West Coast Tope 27.05.10

People: Jakes, Mike Curtain(non SAI) & myself

Duration: 18:00-01:00

Tide: HT@ 17:37 5m

Weather: Ckear wind W F4

Bait: Fresh Mackerel

Rigs: Heavy mono and wire Pullys

Results: Tope




Report: Jakes and myself got a call from Mike Curtain to see if we wanted to give
the Tope a go. So plans were hatched Thursdays full moon and big tide seemed to be a good place to start the years Tope fishing. Jakes was busy tying heavy mono rigs during the afternoon while I got 20 fresh mackerel and a bag full of fish heads and carcasses together. We arrived near the mark to find Mikes car already there, and after a good hour or so's walk we reached the spot little bit of weed in the water and the westerly wind was stronger than we would have liked but we could see plenty of birds diving around us and the water would bubble every so often with sprat. We set up and cast out game on.... first couple of casts were trying to find a spot that we could hold our big baits in without being taken by weed and current. We managed to find a couple of snags early on but soon things settled down and apart from dragging back in some weed on the retrieve the tactics were working well. We fished from HT nearly all the way down to low and had nearly admitted defeat... Mike had just broken down his gear i'd sent out a fresh bait and Jakes asked the "what do you ya reckon" question i said i've a fresh one gone out there grand i'll put this one out and we'll call it a day.... the 3 of us were standing there chating away and Jakes rachet fired weed again we thought then it went constant Jakes ran to it picked it up "Jesus Christ" or something to that effect was said big bend in the rod and line peeling off the spool.... Jakes had gone with a slightly more aerodynamic bait for the last cast a mackerel fillet bound up into a big sausage and cast out about 80yards so he had some ground to make up after the fishes runs... after a good 10-15mins battle we could see the Tope on the surface about 40 yards out its dorsal fin breaking the surface and the moonlight catching it lovely.... i was the only one wearing chesties so in i went and a tailed it..... Hooked beautifully in the corner of the mouth i ran to my box to get my camera batteries low never before have my batteries been low couldn't believe it only managed to get one shot out properly but at least we got the shot. We weighed the fish a fine Male of 34lb 8ozs Jakes was over the moon the biggest fish he's caught from the shore and the biggest myself and Mike have seen taken from the sore a new club record for Galway Bay SAC too well done that man I brought him back out held him into the current for a few mins and he swam off on the surface for a bit before disappearing back into the depths..... we were all delighted to see such an amazing fish landed and swim off unharmed. Mike had his gear set back up in no time after seeing the big pack male and we all fished on for another couple of hrs with Mike getting a couple of dogs and a dog saving the blank for me..... I had a feeling things were going to go to plan and had brought 3 bottles of Heineken with me after the Tope was released we had a toast to celebrate an amazing catch and what is the start of a few interesting weeks ahead

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Great report and great fish

well done thats a nice tope

nice tope ,very well done.

A big welldone lads, super fish from the shore

Looks like my timing couldnt have been better, I'm heading west in an hour for a weekends fishing

A big welldone lads, super fish from the shore

Looks like my timing couldnt have been better, I'm heading west in an hour for a weekends fishing

Good luck mark, keep me posted! Might be nice to get a break from the smoothies for a while

nice tope lad

Congratulations to Jake and everyone, that is a fantastic catch and from the shore too - well done.
A new record for Galway Bay SAC too - nice one It must have been some site to see it for the first time when it came to the surface.
Myself, K2 and a few of our friends went and tried for the tope ourselves a couple of weeks ago when we where down in Co.Kerry on a fishing trip for 12 days, conditions on the day where perfect, we had it all worked out, well we thought we did anyway but in the end none of us managed to catch one.
Tope are simply awesome hopefully some day I get to experience for myself what it is like to catch one. The dream goes on.........

Excellent Trip Lads.... Very well done

Super catch from the shore well done, I think I feel a tope session coming on soon

Good to see the tope about if its the same tope spot i used to fish its a killer of a walk but worth it when it produces

well done very nice fish!

cracker of a report Conor, was a very good read, pity about the camera, bet you wont make that mistake again, super fishing of course, well done that man

nice one conor... congrats to jake... cracking read and a cracking fish..... well done all.......

Well done lads thats is a cracker of a fish . It's my mission to get one this year, I have the spot picked I just needed the inspiration and you've just provided it.

Cheers
Shane

cracking report as always conor, it was very good reading. and congrat's to jake, thumper of a fish mate well done

class fishing! great report conor!

Well done lads.... what a result

Conor great report and that is a mega result..Note to self Must head to Galway soon!

super fish lads big well done

class fish lads,well done