Goodbye Conger - 20/07/2007

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay certainly knows how to swear, but he was upstaged the day he took his film crew deep-sea fishing with Dave Kerley for conger eels. For Dave, 40, with three decades of fishing experience, turned the air blue when he pierced his finger with a giant hook and ended up in hospital.
Ramsay was in Devon filming for an episode of his Channel 4 series ‘The F Word’, and wanted to hook a giant conger to cook as an alternative to the usual cod and chips.
Dave, of Elmgrove Road, Topsham, said: "When the hook pierced my finger I said the ‘f’ word! I was swearing more than Gordon!"
Dave, who had pierced his finger between a bone and a tendon, had to wait three hours before he could eventually have the hook removed by three doctors.
"It was such a relief to get it out," he said. "It didn't hurt while they did it, but that's probably because I was full of painkillers."
Dave, who will star in the TV show, runs the Fish Shed at Darts Farm, Topsham, near Exeter, and had joined Ramsay aboard the ‘Becci Of Ladrum’ for a six-hour stint of wreck fishing seven miles off the coast.
The fiery chef had enjoyed an English breakfast earlier at The Docks Cafe in Exmouth Marina before heading out to sea.
As Ramsay and the crew hauled in congers up to 15lb, Dave came a cropper. "I've been fishing for 30 years and have never pierced my finger with a hook before. It's just typical that it happened that day," said Dave.
So, when Ramsay and his film crew returned to Darts Farm to cook up some conger for the show, Dave headed off to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, which meant that they had to use a ‘hand double’ for Dave.
Back at the Fish Shed, Dave's wife Ordine, 36, was looking after Ramsay.
Dave said: "My wife really began to worry. She said she could see Gordon changing colour he was becoming so angry! The production crew kept calling me to see when I would be back to continue filming. They were on a tight schedule."
But the three-star Michelin chef kept the show on the road, telling the audience: "You have to work really hard to bring the flavour out. It's a really robust fish and a lot tougher than freshwater eel. We caught some really big ones, too; they are really good 15-pounders."
Dave, who was back in time to sample Ramsay's cooking, said: "The episode is about promoting eels as cheaper sustainable alternatives to other overfished species. It was a splendid dish. I have tried cooking it myself, but have never got it to taste like that!"
He added: "It made good TV. The production crew were a bit disappointed that they didn't come to the hospital to obtain more footage."

Courtesy of the Exmouth Journal website