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Dorset Spearfishing 2013
- Thread starter misterlizard
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
, There was no answer in this thread for more than 90 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
I know quite a few of us have shot a conger. I know very few people who have shot more than one!
I certainly won't be doing so again for the following reasons:
I was OK to eat but not that special
Too many bones in the tail end
Conger slime
A bent spear
They're actually quite a special apex predator
Cracking fishing as usual guys, I am in the one conger club too actually quite enjoyed eating it but too much hassle! Spent the weekend in Cornwall water was much warmer and clearer than Portland but still no bass for me, took a nice 4lb pollock though. Hopefully break my bass blank this week!
The one conger club for me to guys, fair play on the pollock, hopefully you will bail a bass soon
Nice fish. How far west were you because ALL fish have been very scarce round my way so far this year.
I would not advise shooting them at all but when they were a common fish, spear fishermen would shoot the occasional one for the table but, we would look for fish in the 25-30lb range!
I have shot three that I can remember but in the days of competitions in Guernsey during the 70-80s some guys would take 6 or 7 in one sesion or as many as they could drag up the beach!!
However even though the conger population did not really start to decline dramatically until the 90s spearfishermen were blamed for their decline!
In fact it was the responsibility of the pot fishermen who use a special trap door to catch the conger & this device effectively wiped them out to the state we now have.
Unfortunately conger are susceptible to overfishing by spearfishing as they are very vulnerable in the dayligh when holed up & to be honest pretty easy to dispatch if you know how!!
At one time there were so many we would see them swimming around in daylight & if you looked in the reefs they were really abundant.
I have not killed one for over 20 years & have no intention of doing so again.
I have shot three that I can remember but in the days of competitions in Guernsey during the 70-80s some guys would take 6 or 7 in one sesion or as many as they could drag up the beach!!
However even though the conger population did not really start to decline dramatically until the 90s spearfishermen were blamed for their decline!
In fact it was the responsibility of the pot fishermen who use a special trap door to catch the conger & this device effectively wiped them out to the state we now have.
Unfortunately conger are susceptible to overfishing by spearfishing as they are very vulnerable in the dayligh when holed up & to be honest pretty easy to dispatch if you know how!!
At one time there were so many we would see them swimming around in daylight & if you looked in the reefs they were really abundant.
I have not killed one for over 20 years & have no intention of doing so again.
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All congors insure r females. Males stay in very deep water. I know where there r some monster congors but that is somethin i wont shoot. Well in alan for shooting it and well in for posting up wot u did with it. Rep given.
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I've seen that on several occasions. If you pop over to hallsands there is an estimated 70-90lber in a piece of wheel house wreck. .
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
How deep is that? I'm thinking it would make a good photo. (Preferably at night with someone who doesn't like congers in the frame
)How deep is that? I'm thinking it would make a good photo. (Preferably at night with someone who doesn't like congers in the frame
Pm sent.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
I'm happy that mine was smaller! And as it was free swimming I'm happy that it was fair game!
It seems that there is a lot of conflicting information on conger eels and cannot find any factual information that spear fishing will have an adverse impact on the conger population?
What conflicting informasion?
Conger are susceptible to overfishing by spear fishermen because they are territorial.
It is all relative of course as the damage has already been done by commercial methods.
Offshore congers are caught by long lines, we still have one visiting Spanish long liner that comes to port every now & again just to make sure the congers dont really get a chance to recover :duh
Now that the potter's dont use the buoyant pot neck flaps, that so effectively caught the congers, they actually use mackerel to bait the pots.
Mackerel was never a suitable bait in the past because it attracted the congers who would get in the pot eat the bait & swim out again!
It was not until the potters started useing the flap system that they realised just how many conger were out there! So now they can use mackerel simply because there are so few conger left, they are no longer an issue!
The relatively small amount of inshore conger that are left can easily be thinned out by spearfishing the reefs, in times gone by you could take a conger from a prime hole & see another resident the next day but now there might only be a few of the hundreds of holes occupied on a whole reef.
Conger were in fact a prime eating fish during the early days of long sea travel. salted conger was in fact a staple diet of many sailors to such an extent there were numerous industries revolving around the capture, salting & barreling up the end product. Salt cod became more popular later in history.
I have watched many epic conger captures, there is a very effective technique used to spear, remove from hole & kill the fish on one breath.
The principal idea would be to first find a suitable fish then with a fresh breath dive down & spear the fish just behind the head, a good double barb 8mm spear is best fired from an air gun. The fish is removed & if it is a big one (over 30lb) then the feet are braces either side of the hole & the fish extracted in one deft motion.
Next the conger is passed under the divers legs so he straddles the fish between his thighs & then cuts the fish deep behind the neck to sever the spine, in fact it seems you just need to touch the spinal cord to immobilise the poor creature!
Of course most fish were killed for fun rather than food & a real big one over 50lb was a very impressive catch for many people!!
My elder brother Derek was well known for taking congers with a hand spear & I watched him take a 25lb fish once in pretty deep water on one occasion, I can remember this very well because I was only young, (maybe 12-13) as was made to carry the thing around for the rest of the dive! It seemed to come alive every now and again & scarred the s..t out of me LOL.
My mother was the chief fish filleter & cooker in our family & the conger was prepared in many ways ranging from delicious fried tiny pieces to disgusting steaks cooked in mike in the oven :yack
Probably the most vivid memories were the internationale spearfishing compertisions when you could see dozens of stinky, slimy, mutilated & very sad looking dead congers.
Anyhow I admit to shooting a few in my teens & killing a few more that were caught on rods but when my mum died there was no one else who would prepare & cook the things so I never killed another one.
I do see them quite often when hunting for lobsters, I see them in the same holes that we hunted them in 35 years ago.
Conger are susceptible to overfishing by spear fishermen because they are territorial.
It is all relative of course as the damage has already been done by commercial methods.
Offshore congers are caught by long lines, we still have one visiting Spanish long liner that comes to port every now & again just to make sure the congers dont really get a chance to recover :duh
Now that the potter's dont use the buoyant pot neck flaps, that so effectively caught the congers, they actually use mackerel to bait the pots.
Mackerel was never a suitable bait in the past because it attracted the congers who would get in the pot eat the bait & swim out again!
It was not until the potters started useing the flap system that they realised just how many conger were out there! So now they can use mackerel simply because there are so few conger left, they are no longer an issue!
The relatively small amount of inshore conger that are left can easily be thinned out by spearfishing the reefs, in times gone by you could take a conger from a prime hole & see another resident the next day but now there might only be a few of the hundreds of holes occupied on a whole reef.
Conger were in fact a prime eating fish during the early days of long sea travel. salted conger was in fact a staple diet of many sailors to such an extent there were numerous industries revolving around the capture, salting & barreling up the end product. Salt cod became more popular later in history.
I have watched many epic conger captures, there is a very effective technique used to spear, remove from hole & kill the fish on one breath.
The principal idea would be to first find a suitable fish then with a fresh breath dive down & spear the fish just behind the head, a good double barb 8mm spear is best fired from an air gun. The fish is removed & if it is a big one (over 30lb) then the feet are braces either side of the hole & the fish extracted in one deft motion.
Next the conger is passed under the divers legs so he straddles the fish between his thighs & then cuts the fish deep behind the neck to sever the spine, in fact it seems you just need to touch the spinal cord to immobilise the poor creature!
Of course most fish were killed for fun rather than food & a real big one over 50lb was a very impressive catch for many people!!
My elder brother Derek was well known for taking congers with a hand spear & I watched him take a 25lb fish once in pretty deep water on one occasion, I can remember this very well because I was only young, (maybe 12-13) as was made to carry the thing around for the rest of the dive! It seemed to come alive every now and again & scarred the s..t out of me LOL.
My mother was the chief fish filleter & cooker in our family & the conger was prepared in many ways ranging from delicious fried tiny pieces to disgusting steaks cooked in mike in the oven :yack
Probably the most vivid memories were the internationale spearfishing compertisions when you could see dozens of stinky, slimy, mutilated & very sad looking dead congers.
Anyhow I admit to shooting a few in my teens & killing a few more that were caught on rods but when my mum died there was no one else who would prepare & cook the things so I never killed another one.
I do see them quite often when hunting for lobsters, I see them in the same holes that we hunted them in 35 years ago.
I'm afraid there is some bad information out there Foxy:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA6k4OSagR8]Fishing for Conger Eels - Gordon Ramsay - YouTube[/ame]
As with all such questions there will be considerable local variation in species numbers. South Hams crab fishermen would tell you they still have a plague of congers whereas in some other areas they are unfortunatley now a very rare sight.
As I've said before I now consider them to be a photo shoot target not a spearing target but spearos taking the occasional one will do a lot less harm than boat fishermen and crab potters.
Attachments
I would trust Gordon to make a dying restaurant profitable... I would not trust him for marine biodiversity advice...
Eel, Conger | FishOnline | The in-depth guide to sustainable seafood
Eel, Conger | FishOnline | The in-depth guide to sustainable seafood