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I had not been planning to fish the 2013 Sharkatag but when my mate Tom asked if I fancied fishing on the Sunday with him I jumped at the chance.
Sunday morning saw Luce Bay looking very calm so with high expectations I turned up at Toms Sands of Luce caravan at about 08.30am. We launched Toms boat "Joshua" off Sandhead beach and headed off looking for fresh mackerel. We only managed one in the first hour or so and had to rely on some frozen mackerel that Tom had brought along. Tope was our main quarry and with no takes we decided on a move after about two hours.
We headed north up the bay and anchored up about a mile off the shore
The move proved to have been a good one as the mackerel shoals kept drifting past us. This next picture was an attempt by Tom to get the 4 mackerel I had just boated. By the time he took the photo 3 had shook themselves off the hooks and they were dancing around the bottom of the boat.
We were fishing whole mackerel on circle hooks and I was first to get a bite. I did suspect a dogfish was chewing on my bait so I wound up to check it. The greedy so and so was not actually hooked - just hanging onto the bait. As soon as Tom had taken this picture it dropped off and I returned it to fight another day.
Eventually the tope found our rubby dubby trail and moved in. We both had a few tope runs each before Tom eventually managed to hook up. It was a female about the 30lb mark and after tagging and measuring it the tope was carefully returned to the water.
Tom was next in again but this time the line managed to catch itself around the boats propeller. When we eventually managed to get the line off there we found that the tope was still on but had swum under the anchor rope !!!! Tom opened the forward hatch and I passed the rod to him which he then passed under the anchor rope.
It really was teamwork that got that fish to the boat and Tom suggested it was a joint capture ha ha. It was similar in size to the first fish and was quickly returned after tagging. We both had tope make many tentative runs but they kept dropping the bait. I did eventually manage to hook a tope and on fairly light gear really gave a good account of itself. After tagging and a quick picture back it went.
Just before we packed in at around 04.30pm Tom got into his last tope of the day. Another good fight saw it eventually come to the side of the boat. As Tom got hold of the trace it decided to throw the hook. Oh well thats fishing for you. On bring our baits in to tackle down I found two guests on mine - just one on the photo as the other one had dropped off.
What a good day out it had been in great company. Thanks for that Tom.
John
Sunday morning saw Luce Bay looking very calm so with high expectations I turned up at Toms Sands of Luce caravan at about 08.30am. We launched Toms boat "Joshua" off Sandhead beach and headed off looking for fresh mackerel. We only managed one in the first hour or so and had to rely on some frozen mackerel that Tom had brought along. Tope was our main quarry and with no takes we decided on a move after about two hours.
We headed north up the bay and anchored up about a mile off the shore
The move proved to have been a good one as the mackerel shoals kept drifting past us. This next picture was an attempt by Tom to get the 4 mackerel I had just boated. By the time he took the photo 3 had shook themselves off the hooks and they were dancing around the bottom of the boat.
We were fishing whole mackerel on circle hooks and I was first to get a bite. I did suspect a dogfish was chewing on my bait so I wound up to check it. The greedy so and so was not actually hooked - just hanging onto the bait. As soon as Tom had taken this picture it dropped off and I returned it to fight another day.
Eventually the tope found our rubby dubby trail and moved in. We both had a few tope runs each before Tom eventually managed to hook up. It was a female about the 30lb mark and after tagging and measuring it the tope was carefully returned to the water.
Tom was next in again but this time the line managed to catch itself around the boats propeller. When we eventually managed to get the line off there we found that the tope was still on but had swum under the anchor rope !!!! Tom opened the forward hatch and I passed the rod to him which he then passed under the anchor rope.
It really was teamwork that got that fish to the boat and Tom suggested it was a joint capture ha ha. It was similar in size to the first fish and was quickly returned after tagging. We both had tope make many tentative runs but they kept dropping the bait. I did eventually manage to hook a tope and on fairly light gear really gave a good account of itself. After tagging and a quick picture back it went.
Just before we packed in at around 04.30pm Tom got into his last tope of the day. Another good fight saw it eventually come to the side of the boat. As Tom got hold of the trace it decided to throw the hook. Oh well thats fishing for you. On bring our baits in to tackle down I found two guests on mine - just one on the photo as the other one had dropped off.
What a good day out it had been in great company. Thanks for that Tom.
John
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