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Shore Tope Record

Andrew Boyne

Andrew Boyne

Senior Member
I know we fancied a dabble at the Bull Huss - imagine what it would be like if one of these picked up the bait! :eek:

In AM, AT this week as the new shore caught record - awesome! :cool:

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My biggest Tope is 26lb and that gave me a good old scrap!
I was wreck fishing for conger out from Amlwch a couple of years ago with a bunch of lads and hooked something, which took a load of line and snapped me in about ten seconds. I was using 50lb class gear.:( The same thing happened to four or five of the other lads over the next half hour or so. The skipper was certain that it was a big tope, just cruising around and smashing people up. You could tell it wasn't a conger because of the screaming run.

I really can't imagine landing a 66lber from the shore must be like :eek:. Think goliath tiger fish, without the leaping.
 
Mike,

My biggest is around 25lb out of poole harbour a good few years back, there was an article in Sea Angler a month or so back, which showed some cracking fish being caught off the lleyn peninsula on a rock mark looking out to bardsey island.

I'd love to have a go from the shore, but i would want to go with someone a lot more experienced than me, more out of concern for the fish than my own welfare, although you have to consider that as well i suppose, trying to lift big strong fish like tope from the rocks cant be too easy.

Paul
 
My old man has lost a rod to a Mystery fish up there Paul - almost certainly a Tope whilst fishing for huss!

Not totally sure why WSF aint publsied the wieght of this one? My guess is its just ounces over his old record but thats no slight on the capture!

Andy
 
That is a fantastic achievment, my best (uptiding) went 65 1/4, that was one hell of a fish but i can't even begin to imagine what a Tope that size off the shore would be like :eek:
 
66lb 8oz according to the papers.

There are a few marks around Anglesey known to produce Tope from the shore ( Holyhead Breakwater being one of them! ), i've even herd odd reports from the Dee estuary. When i lived in Nottingham i used to travel to the Lincolnshire coast to fish and on that side Chapel Point was another known area although the fish caught were no where near the size of this monster.

I guess if you hook one on standard UK beach tackle you are in trouble! These lads obviously went prepared as the report points to the use of 150lb wire traces to 100lb mainline! Bait was apparently a flounder fillet -quite interesting as one of the tips i have picked up from the lads fishing for them in the north west is to use fresh Dab as bait.
 
Thats a real specimen, would be a right handful off the shore, fun though! There are are a few marks in the SE that produce the odd fish, but they are not fished for generally, be an interesting excercise to target them, late May to july, same time as the smoothies show. If you fancy a go, get some 50lb BS 49 strand wire and some circle hooks, the business, forget the heavy mono, I ditched it after losing a proper donkey right at the boat after a 20minute scrap, not best pleased, but the three 40lbers that followed made up a tad for the loss, 150lb mono is fine for conger etc, but can,t take the razor sharp teeth of a tope, also the 49 strand wire is so subtle, you will get far more takes!
peter
 
I have never targetted tope from the shore in the north west. I live on the Dee estuary, but I have never heard of tope coming out from the shore (if so, it's a fluke). You have a good shout from the boats in the summer though.:)
If I was to go for tope from the shore in my area, I would head for somewhere like Shell Island :), Criccieth, or places along the Lleyn Peninsular like Morfa Nefyn, Trefor, Pistyll. You need to be able to get a bait out a fair way (120 yds plus) on the beach marks and fish at night with fresh baits.
Guys who catch 66lb tope from the shore spend a lot of time at their hobby and catch not that many fish, even though they know their coastline well. The places I list here are very nice areas, where there is a lot of variety to the fishing as a back-up to the tope. :)

cheers
 
They certainly do Mike - sorry, wasn't implying Tope fishing around the North West coast was 'easy' from the shore! Just the odd report every now and then - probably a fluke, but then again - what else do you use Dabs as bait for?
 
Andrew Boyne said:
what else do you use Dabs as bait for?
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Good question. And you've got me thinking - the Mersey is full of dabs and plaice. The dabs are there most of the year. I just wonder whether they would make a good bait for the thornbacks and smoothounds we have in the summer?? I think I might give it a go next year. I've seen big cod regurgitate small dover sole on a few occasions from the dock walls, but have never caught sole in my area.
Back to the tope. I think if you planned a trip for a long weekend in the summer and stayed mobile, you could get yourself a load of fresh mackerel from the rock marks (kept cold) and go for the huss at night or move to the beaches for the tope and bass at night. :D
 
Hhmmm,

I'm thinking a weeks summer holiday 2011 on Lleyn, campsite, van or cottage nr the coast, Marion and the kids watching DVDs or TV in the evening, me......well i'm just going fishing for a few hours love!!!:D:D:D

Paul
 
Paul, just go a little further NW, Dinas Dinille on the southern end of the Menai, they certainly show there, and you can wade through the bass & rays whilst your waiting!
peter
 
Peter Littleworth said:
Paul, just go a little further NW, Dinas Dinille on the southern end of the Menai, they certainly show there, and you can wade through the bass & rays whilst your waiting!
peter
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Yes, Dinas is a great beach. Fish at the near end and lob underarm into the surf. No more than 10-15yds necessary. Ammo sandeels, ragworm or crab. :) For the bass that is. Further out for the other stuff obviously.
 
Mike Webb said:
Good question. And you've got me thinking - the Mersey is full of dabs and plaice. The dabs are there most of the year. I just wonder whether they would make a good bait for the thornbacks and smoothounds we have in the summer?? I think I might give it a go next year. I've seen big cod regurgitate small dover sole on a few occasions from the dock walls, but have never caught sole in my area.
Back to the tope. I think if you planned a trip for a long weekend in the summer and stayed mobile, you could get yourself a load of fresh mackerel from the rock marks (kept cold) and go for the huss at night or move to the beaches for the tope and bass at night. :D
Click to expand...

Not sure about Dabs for Smoothounds Mike, i have caught the odd one on Squid but never on a fish bait, Crabs is what they really like, ANY crabs!

Bass/Cod are a different matter :)
 
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