East Shore Tope May 29th 2024

[Sean Mac]

East Coast Beach
Arrived an hour before High tide,bright cloudy conditions. There seemed to be a yellow brown colour in the water and the beach was empy. Set up one rod for Tope and the other rod for scratching around for anything. Baited up the Tope trace with a joey mackeral and out she went. Put half a crab on pulley pennel and out it went. There seemed to be a fair bit of tide running which gave me confidence. Both baits were in the water minutes and bites started. Appeared to be dogs hammering the baits. Brought in the crab with a doggie attached,not to worry, early in the day. The bite on the mackeral i watched closely as it was very aggressive. As I watched the rod tip out in front about 60 meters a Tope came to the surface on its side. I couldn't see its head but its tail was out of the water for a second. I was shocked to be honest. Quickly reeled in the Tope trace and baited up another half mackeral small bait and sent it out.I cast as far as I could in the direction of the Tope I had seen. Within 5 minutes the reel screamed off line , tightened up the drag and lifted into the fish , it felt heavy and quickly adjusted the drag to let it run, which it sure did. I kept a Good bend in the rod tip. The fish made several runs down tide and big Head shakes. Eventually after 10-15 minutes she came closer . It felt very heavy and took my time to lift with an incoming wave that helped to land . I went to guide the fish by the tail and it rotated its tail and I had to let go. Put the rod down and used both hands much better option. Poured some buckets of water over its head and put a wet cloth over its eyes . it was quite angry. Took a measure and a few photos and brought her back to the water. The waders were very handy for the release, rested her in the water for a few minutes and off she went . I could see the dorsal and tail fins as she cruised out in front.

[masterkeane]

Lovely fish Sean and great report well done

[MC]

excellent report and a great fish

[corbyeire]

Great pics - congrats