Shannon Estuary-15th June

[bigkev]

Puca-Shannon estuary 15 June
Crew me and Edwin
Ran out to loop head from Kilrush in beautiful sunshine with a SW 2. Two weeks ago we spent 3 hours for the grand result of two mackerel. This week they were so thick it proved impossible to get baited feathers to the bottom for general reef fishing. The couple of occasions we were able to get to the bottom, we caught whiting in the 2lb range.

After filling a box for tope bait, we headed back in to the estuary and anchored up for tope, fishing the last hour of the ebb and the first two hours of the flood.
We had 6 runs, hooked four and landed three tope. All in the 25- 30 lb range but great sport.
Mysteriously, the lost fish took the hook, and the curly bit of mono at the end suggested a knot break. Hmmmmm.
This was to get worse the following day, but that’s in Thursdays report
Kev

[MAC]

Hate to say it Kev, but normally a curly bit at the end of your mono is a knot slip rather that a break.

Great to see you got a few nice tope though.

Well done,

Kev

[bigkev]

Agree totally MAC
Knots slipped , hence curly bits.
However, this has never happened before and I lost three tope before binning the spool of mono involved
I think it had been contaminated, UV or chemical reaction of some sort. Normally, 150lb mono is very stiff, but this had become almost limp and supple. Discovered far too late!!

Live and learn

Kev

[MAC]

Sounds like dodgy mono for sure. What type of knot are you using at the hook?

Kev