Clare Dragoon, 21/07/07 SAI Tope Huggers inaugural meet....

Mon Jul 23, 2007 12:51 pm

Or also known as "Carlsberg dont do tope trips....but if they did...."

People:Myself, JD, JW, Dave Green, Jim and Sean Clohessy

Duration:9-5pm

Tide:Allsorts

Weather:Peachy

Bait:Mackerel

Rigs:Big uns

Results:6 anglers, 16 tope.... 9 on our boat with half a dozen dropped, 7 to the Clohessy lads.

Report:

Following on from the previous weekends sortie with BigKev, it was time to join up for our first official SAI organised tope hunt. Following a couple of late drop outs there were to be 4 of us aboard the Clare Dragoon, ably skippered by Luke Aston and we were to be joined by messrs Jim and Sean Clohessy aboard Skua who were researching for a forthcoming IA article.

Our crew had all travelled up the night before and there were a few fuzzy heads following a late night sampling the various delights on draught in a local hostelry....Its traditional!! It was with some delight that weather conditions on the day were nothing short of peachy. A light early morning mist carpeting glassy seas with the sun steadily burning it off.... Picture perfect. There was going to be no blaming the weather today if we failed to produce...

First stop as always was for some fresh bait, following my inept performance once again from the cliffs at Dunlickey where I managed the grand total of 0. Good job Luke knew what he was doing though and 30 minutes later with 30/40 macks on board we steamed off to the mark. There had been much debate about various merits of Mono, braid, wire etc, for my point, I was to employ the same tactics that served me so well last weekend. Myself and JD at either side of the boat opted to Uptide in the stiff current whilst Dave and JW were downtiding from the stern. We had arrived about an hour or so before HW and the tide rip was just beginning to ease slightly as the first baits sunk below the surface with the excitement palpable between us.

It didn't take too long at all, around ten minutes in fact, before Daves rod bounced once, then twice, then hooped round as with a squealing reel a fish took off with his bait. No need to worry about striking this fish or anything even resembling it as it tore off at a savage rate. A few minutes later following much laughter and bad language as they fought for superiority and with sweat rolling down his brow, it was with some delight that Dave brought his first Tope and his largest fish to date to the side of the boat. A beauty of a fish weighed in at 28lbs, was swiftly weighed, measured and tagged before being carefully slipped back into the river.

Following on from this, it all got a little confusing as over the next hour and a half or so there was little peace as fish after fish came to the boat. On several occasions, there were double hook ups with the "tope dance" as lads uncrossed lines being performed with joyous regularity.... :D Dave was very quickly up to 4 fish, JW had 2 and lost 2, JD had 2 himself. For my part, it was appearing that I had used up my Shannon Tope quota the weekend previously as I was still fishless. I had suffered the indignity of watching fish come in to everyone, all around the boat and had to show for my efforts the heartbreak of 3 dropped runs.... It was becoming something of a joke and I was getting seriously concerned as, with the ebbing tide beginning to rip through and slowly push us off our mooring I was still fishless.

With the boat slowly dragging its anchor, uptiding had gone out the window and I had dropped a bait straight down suspended just off the surface. I was watching as every now and again, it would strike bottom and give the rod tip a lurch inciting false hope.... Just as the skipper called for lines up and having watched the tip dipping and rising I reached for my rod and discovered to my surprise, a large degree of weight attached. A weight that all of a sudden decided it was none too happy and scorched off down tide..... No dodgy hookholds this time as the fish put up a lovely scrap in the hammering tide on the light gear. The strong current made for a prolonged battle with a reasonable fish of around 20lbs or so eventually being netted at the side of the boat.... Thank god for that for following the 3 fish dropped, had I managed to blank, I am fair sure I would never have heard the end of it!!

We moved off our mark and headed for a calmer spot, 9 fish boated within 2 and a half hours or so was nothing short of dream fishing. Something had to give somewhere and unfortunately, that was to be the end of it. Mark No. 2 yielded nothing but 1 dropped run and a doggie. It was time to relax and catch a few rays of sunshine as we whiled away the afternoon waiting for the tide run to subside so we could return to our previous mark. Following a quick mackerel top up, we duly returned but the fish were conspicuous by their absence. Time passed and unfortunately, that indeed was to be it and we returned to Carrigaholt, tired but happy. Skipper Luke had told us beforehand that the peak time was indeed the purple patch we had enjoyed earlier and anything after would be a bonus. He was spot on with his predictions.

So it ended, the first SAI Tope Huggers trip being a resounding success. 9 fish ranging in size from 18lbs to 35lbs. Everyone having caught and all fish safely tagged and released. Jim and Sean ended the day with 7 fish between them, a fine tally too. We look forward to reading all about your own exploits in an upcoming issue of IA.

Well done to Dave Green for finishing top of the boat with 4 fish. The lads fishing downtide from the Stern certainly seemed to enjoy the bulk of the action as fish following the scent trails came across there baits first and chugged them down with gusto. We noticed the same thing at anchor in the Swilly Boat comp when again the lads at the Stern were the ones who caught the fish.... Going to have to rethink positioning the next time :D !! A super day out, blessed with the kind of weather that has been in such short supply this year. We look forward to the Blue Shark trip in the near future with Luke once again. If its even half as good as this one, we'll be laughing....

Thanks again to Luke Aston whose charter boat is a shining example of how things should be done, for putting us spot on the mark at peak time and maximising our chances. For the constant stream of bad jokes and cups of tea also that whiled away the quiet spells. The less said about your taste in music however, the better...Robbie Williams anyone.... :D :roll:

I'm sure the rest of the group will be along soon with pics and slagging.... I'll post a few pics tomorrow. Jim/Sean, if you would like any of the pictures taken of yourselves from our boat, let me know and I'll email them across.

A special mention incidentally, (how could I forget...) to JW.... On my return from a fruitless early morning, feather chucking half hour at Dunlickey, I arrived back to the digs to find Mr. Waldron taking care of the catering for the day in the kitchen. Having "just picked up a few things from SuperValu" John was happily making a large amount of baps containing....wait for it..... Smoked salmon, Cucumber and Feta cheese! :D Following on from this I think JW should change his user name to "Posh Spice...."

SAI-SAC dont usually do Tope trips....but when we do.... :D

Mon Jul 23, 2007 4:57 pm

Nicely worded pete...ps HA HA :wink: dont worry, ill have my losing boots with me just incase or should i say the eventuality that i may need them in cobh :lol:

Mon Jul 23, 2007 5:37 pm

tope1