TBT#10 The history of the Conger festival

With this years conger festival only a couple of weeks away I thought it was worth having a look back at what I believe is the Channel Islands longest running open fishing competition.

Started in 1980 by the Jersey Light Tackle Group which if my maths is correct makes this years event the 46th. As the JLTG gradually dwindled it was run for many years by Adrian Sangan and then by Peter Gosselin until the JLTG finally finished in 2007 when I took on the running. At this point I didn’t belong to an angling club so I approached the Sinkers Sea Fishing Club to ask if I could join and run the conger festival as a Sinkers organised event, much the same as the Bass festival. 18 years on and the Conger Festival continues to be a popular event in the competition calendar and has evolved to be a catch and release only event and in recent years to have a dedicated St Catherine’s Breakwater section.

Going back to the very beginning it started with a minimum weight of 10lbs with a prize for both the heaviest fish and the heaviest bag. Imagine having to carry every eel over 10lb back up the cliffs to the weigh in. The original prizes were a Hardy Tourney beachcaster and an Abu. 9000c reel. I don’t have all the early records but I believe there were winning bags close to 100lb! I know of at least one occasion where people haven’t allowed themselves enough time to carry all the eels up and have missed the weigh-in!

Over time the heaviest bag section was dropped and the minimum weight was increased to 15lb where it stayed until eventually the competition became a catch and release only event and no minimum weight was necessary.

Originally it was a one night event held over a Saturday night with most people fishing right through, these days it’s held over a weekend meaning even if you only have one free night you can still take part.

The first winner was dad with a Conger of 38lb 12ozs which was also big enough to win the heaviest bag that year. Dad went on to win again in 1989 & 2004 making him the only angler to date to win 3 times. There have been 3 Conger that have weighed over the magical 40lb at the weigh in as well as a couple that fell just short. Perhaps surprisingly the biggest two eels ever weighed in were 41-6 caught by top local coarse angler Greig Brown in 2008 which was caught on the middle arm casting into the Tanker Berth and 40-12 in 2003 caught by Mark Symons at St Catherine’s Breakwater on the bottom wall in front of the old tackle shop. The 3rd 40 pounder was 40lb exactly caught by Mark Le Houquet in 2000 from a rock mark.

The dubious honor of catching the biggest eel not to win goes to Andy Garnier who had a eel of 35-15 in 2014 only to be beaten by a St Caths eel of 39-8 caught by Mick Le Fevre.

The worst year has to be 2016. The forecast was to be ok until about midnight and then blowing up overnight. We made the decision at lunchtime to go ahead thinking everyone would have a few hours before the weather closed in. Unfortunately the weather arrived early and by about 9pm it was horrendous, some of the worst conditions I have ever fished in and I was really worried for everyone’s safety. It was a bad call to go ahead and I was ready to give up after that year, incredibly we actually had 2 eels over the 15lb minimum with Sam Chapon finding the winner at 17-12.

I finally managed to get my hands on the trophy in 2013. The year previous I had fished what is probably the most difficult rock mark I had ever fished and come second with an eel of 24-12. I decided to return complete with various pegs and around 300ft of rope just to get down to where I wanted to fish. The last bit you have to lower your gear down on a rope and then climb down. I tied my bait bucket by the handle and was lowering it down when the handle came off, the bucket fell and nearly all my bait went in the sea! I climbed down and figured I had enough bait left for a couple of hours so would fish for as long as I could. First proper cast in the dark and I hooked what was clearly a half decent fish, on the surface I climbed down to gaff it and after a couple of missed opportunities I gaffed the eel and made my way back up. I was just about back to the ledge I was fishing from when the eel span off the gaff. Luckily I’d had the sense to back my drag off but the eel went the whole way back down and into the sea! I climbed back down, pumped the eel back to the surface and gaffed it again. After finally climbing back up and putting it in a sack I weighed it at just under 25lb and a possible contender. I had another couple of casts before facing the challenge of climbing back up with all my gear and an eel. I decided to leave a fair bit of stuff down there and return for it the next day and gradually made my way up, being home in bed before 11pm.

Next morning at the weigh-in my eel went 24-4, big enough to win by just over 1lb. It is probably the competition I have been the happiest to win.

Now I’m a fair bit older and I like to think a little wiser I look back at where I fished those 2 years at night and alone and I realise how stupid it probably was. I have only been back twice since, one in JOSAF where I managed a weigher and once again in a conger festival where I couldn’t fish due to the swell and had to pack up early. I doubt it will ever be fished again.

So this years event in a couple of weeks has no minimum weight and is completely catch and release with only your biggest Conger counting. It is split into 2 sections, one for St Catherine’s Breakwater fish only and an overall section with the same top prizes in both sections meaning it is a competition available to everyone. We even have a trophy and prizes for the biggest Conger by a junior or lady entrant. If you’re interested in taking part entry forms are available at all the local tackle shops.