Shannon estuary-22 July- topetastic

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#1 Post by **bigkev** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 7:41 am

Shannon Estuary 22 July
Crew Edwin and yours truly
High tide 4.30 pm
Weather- sw 4-6, bumpy
All four seasons in one day

After speaking with some local skippers, we were informed there were now plenty of mackerel in the estuary. A short run across the estuary to littor strand saw us pick up enough for bait in short time and we positioned to fish for tope.
A nice fish of 25lbs arrived on the first cast, and then nothing for several hours
We decided to move to a new mark in deeper water and what followed could only be described as frantic
3 of the four rods immediately screamed off and pandemonium set in as tangled lines and angry tope made us look like complete amateurs. One fish was landed in the mayhem.
Retackling and rebaiting again saw two rods scream off with more tangled lines and chaos, but both fish landed.
At this point we retired two rods and fished on with only two.
[url=http://img439.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hpim0060af6.jpg][img=http://img439.imageshack.us/img439/3829/hpim0060af6.th.jpg][/url]
4 double hook ups later and we had landed another eight tope to 35 lbs.
At 6.45 pm, we stopped fishing after landing the 12th tope of the session, but I genuinely feel we would have kept catching all night
In summary, 20 + runs, 12 landed ,several get offs and one break off from a large fish that broke the rubbing leader
Oh, and a solitary dogfish

The Shannon estuary, why would you fish anywhere else?

Kev[img][url=http://img439.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hpim0060af6.jpg][img=http://img439.imageshack.us/img439/3829/hpim0060af6.th.jpg][/url][/img]

#2 Post by **petekd** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 7:49 am

Now thats a proper days fishing Kev :D .... Fair play, must have been frantic stuff alright.

#3 Post by **MAC** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 9:42 am

Super stuff Kev. Sounds like a cracking days sport. Did you get any pics?

Kev

#4 Post by **pete** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 10:48 am

That sounded like a right busy tope session :)

#5 Post by **pete** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 10:51 am

I forgot to ask Kev, were you using a rubby bag at all?

#6 Post by **bigkev** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:55 am

Hi Guys
We werent using a rubby dubby bag on this occasion, didnt seem to matter

We got pics of two fish that I'll post later, but we were so busy trying to unhook and play fish at the same time that it was just too chaotic
What a great complaint eh!

Before I get too blase about it all, it was quite an exceptional session, and certainly the best we've ever had

Long may it last

Kev
[img]http://img439.imageshack.us/img439/3829/hpim0060af6.jpg[/img]
One of mine