Tope Fishing Session 09'

People: Tiernan, Ger and Myself

Duration: 8pm - 12.30am

Tide: Rising Tide

Weather: Great

Bait: Fresh Mackerel

Rigs: 8/0 Steel Pulley Rigs

Results: 4 Tope


Report: My first report so take it EZ on me During the week my good friend Tiernan rand and asked me if I was up for a spot of fishing, naturally enough I said yes, so we packed all the gear into the Jeep and headed off in hope of tope. When we arrived, the Sea was flat calm and all looked well. First few casts of the night resulted in a few dogs and all looked promising. After 2 hours of hard work, the situation changed and looked bleak, just a few dogs to show for. Suddenly things picked up, as a ratchet screamed on the beach, all heads turned to see who's rod was it, tiernan was the lucky one as the first run of the night fell to him, his rod buckled over and all hands were on deck. It took all of 5mins to land the fish and it weighed in at 21lbs 8oz. Little did we know that this was the start of a very specila night. Not to long after, ger & I were talking and were rudely interrupted, as a tope leaped out of the water around 40 yards out. After he landed and turned again, tiernan's ratchet took off and at that point we realised that it was on his rod (Never seen him move as fast ). This fish was obviously bigger and there was no bullying him. It took roughy 15 mins to land the fish and weighed in at 33lbs 2oz, the best fish of the night. Next in line was ger, his reel took of and he struck into his very first tope, after a good scrap the fish weighed in at 17lbs 10oz, needless to say he had a big grin on his face, well done Ger . I was thinking through all the chaos when was my turn, finally it arrived, but was short lived. My reel took off at 100mph and my rod buckled over. As the fish came to a hault, i struck and it felt like i was stuck, wrongly mistaken as my reel made another dash and suddenly my line went slack, just my luck i lost it, along with my mouth as i said the Rosary more than once. During my tantrum, Tiernans rod bent over in a hoop (AGAIN) and his reel screamed like it would never stop. As soon as he struck into the fish, we knew we hit the motherload. It shot off at an awful pace parallel to the shore. Finally after 20mins of hard work, we saw our prize, its dorsal fin appeared and a sigh of relief was had by all. It took Ger & I to lift her up off the rocks, at the cost of me taking a dip (You owe me T ). Special care had to be taken with the big girl, as we reckoned she was heavy in pup. So we weighed her, took our snaps and released her back as soon as possible (Went back without any harm, best bit ) She weighed in at a mouth watering 55lb 5oz, his biggest fish from the shore to date and i think it will take some beating that.

We went back out the following night to try our luck again and to his amazement, Tiernan hit the only fish of the night, weighed in at 43lbs 3oz.
This pic is the last one in the Report and is seperate from the others, but we said we would upload it for the gander..
The best couple of days fishing ever, Unbelievable experience

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This Was round 2, lucky T ehhh

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What a session lads brilliant stuff well done

awesome fishing lads, I'm well jealous

powerful!

great report super fishing well done lads

excellent first report jaysus lads that's truely awesome fishing. congrats all round we're for there at the weekend, looks like i'm gonna have to go out today and buy stronger braid for the reels what breaking strain were you useing?

Fantastic Lads.

Well Done.

Nice session lads well done, time put in and reward recieved

Well done indeed

Well done lads, cracking fishing.

Kev

u lucky devils will have to ask my dad to take me to wexford after tope and hounds

Incredible fishing! Well done!

Average at best

I'd say you put in plenty of hours to get results like that. Fair play

Well done lads,Thats some fantastic fishing there.Some cracking fish there

Paddy

brilliant stuff lads,
a big well done to you all.
great pictures

Nice

Crackin fish there was trying for them lastnight but with no joy

Hey Alan,

Tanx for the comments . The breaking strain was 23lb and the make and model of line was Sufix Tritanium, it takes alot of hardship and is a good line to cast. But the concept that u need heavier breaking strain is only in ur head. U could easily get a big fish in on 15lb line. Most of the strain is on ur shock leader knot, so it has 2 be tied properly or else ur not goin to have alot of success, as i found out on that night when i lost a decent fish Tanx again and tight lines.....!!

excellent first report jaysus lads that's truely awesome fishing. congrats all round we're for there at the weekend, looks like i'm gonna have to go out today and buy stronger braid for the reels what breaking strain were you useing?

cool!
mighty stuff lads. well done.
hope ye don't have addictive personallities!!!!