The ‘Dinny 2’ heads out for a days fishing with Matt , Mark, Brian, Dinny & Kian and they recount their antics to us:
We arrived bright and early and were steaming out of the lough at 8 bells, followed shortly by the crew of the Gally’s Raider. Macs took a while to find , but we soon had enough for the entrance fee and made our way to the Tope mark, kindly donated by Magnet
Anchor down and tope baits were deployed and the waiting game began. We kept tricking away at the macs, topping up the freezer boxes and began to notice some sign of activity at the Tope baits, as Gally anchored up some 50 yds inside us
The action on the Tope rods did not look like Tope, with Huss and Doggies being the prime suspects. Sure enough one rod began to trickle out line and I handed to to the young lad. Shortly afterwards he had a nice Huss around 10lb to the side of the boat. I grabbed the trace and the Huss threw the bait , much to Gally’s delight and to my young lads despair I explained he had touched the trace, but to no avail – was not going to be forgiven this in a hurry
We continued to bang away at the macs , bagging the odd codling and herring in the process, when another reel started to trickle away some line. Again I handed it to junior and soon enough a smaller huss of about 6lb was to the side of the boat. Taking no chances this time, we used the net to bring it aboard, where it hit the deck and spat the hook.

Huss about 6lb in weight for Junior
Huss about 6lb in weight for Junior

By this stage the freezer boxes were filling nicely with macs , but Tope were not playing ball. Suddenly one of my avets screamed into life. I offered it to Dinny , but with him being a leftie, he declined the chance , so I took it myself. I did contemplate giving it to junior, but at this stage the Tope had made a beeline towards Gally’s boat and inevitable trouble looked a distinct possibility. Sure enough the Tope swam around Magnet’s gear and the fun began. Eventually I managed to get the Tope to the boat and across the gunnels, with metres of Magnet’s braid in tow :angel:
 Da and Son
Da and Son

Tope was unhooked, weighed , measured, photographed and returned to fight another day :thumbup: Weighed in at 44lb in the sling and came out at 45lb using the formula – pretty accurate IMO considering the boat was rocking and making scales hard to read.
No more Tope unfortunately , but with over 80 macs apiece we decided to call it a day at 4 o’clock, our dignity in tact. Think the boys stuck it out until 6, but the Tope refused to play ball and it looks like another Tope season is drawing to a close :thumbdown: There still seems to be plenty of macs knocking about though, so maybe one more sneaky trip can be fitted in :pray: :pray: :pray:
Well done !
Well done !

 
Compliments of:
Matthew Corrigan
Boat Angling Ireland
Web: http://www.boat-angling-ireland.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=7700