laytown

People: me and one of the lads

Duration:5:30am to 7:30am
Tide:

Weather:clear sky water like glass

Bait: rag

Rigs: single hook clipped

Results:1 lost fish

Catch and Release:: Yes/No if i had managed to land it i would have released it!



Report:
headed to lay town first thing this morning before the sun rose to try winkle out my first bass of 2007. I decided to leave the beach gear at home and use my trusty daiwa vulcan x spinning rod for a bit of sport, worst idea i've ever had!
any way, fished away for about 20 mins when my rod nearly snapped in two with a vicious take so picked up and felt something big banging away and thought to myself what a way to start the bass season, double figure bass. then it became clear, this was something far bigger than a bass. the second the fish felt resistance it took off like a bullet out to sea and i didnt have a hope of stopping it, the reel was screaming as the line just emptied from the reel. at this stage i was walking as fast as i could out to sea to try and gain some line but even walking fast it was still emptying the friggin spool! got to my waist in water when the fish slowed and for about 5 seconds i had it hanging there just kicking, then it took off again. continued walking out, at this stage i was up to my chest with water almost spilling into my chesties and i couldn't go any further, so it stripped the last 50 yards if line i had then the inevitable happened! 180 yards of line gone in about 2 minutes. at one stage i was looking around for a friggin boat or a jet ski thinking that it snagged my line cos i,ve never seen a reel empty that quick! well thats fishing for ya!

one word.....................TOPE !!

two words

more line!

what bait did you have on

and what was you rig made up of, 20lbs, 50lbs ect..

better luck next time

yeah I think so too boycie, I've a sneaking suspicion I had a small flounder on cos I seen a couple of small knocks a few minutes before the big hit so along came Mr. tope and seen a free meal!
the one friggin time I didn't bring the beach rod. one thing I cant get over is why he'd come in to shallow water like that, the beach is very shallow I was fishing in no more than 6 feet of water!

LOL, yeah mickeyfish I think so! I was using 60lb rig body with 30 lb snood and a 30lb leader.
I was using rag but as I said above I had a small flounder on.

well after listening to that you would be mad not to assume it was a tope.

if you got it , it would have been a nice score instead of a bass

tight lines

mick b

lots of talk about tope! personally i think it might be a little to early. BUT i would not put it past a SEAL TO STRIP 180 YARDS OFF A REEL AS I HAVE SEEN IT DONE BEFORE. sorry for putting tope out of the picture.

don't want to spoil the fun either but it sounds like a seal has picked up ur catch!! happened to me before!! its a bugger, stripped all the line on my reel and then snapped me!! had to go home coz i only brought one rod and didn't bring a spare spool!!

Justify early

&

justify a seal


the water temp is averaging 10 degrees which is comfortable for the tope, tope in general feed on flats, when the mackeral are not to be seen,

saying a seal just makes me laugh,

ive been bitten off before by seals and never in the manner that this guy has experienced,

otherwise the article would have read,

a seal stole my fish

a seal has to rise to eat their food ,and surely if that was the case he would have seen it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds likea tope to me...especially taking off with such propulsion...tope do come in fairly close at times on certain beaches...and flounder is ideal bait for tope...so unlucky keith... better luck next time man :D

Whatever it was - it gave you a severe rush of the old brown adrenelin :o

Hard lines Keith - goes to show that you can never be 'under-gunned' when it comes to beach fishing.

Get back down to that beach with some heavier gear ASAP.

Jude

haven't heard of a large tope being taken on a rag worm yet.

mickey fish! you say you have been bitten off by a seal before wait until you hook one proper and then you can come back and tell all about it. a seal will rise to eat but that doesn't say he cant travel 180 yards under the surface. I'm sure Keith wasn't looking out 180 yards hoping to see a seal surface. he was up to his chest in water and we all know that the lower down in the water we are the more our line of vision is restricted.

haven't heard of a large tope being taken on a rag worm yet.

NOR HAVE I HEARD OF A SEAL BEING TAKEN ON RAGWORM, NOR IS THERE SEALS RESIDENT.

but it is suspected that the supposed creature that gave keith a run may have taken a small flounder :!: :!: :!:

THE LAW OF AVERAGES AS THE VARIETY OF SPECIES ARE LIMITED IN THAT AREA WOULD POINT TO A TOPE, EITHER THAT OR A MIGHTY BASS.

TIGHT LINES

MICKEYFISH

if there was a seal around you would surley have seen it surface at some stage. even though i am aware seals can stay underwater for periods of time they have to surface to breath. anytime i have seen a seal it has been popping up every few seconds for air etc.
i dont know what it was but it sounds like a tope or simular species, because as previously mentioned tope love flounder. If kieth was only able to walk out casting distance where the water was over 4foot deep id say its a bit shallow for tope but they have been known in shallower water.
lets just call it a USO (unidentified swimming object) :roll:

I think i'd have to agree with mickeyfish and paul. I 've fished this beach for years and never seen a seal on it nor have I even heard of a seal been seen but I have heard of numurous strange goings on, such as my encounter.
Also, I live a few miles down the road beside a rocky beach and in summer its stuffed to bits with mackeral and attracts alot of seals. Almost any time I'm down catching mackies for bait I'd hook one so beleive you me I know what its like to have a seal on the end of a spinning rod and that encounter on saturday morning was no seal!
As some of the lads were saying, a nice calm clear morning like that, if it was a seal you would have seen him rise even if he was 600 or 700 yards off shore.

To sum it up we can vote on it i say yes to the possibilities of it being a tope .

do more agree

Next time I'm in Laytown, I'll have to throw a live flounder out there and see what happens......

Kev