snatcher
Well-known member
I had kindly been invited out by my mate Russel for a days tope fishing in Luce Bay. We had decided to launch Russels boat Wendy Ann at Ardwell slip. We arrived on the ebb at about half tide.
The launch was going fine until the trailer and boat got bogged down in some soft sand followed by Russels jeep !!!!! With a bit muscle power and the use of a tow rope and a bit of luck we eventually managed to launch.
First off was to find the mackerel which can be harder than locating the tope at times. We steamed straight out for about one mile and started to drift for mackerel.. Russel was using a set of 5 feathers and I was using a set of four. The mackerel were thick under the boat and we filled up our bait box within about 20 minutes. We both managed a couple of "full houses"
Russel kindly offered to prepare the rubby dubby bag of mashed up mackerel. The bag was attached to the anchor chain and over went the anchor. Down went the tope baits of whole mackerel and we settled back for hopefully some tope action. Its the first time we had fished together so we started swapping some fishing yarns and a few jokes. I was first into a fish with manditory dogfish and whilst posing for the photograph managed to get myself rashed !!
The tope were noticable by their absence so we decided to fish some bait rods with squid and mackerel strip. We started picking up small whiting,gurnard and a few more dogfish. Russel was gutted when he had a good bull huss on and it either threw the hook or dropped the bait at the surface. The smile came back to his face though when he got a thornback on board.
Even though the tope were not playing ball the craic was good and it was just good being out on the water - even though it was starting to get a tad lumpy. Berore last knockings I managed to get a decent red gurnard and Russel had a bait bitten in half - probably by a tope.
The gulls are never far away and enjoyed the contents of the rubby dubby bag as we were packing in.
Not a great day on the catch side but most enjoyable anyway. We also managed to retrieve the boat without incident. There is always next time.
John
The launch was going fine until the trailer and boat got bogged down in some soft sand followed by Russels jeep !!!!! With a bit muscle power and the use of a tow rope and a bit of luck we eventually managed to launch.
First off was to find the mackerel which can be harder than locating the tope at times. We steamed straight out for about one mile and started to drift for mackerel.. Russel was using a set of 5 feathers and I was using a set of four. The mackerel were thick under the boat and we filled up our bait box within about 20 minutes. We both managed a couple of "full houses"
Russel kindly offered to prepare the rubby dubby bag of mashed up mackerel. The bag was attached to the anchor chain and over went the anchor. Down went the tope baits of whole mackerel and we settled back for hopefully some tope action. Its the first time we had fished together so we started swapping some fishing yarns and a few jokes. I was first into a fish with manditory dogfish and whilst posing for the photograph managed to get myself rashed !!
The tope were noticable by their absence so we decided to fish some bait rods with squid and mackerel strip. We started picking up small whiting,gurnard and a few more dogfish. Russel was gutted when he had a good bull huss on and it either threw the hook or dropped the bait at the surface. The smile came back to his face though when he got a thornback on board.
Even though the tope were not playing ball the craic was good and it was just good being out on the water - even though it was starting to get a tad lumpy. Berore last knockings I managed to get a decent red gurnard and Russel had a bait bitten in half - probably by a tope.
The gulls are never far away and enjoyed the contents of the rubby dubby bag as we were packing in.
Not a great day on the catch side but most enjoyable anyway. We also managed to retrieve the boat without incident. There is always next time.
John
Last edited:
