Last Chance on the Tope?

So Saturday just gone I felt like it might be the last chance to get a tope this year. After scanning over a map and reports I decided Point Lynas would probably be the best bet, certainly in the conditions of the day, with deep(ish) and a decent flow of water.

The plan was to fish over low slack to avoid our gear getting taken away in the current. Due to other arrangements I was getting there a little later than Paul and eventually I was fishing about 1/2 an hour before low. First casts were pretty uninspiring, as I found a rogue lobster pot buoy had appeared in front of us and sure enough I had found the pot as well. After pulling for breaks both times I set up again I adjusted my casting angle to avoid the pot, and now the tide had also taken the buoy out of the way.

I was set up as I usually have the last few sessions, big half mackerel baits on 8/0 hooks, minimum 60lb snoods, preferably with a short piece of wire to stop anything toothy biting through. I had a reasonable weighted fish bump off on an underwater ledge before I landed my first fish and it was a small but nicely spotted little huss. Not long after I had a slightly bigger one on the rocks. Where we were fishing we had a couple of deep rockpools behind us which meant we could drop the fish in there to recover before a quick photo and releasing. Paul had a couple of doggies before swapping to a bigger bait resulted a nice conger eel. The last fish landed was a doggie to me before a series of good bites resulted in bumping a couple more fish off, including a bigger huss right at the edge.


With the tide filling gulleys between the rocks behind us we decided to make a move and found a ledge a little further round to use up the last of our bait. I had both rods out and had indications of bites on both, before one rod set off on a continuous run. For a brief moment I thought I had what we came for but after 5-10 metres it stopped taking line with just the occasion solid nod of the rod tip following. There was a bit of a game as the weight got snagged, so after leaving it out there 10 minutes to fish was free and being pumped to the surface. Another good huss was coming in but as soon as it got to the edge of the rocks it did a quick spin, out came the hook and it slowly made its way back to deeper water. Back to the bite on the other rod which had developed into a really good knock. This one went to ground as well but unfortunately the fish appeared to have come off and I was left to pull for a break. A slight anti-climax but a useful fact finding mission and I'm sure we will land more next time out.