Maigdean Mara , Galway bay 1-7-10

People:myself, skipper and an American family of 3

Duration:day trip

Tide:high @ 8:30am

Weather: small boat warning with a bit of rain

Bait: mack

Rigs: animal rigs and tope traces

Results: 2 tope, 2 dogs and plenty of mack (well enough to do as bait)

Report:

I got a call from the skipper of the Maigdean Mara the day before asking me where abouts on the inner bay the tope were being caught as wind conditions were making it impossible for him to head out into the bay to his usual mark, so after a bit of banter i was asked if i wanted to become a crew hand for the day as the boat was booked by a family of 3 (fella, his wife and 11yr old son), all i had to do was make my way to spiddal for 8:30am.. (wouldnt be too bad but i had a gig the night before)..
after a bit of deliberating and figuring things out i managed to get a lift out in the morning with my bike(so i could get back home) into spiddal for 7:30am.. set up on the pier for a bit to see if i could pluck a few mack out of the swells that were passing the end of the pier, but nothing much happening there, everyone arrived and out to sea we headed.. headed to the south shore to shelter behind the burren and see if we could pick up fresh mack... i think i was on a roll here as i was the only one of the 5 of us who seemed to be able to get them.. with only a few mack in the box we headed in the bay to one of my marks and set a drift towards one of the skippers marks.
rods were baited up with what mack we had and the drift was on, through the drift we kept after mack and thankfully a few shoals passed so now we had a good few to last the day, somewhere between the two marks my rod started to scream, i let the American grab it but the fish spat the bait, a change of bait and out again.. as we passed an area me and th skipper were looking at that we both thought should hold a fish or two one of the other rods started to scream, again the American was first to get the rod as me and the skipper reeled in the other 4 rods, this fish wasn't making it easy, hen it came up from the depths we could see why.. a good sized fish at that.
managed to get it into the net(after a few mins of too-ing and fro-ing) and landed a nicely formed male tope weighing in at 35lbs, tagged photo's and released the rods went out again after a change of bait.
by now the drift had us out into the swell and in rough water, so we decided to bring the lines in and reset the drift.. just as 2 rods were brought in, my rod started to scream again, this time i was the one to bring it in.. and i can see why we were going to reset the drift, the rough water was making it very hard to lift the fish and near on impossible to land, but persistence paid off and a cute female tope was landed, not as big as the first but my biggest one as i've only ever managed to get pup tope to date.. weighing in at just over 20lbs i was a happy camper.. we reset the drift again, but didnt manage to get any runs, and after a little banter it was time to head back,
the family enjoyed their day out, and i had a good day (and if i'm ever in the states i have an invite for a fishin trip over there (florida too)
here's a few pics courtesy of the skipper
and a vid to show it wasnt plain sailin (hence small boat warning)


http://youtube.com/watch?v=9LYSZxoBblk

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Fantastic Tope there Steve , very well done to you. It sounds like you really needed to have your sea legs with you on the boat on this occassion. Love the pictures, you are such a poser Steve, not camera shy at all but then your just right, I would be posing for the camera too to get my picture taken if I had managed to catch a fine fish like that Congrats on a great day out fishing

Great pix of a great day out And love yer man's Persil-white outfit - cool or what?

Great stuff Steve,

And that was good of you to let the visitor play the first fish

nice one steve..good on ye... great report and photos....... i take it my job is gone now steve... only joken......

nice one steve..good on ye... great report and photos....... i take it my job is gone now steve... only joken......

ya can thank kevin for pics.. he emailed 'em to me as for your job... any time you want a break from it I'll happily step in

no problem steve..... you look the part anyway........

excellent tope steve and it certainly looks like its cutting up rough in the pictures .again wheres the life jacket?

Correct me if I’m wrong but as far as I know you don’t have to have a life jacket on while in a boat / ship over a certain size but the boat must carry enough life boats for everyone aboard By law,

But commonsense says your more likely to get sucked under if you fall from a big boat rather then a small boat, so Ya I would be wearing one at all times no matter how soft they made me look

Them Tope look very slim Steve, they must have better feeding down on the Kerry side

Well with the increased boat fishin I'm doing I'm looking to buy a life jacket, but nor going to buy the first one I see either, if I get one I want to be able to put my life in it's hands, that's what they are for after all..

ha mann... the boat steve was on is a fully liecenced charter boat... on board there are enough life jackets for all onboard.. there is also a self inflateble boat if need.. the skipper would never allow anybody on board without having enough life jackets... and as law states it is not compulsary to wear one on a charter boat aslong as they are there....but i take your point it makes common sense to wear one.....

Correct me if I’m wrong but as far as I know you don’t have to have a life jacket on while in a boat / ship over a certain size but the boat must carry enough life boats for everyone aboard By law,

But commonsense says your more likely to get sucked under if you fall from a big boat rather then a small boat, so Ya I would be wearing one at all times no matter how soft they made me look

Them Tope look very slim Steve, they must have better feeding down on the Kerry side

nice bit of fishing steve,your getting plenty of fishing in, was that near our first mark.keep up d good work.

nice bit of fishing steve,your getting plenty of fishing in, was that near our first mark.keep up d good work.

that mark was further out again, but i have it saved on my satnav

steave they have crackers for 55 euros in marine parts direct .they also deliver.

steave they have crackers for 55 euros in marine parts direct .they also deliver.

ooh.. thanks for that

Nice fish their, looks like ye had a good day out.

If anybody is interested in buying a quality lifejacket then i would reccomend a SOLAS (safety of lives at sea) approved jacket. These are for commercial use and usualy have two inflating chambers instead of one. These jackets are also made with tougher material and have a stainless D ring should you ever need to be air lifted. Their is also a crotch strap that should always be used.