After the worst summers day I can remember there was an uncertainty as to whether RA111's first outing was to go ahead or not, as there were good fish showing mid week we made the decision to meet at Greencastle at 7am and take the risk. We steamed out by 8am in search of
Mackerel but the storm the previous day had pushed them out and we struggled to catch 10 fish which is all we could manage between 9 anglers, Hugh Rooney and Matt Dean done better on the Ollie Rose with 24 mackerel but it was dire.
Mackerel but the storm the previous day had pushed them out and we struggled to catch 10 fish which is all we could manage between 9 anglers, Hugh Rooney and Matt Dean done better on the Ollie Rose with 24 mackerel but it was dire.
We decided to give up on the Mackerel and go to the Tope mark with the expectation of picking up a few more mackerel.
We all set up and it wasn’t long until Melvin Percy’s reel screamed into action and he found himself attached to his first Tope, after a lengthy battle he boated his Tope and P.B fish of 41lb. Unfortunately Melvin had to take off the Tope rig and join in the desperate such for more mackerel.
It wasn't long though until Mark Mclaughlin's reel started to sing 
and a fine fish of 35lb was boated, another first and another P.B. fish, the fish were well on the feed and reports were coming in that Matt Dean had a fish of 30lb on the Ollie Rose.
The next rod to go was Stevie Cromie's and to his horror (bad hangover) he found himself attached to a fish of a life time, after a fiesty battle a fine specimen of 60lb came on board and I couldn't help feeling that this was a battle won by our pectral friend, a great fish for his first Tope and another P.B. Further reports were coming in and Matt was enjoying one of his best days fishing with a 2, 5, and a 40lb to the boat, it was long until one of the ballons slipped under and it Gerry Linden sprung into action but atlas as he struck into the fish the line gave way.
had 10 Mackerel to stretch between 9 of us we were happy with the result,then as the tide started to turn Colin Hayes rod lept into action but his shakespear rig gave way and it was another missed opportunity but luckily the Gods were looking down on him and he hooked into a fine 42lb fish on his next cast, another first and another P.B.
Further reports came into to say that Hugh Rooney had boated a 41lber but they too had run out of bait, just our luck to have the fish feeding so well and no Mackerel to be found but who's complaining, 11 guys, 34mackerel and 12 Tope with about 5 missed runs, a great start to the new region and we look forward to the next trip on the September the 20th (see Gerry Linden for details).
