Failing in style

With a favourable forecast and the opportunity to take a day off mid-week it made sense to try and put a Tope aboard. Having missed the seasonal pack Tope rush of late May and June it might now prove a little tricky to achieve. The word was Luce Bay wasn’t fishing that well for them and with the small tides this week I wasn’t overly optimistic.


Just minutes after launching I was catching Pollack to around 1.5 pounds which were feeding well, they had the drag working and my light rod in a nice bend every couple of casts. Before I knew it about an hour passed and I had to fight the action distraction and get on with the job in hand. Unlike my last trip mackerel appeared abundant which I thought might be a positive sign on the whereabouts of the target , after harvesting what was required I set the anchor and dropped a bait down. It wasn’t long before this was picked up and I wound down to connect the circle hook with the target, Tope on! This joy was short lived, Tope off, after the first run….

Still, can’t complain. The weather was great, lots of action to keep me busy but unfortunately no Tope. I must have dropped my first bait on the nose of what appears to have been the only one in the vicinity.

The only Bass on my session which provided a great scrap on my XLNT2 rod. The fish took a FBM on the drop, first time I've caught on this lure, it's got its fans, I'm not really one of them yet.

I had three big Thornbacks and only one dogfish, result!

Despite the look on my face I was pleased with the quality of this fish.

When the tide allowed and I could get past the Mackerel, jigging the lure on the bottom produced Grey and Tub Gurnards on a regular basis. I had an absolute monster Tub drop off next to the yak. It must have followed the lure right off the bottom and took it only a few feet down.