Shannon Estuary-16th June

Puca – Shannon Estuary 16Th June
Crew Me and Dave_B
Ran out to loop head from Kilrush on a grey morning with SW 3-4. Wind against tide made for a bumpy run and on arrival there was a bit of a rolling swell, but nothing scary.Dave however had decided the weather was going to be scorching, and dressed in shorts and t shirt.At this point it started to drizzle. To make things worse, Dave started to match the colours of his limerick top. White and green at intervals.
Again , the numbers of mackerel present was astonishing. A box was duly filled for tope bait and with sick crew mate, we made a long slow run back up the estuary.
Annchored in 60 feet of water, tope baits were launched and we sat back while the sun finally made an appearance, indeed it was hot and sunny for the rest of the day
8 runs, 6 hook ups , and 3 fish landed.
One lost tope resulted in another curly piece of mono, just like yesterdays. Hmmmm. Traces tied to 150lb mono with blood knots , that have never failed on me in the past , and I had lost two fish in two days. Worse, the next tope also disappeared with the hook and the same result. The 150lb mono was duly inspected, and compared to a new purchase of same mono, it was found to have discoloured . I can only assume that some uv or chemical reaction had occurred over the winter and made the mono a bit more supple or stretchy, allowing the knots to work loose. Aforesaid mono in the bin, and new traces resulted in no more lost tope.
Best fish at 35 lbs to Dave who broke his tope duck and grinned like a cheshire cat,.Confidence is now high for next week, weather allowing, that we can boat 10 fish in a day , as the numbers are definitely on the up in the estuary.

One nice note, a lad in a sea hog trooper came over after watching the action. Asked what the fish were and the rigs used. After showing him, he anchored alongside and caught his first tope. The pleasure he took from his capture made me as happy as he was.

All in all, a great day out

Tight lines

Kev

It's always a good feeling to see someone hook their first tope.
Good fishing there Kev.Glad to see the mackeral are in.Myself and SeanP have been struggling to catch any around Dingle.

[bigkev]

Daves best of the day
I told him it weighed twenty pounds, ha ha!!!
[img]http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/1998/davetope21pk.jpg[/img]

Edwins first tope, a typical male shannon pack tope mid twenty
[img]http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/9075/edwintope5bn.jpg[/img]

Last edited by bigkev on Mon Jun 19, 2006 12:54 pm, edited 5 times in total.

Kev,

Can you make the first pic a wee bit smaller for people on dial up. Also means that you don't have to scrool sideways to read you post.

Kev

Sorted I think

It's always a good feeling to see someone hook their first tope.

Next best after that has got to be seeing someone wrestling to bring there first tope in the boat for you and shouting 'land ur own ****dy fish next time' :wink:
Sean,

I have the scars to prove it :oops: