Tope- Success at last.

[Ian FG]

Great pictures, thanks for posting.

[Salar]

Great story, and good pics too. I bet pulling a tope aboard a yak was a bit wobbly! Well done. I can identify with the dunking in the surf bit....

[Yakity - Yak - u.k.]

Hiya Nifty,

 

Wheyy heyyyy, well done you !!

Superb catch, and great photos too.

Bet that was a nice feeling getting her on board.

Nice write up too, thanks for sharing it with us.

 

NEEEEEXT.....

 

 

YY

[nifty]

Hi all,

Thanks for your kind remarks. The wifes' phoning after a carpenter right now to get the doors widened.

 

Salar, I can honestly say that the prowler didn't feel wobbly at all and i am confident now that if a 40 or 50lber did show up then stability wouldn't be a major problem. I think the main thing to do is make sure the fish is well beaten before attempting to lift it out and then only if your confident you can remove the hook easily.

 

What i did was attach a lead link to the end of my 15lb mainline and then just clipped my 7ft trace onto that so that i could unclip it and be able to get the rod unattached from the fish and give me both hands to work with.

 

Another worthwhile thing to have is a thick leather gardening glove so you can hold the wire biting section without fear of slicing your hand.

 

I'm keeping the wine on hold for tonight as i'm hoping to get out again in the morning with just the Tope gear and a shed load of bait and have another go while the weather is fine. I want to make the most of what is a short season and try and get a biggie before they disappear.

 

Stuart.

[Simon Everett]

Hi guys,

I got back a day later than Nifty - working in Pwllelli after our trip out.

 

If we hadn't spent so long bashing about for the bass we might have caught another one. There was a charter boat about 400 yards further out from us, I paddled out to ask what was about before we started. They had boated over 30 Tope on the ebb - about 3 hours fishing!

 

Both Nifty & reckon that with some rubby dubby in a bag on the anchor we could have a really cracking session - it was my fault we spent so long after the bass I was keen to get my new line flying!

 

The trip is an excellent day. Next time we shall go out and spend the whole ebb for the tope. The bass are on the reef all summer but the Tope are only inshore for another few weeks.

 

We have also heard there are some Porbeagles in the bay....... Smoothhounds? Pah!

[yakmad]

Hi Nifty,

 

Great fish and wicked pics.Never had a tope myself.Well done.

 

 

cheers

 

yakmad

[Mad Yakka]

I just can't believe you finished off that report with an apology Nifty. I reckon there's a few of us that could've read ya book, LOL

So close to shore as well I think the barbless hook idea is brilliant & saves a lot of hassle on a yak fighting with such a fish!

I'd rate that as the best yak fishing report to date, well done lads :cool:

[Simon Everett]

Right then, Nifty has just phoned me to say he has just boated a 35lb Tope on his first bait of the day on the last of the flood. This mark is fishing its head off on both tides.

 

Open invite for anyone willing to bring a load of mackerel or garfish for bait/rubby dubby!

 

Easy parking (free) easy launch and recover within 50 yards of the car. Paddle is about 2 miles at most - we went further the other day because of searchig about for other things. A dedicated Tope trip is much less.

 

You will need - good weather!

A 12lb class rod and multiplier carrying at least 200 yards of 15lb line as a minimum. Both Nifty and I use an Ambassadeur 6500 size with mono mainline. You are only fishing in 40 ft of water max. 2oz or 3oz lead is plenty, even with a half mackerel as bait. 1oz might even be an advantage to drift it downtide of the yak a bit.

 

A glove - garden glove is fine - to hold the trace while dealing with hooked beasties.

 

A disgorger of some kind - a long one! Pair of long forceps like pike anglers use is fine.

 

Traces: 12" of wire (20lb or 30lb is all you need) to a swivel then 6 feet of 50lb mono as a rubbing length rather than wire. I have got some Spectron 50lb braid I am going to make my traces up with. Take several and file the barbs off the hooks - I have always fished with barbless hooks for Tope when out with the charter skippers. You won't lose very many, and if you do you have had the bit you wanted anyway! 6/0 are the preferred size.

That's it, as simple as you like.

 

For the kayak you NEED an anchor. Stuart and I were rafted up because I made the decision to just take the chain and do a slow drift - ahum, it was a very fast drift! There is a 2 - 3 knot current mid tide, so an anchor is a must, it's clean ground, so a 2lb folder is fine, especially with a fathom of chain. All Nifty had to hold the pair of us was a 3lb anchor straight to his parachute cord - about 50 yards. Go to the surplus store and buy a 100m reel for a £5, you can anchor anywhere then. failing that 50m of 6mm 3 strand nylon would be the business. There is not much drag on the kayak to have to hold.

If you can source an onion sack for the rubby dubby, so much the better. Clip it to the anchor.

 

Date we are aiming at is end of the week 23 or 24 25 or 26 June. Wear your best because I shall be covering it for Boat Fishing Monthly - just had the go ahead from Jim (editor).

 

Come on you lot, where is your sense of adventure! We would love to share this with you and get some of you on a fish. But remember to bring a good supply of mackerel for us!

Simon.

[spanner]

Simon,

 

I'd love to make it down....but 23rd to 26th is when I'm at Drummore in Galloway .... chasing tope

 

I think we have a tope competition developing here ... I know who'll win and it won't be me!

 

Already got my para cord, 6mm rope, milk carton filled with 5lb of scrap wheel balancing lead, short trolley system to deploy it, just need to get a decent buoy in case I have to drop it.

 

I was looking at adapting a 9" float ball from a toilet systern yesterday, but getting a ring or shackle rigged was going to be difficult cos plumbers are still imperial when the rest of the civilised world is metric

 

Another milk carton is my backup ......

[Simon Everett]

Where's Drummore? Is that this Luce Bay excercise that is gathering momentum? If so, any room for a couple more yaks there?