Hi Rusty off to Ireland soon then you lucky lad?
Regarding shore tope Macky is certainly correct in their taste for flatfish when near shore but I’ve read this business about them digging flatties out before and am sceptical about it. Has anyone actually witnessed this behaviour, or is it just another ‘fisherman’s tale’ that has become accepted as fact? The reason I doubt it, is if you look at the head and mouth shape of a tope they clearly are not evolved for digging things out of the sand. Like any piscivore they will exploit whatever food source happens to be available to them at the time so they may do this. Our tope drop their pups in the wash, which must be loppy with dirty little ‘flukes’ and no doubt the big girls gorge on these after the rigours of childbirth? Have a close look at the mouth of a sole if you want to see a mush properly evolved for plucking worms out of the sand, and they stand on their heads to do it.
Half a flatfish on an 8/0 was certainly the favourite bait of shore tope specialist Peter Lace at Baggy Point in North Devon, which is where Ray White set the record with a fish of 58lb 2oz in 1982. This is a rock mark casting onto mixed ground at the entrance to the Bristol Channel. Shallow chalk reef like Bempton most definitely is tope territory; it is almost identical to the Sussex marks off Beachy Head and the Seven Sisters that has produced many tope to dinghy anglers. I believe CPS has had some fantastic tope results over similar ground just off Bemo? So I do believe that Sir Ramrodicus did indeed hook a tope off there, given the experience he has there, had it been a seal, I reckon he would have known about it? The only alternative I have suggested to his nibs, is that it may have been a porpoise, although you usually see those priming too. Tope also turn up over deep-water wrecks and cross oceans, so they are a very adaptable species.
Once offshore, pack Tope certainly do attack mackerel near the surface, they may hit herring too in the North Sea. This has been witnessed a number of times, especially in the Mull of Galloway where they’ve been caught on shallow set float-fished mackerel. Spurdog also come up for fish. The North Devon tope have been tagged and turned up in the South Atlantic; if they feed when they cross the Atlantic they will definitely hit fish near the surface. Open oceans are effectively ‘biological deserts’ and fish, other than specialist deepwater species, congregate where there are plankton blooms or surface debris.
Dav, you are spot on about mackerel still being top tope bait and there is a very strong correlation between the arrival of mackerel and tope. There are, however, very good reasons for the big fish man and shore angler to plump for eel section. Their use was pioneered, like many things, by John Rawle and Bob Cox while uptiding on the Thames Estuary. They appear to select the bigger fish and I think all their 60+ ladies came on eel, including the record busting 70’s and 80’s. Initially they rated the tail section, then the head but it seems a 3-4” section of 0.5-1” dia’ eel is top tope tucker. John Rawle tells a brilliant yarn about the same bit of eel accounting for 4 tope over two days on his boat. For the shore angler, they are the most crab resistant bait you could wish for, barring a lump of concrete dunked in fish oil. While the crabs keep their pincers down when there are numbers of skate and hounds about, I doubt if this applies when you are targeting shore caught tope as you aren’t likely to catch many. They used to thread eel section on the hook like worms, which must make a filthy mess of your hands? These days it is normal to just nick them through the skin, or even hair rig them, the skin is super tough. Some of the Holderness lads split the section, lay it on the shank and bind it on with bait elastic. Crabs will muller mackerel and if you are backing up or want to leave baits for long periods you can’t beat a bit of eel.
The real pick of tope baits elsewhere these days are the Ammo Launce and Rusty, I would forget the eel and flattie baits and try these or the biggest size of Ammo sandeel. The reason I suggest this is both eel and flatties are very selective for tope alone, yet launce and sandeels will catch you all sorts especially rays and bass (still the main reason I’d visit SW Ireland). Alan Yates and other regulars at the Manx festival have now had many shore tope on the NW beaches and favour these baits on a 7/0 Kamasan Aberdeen.
One thing I must stress is this is at least second hand info’ I’m giving you as I have never caught a tope from the shore myself. I’m very interested in doing so, which is why I have researched the subject in great detail. If it’s first hand info you want, the man to listen to on this site is Phil A, so check his comments on the ‘Tope from the Beach’ thread started by Volusian, and Phil’s also fished the area you’re visiting.
I’d certainly be interested to hear from both Phil and CPS re traces and hooks? When I began to take an interest in shore tope a few years back, I had a good chat about it with Steve in Veals. He fishes Baggy Point for them and recommended nylon covered 50lb seven strand wire, crimped to Bigmouth Extras. I don’t really trust crimps yet, my pike traces are made by twisting 7-strand wire back up the trace. Pike anglers are a bit sniffy about nylon covered wire too as it is allegedly prone to spots of corrosion under the nylon. I noticed in Henry G’s book that he used heavy single strand wire, knotted, for Bronze Whalers from the shore in Africa. I used light single strand Alasticum wire for pike as a kid but it was very prone to kinking. Conger specialists don’t like wire for that reason as these brutes are prone to spin on the surface and standard swivel don’t work under pressure. I’ve had a few 8-10lb conger from the Bristol C (plenty big enough for me, they give me the willies) on wire bite traces on pulleys without problems of kinking even though most had a good writhe on the surface. I don’t know if the heavy gauge mono conger freaks favour will handle a tope’s gnashers? I was show a Kevlar based braid in Olivers at Clevedon last week, that the owner reckoned was tope proof. The carp lads on the big pits down south use this gear as snag leaders to avoid being cut off by Zebra mussels on shallow bars. Some Harefield lads used to use Archers bow strings for the same purpose, but this gear was banned because of the risk of tethering fish on crack-offs and lost gear. The catfish lads favour Kryston Quicksilver but again, I don’t know if it would handle a tope? These Kevlar based products aren’t cheap either, ET Products now do a 49 strand wire for piking that is very limp so you can knot it and I’m tempted to try it.
One thing I would definitely check Rusty, is that your drags are smooth, especially if you use the modern ABUs. These have carbon drag washers that can become sticky when dry, I much prefer the grease impregnated leather washers used by Daiwa in the 6HM. As most cod angler’s fish with the drag pretty much locked up most of the time, be careful you don’t come unstuck as you may only get one shot at a shore tope. I had a very hairy time with a good hound a Pagham in 2004, because the drag on one of my Elite’s had gone very sticky. The fish pointed me at one stage and I had to yank line of the reel by hand, I doubt if you’d get away with that on a tope. When I had a look in the reel the carbon washers were bone dry, a bit of light oil rubbed on them sorted the problem. I bought both my Elites s/h in 95 and have had no problems with the other and don’t really know what happened there.
On clean ground I think the onus is on line capacity rather than strength and bog std 0.35mm should cope and allow you to use a 6000 sized reel. If you are backing up you’ll need the 7000-sized reel or a big fixed spool. The lads I’ve talked to on Holderness who’ve caught tope from the beach reckon they tend to run along the shore so you can follow them. I think Phil favours the Synchro, a brilliant reel that I have in the 6000 size for smuts and big bass, far better than a star drag. I wish you could get a small lever drag multiplier you can cast with, I think John Holden used to import the South African ‘Newells’ but they have no cast controls. I’d stick to good old fashioned, stretchy, cheap, West German mono’, which will give you some insurance against being pointed if you forgot to set the drag.
Anyway, hope you get one, but don’t neglect the bass or forget your ‘wets’!
Cheers, T
Ps Did you sort a headlamp out? I can lend you one if you’re stuck but you ought to be able to treat yourself with all your winnings ;D.
Pps Bet he’s already gone ????!
