays but now the weather seemed to turn for the worst we were undecided whether to go. In the end we settled on Benllech as its normally a banker venue for at least doggies and whiting with a chance of something a bit better. Come the evening, although it was a biting cross wind the rain eased and we were quietly optimistic. After the usual suspects I had a good pull down and a belting huss was at the surface. Unfortunately it did what huss do best and spat the hook. I had a feeling it would be a one good fish session and I saw that as an opportunity gone. I strapped on a whiting and cast it short hoping for another.
It sat out for a while with a few sharp pulls but nothing definite developed so I left it to see if the fish would come back, while I was keeping occupied with another doggie. Nothing happen for about 10 mins so I decided to bring it in. Initially I thought I was snagged but then the snag started to fight and move. Soon the head of a conger appeared..... then the rest of its body and christ almighty I've never seen anything like it. It took me on a merry dance around the rocks, lunging into the gulleys and around the rock ledges in front, but my 30lb snood was clearly holding so we set about trying to land the beast.
I led the fish around to a ledge that just had a few inches of water on it where I could slide it on and get hold. It was another 5-10 mins before the fish surrendered and I dragged as much as I could onto the ledge. Paul didn't fancy getting to near it (understandably) so I passed him the rod and went down. As i pulled the line it inevitably snapped, instinct took hold and I dived on the fish, wrestling on my hands and knees in a puddle on the ledge! Eventually I managed to turn around and push it up the seaweed to higher ground where we finally could appreciate its size. We didn't weigh it, the flexi-tub wasn't big enough but I did have a body sized measuring stick, I'm 5'10" and the fish almost matched me! After the photoshoot she went back quietly snaking back to the depths.
Once things calmed down we had a visit from a very bold fox looking for a free meal. Paul upped his terminal gear and managed a conger of his own, a nice fish in its own right of around 6-7lb. This added the gloss on a truly memorable night
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