Tywyn tope trip

[Simon Everett]

Well, the others have got there before me. Thank you chaps for a great weekend - the entertainment was non stop

There is no way I can compete with Artful's very perceptive Awards Ceremony This man obviously has a memory like a computer and can recall every moment at will. Luckily for the rest of us, for whom it was just a blur and over in an instant. I'll get my pictures doen tomorrow and hopefully get some more rophy pictures up on the fishy gallery and here.

StarvinMarvin should have some brilliant ones - I saw some great shots when I was filling his card up for him after stealing his waterproof camera! The ones of Stuart (Nifty) fighting with one alongside should look good.

Looking forward to seeing the ones he got himself when he managed to prise the device back out of my hands

Brilliant weekend, weather could have be kinder on the Saturday - but at least we weren't at Glastonbury! Friday though, the weather was perfect and even after we battled with the sheeting rain on Saturday morning it cleared up in the afternoon.

Look forward to doing it all again. Come on Speciman, get cracking and find us a Tope mark down south!!

[Kiyakker]

Congrats!

 

Looks like you all had a great trip, I must get me a Tope from the 'yak.

 

Were you anchored? and how far offshore were you? I saw a charter boat in one of the pics. :cool:

[Artfulfisher]

Hi Newt,

 

many thanks for putting me straight on that one, I knew it was something simple, but couldn't remember what! anyway thanks again and I hope all is well with you

 

Nice one Simon, Saturday sounds like it was just as much fun as Friday...too many laughs to mention!

 

Kiyakker, thanks on behalf of the boys for your Congrats. As for Anchoring, yes we were all anchored and you definitely need to be at this mark... Starvin went mackereling, untethered, 2 minutes later I looked across and he was a spec on the horizon thanks to wind and tide combined!!!! As for distance out, around a mile off shore, as the reef begins to drop off...the charter boat was getting within half a mile of shore and trolling back out...frankly I think as long the tope are feeding, they'll hunt you and your bait down!!!

 

Cheers for now, Art

[Simon Everett]

Kiyakker,

I don't know how much experience you have of Tope but there are a couple of considerations you need to make before you tackle them - especially solo in a kayak. If you know this already forgive me.

Wire trace to a 6/0 hook - we've found the Mustad Ray and Tope hook is a good one for shape, strength and hookability. Squeeze the barb right down or file it off. This will make much easier when it comes to unhooking. The wire only needs to be about 10" or 12" long - just a biting length. Then 4 feet of 50lb mono or Spectron braid (this one is like kevlar and I know some pike anglers who use it instead of wire, but I wouldn't on Tope!)this length is to stop the fish cutting your running line if it rubs against it - or rolls in it. It also gives you a more comfortable grip at the surface.

Light leads on this mark - 1/2 ounce - 2oz when the tide is full bore. Because it is shallow you need to drift away from the kayak a bit and even 2oz will have half a mackerel on the bottom only 10 yards astern of the yak in 3knots of current.

A GLOVE - Stanley sued work gloves are £1.99 in Focus! Perfect. You only need one, Nifty prefers the right one, I like a gloved left hand!

Use a clip link to the trace so you can get the fish off the rod quickly. Also, have wire cutters handy, so if the hook is well down you can cut the trace.

Other than that it is the same as anything else. Speciman was using an inshore rod with fixed spool reel (he'll tell you which one) it was a big'un though! Plenty of capacity is needed. In the tide these fish can soon have 150 yards of line off you. Artful says he could see the bottom of his spool on one fish, and estimated it had 200 yars of line out.

Be careful, have fun and show us the pictures! Oh, and remember to invite us after you've cracked the mark!!

Cheers,

Simon.

PS - we did as well without rubby dubby as we did with. 7 fish and several lost versus 8 fish and one lost.

[Artfulfisher]

One more thing I forgot to mention...As we headed out on Friday through heavy surf some of the swells were very big...I saw Starvin go over a lump in front of me and then dissapear down the other side. When the same swell got to me it was even bigger and my big old Malibu launched off the crest and shot down the other side....Then I realised Speciman was 20 yards behind me and was sure he would hit the growing swell/wave at the worst possible moment...Swinging around I was just in time to see at least 2/3 of the underside of his caper clean out of the water. In fact I could see 4 scupper holes!!! He slammed down the other side by which time I had to turn around and face the next big swell...

 

Well done Speciman, great show of strength and determination...and a fantastic show from where I was sitting, forgot to mention it to you on the day...Must have been pretty awesome from where you were sitting...especially with the memory of the roll the previous evening...and like you said you don't do waves down in Bournemouth...you only get ripples down there!!!

 

...just another part of a great day!

 

Cheers Art

[Artfulfisher]

Good advice there Simon...further to that...on the hook front I used the Mustad Tope and Ray Barbless hooks...they actually produce a barbless version...I can thoroughly recommend these, no barb to crush and fantastic holding power and slipped out a treat when the fish was up close.

 

On the glove front, I ended up with two gloves as you can see in the pic above. My first Tope very innocently slapped my left hand with his tail and stripped three patches of skin off. Not a big deal but very sore when out on the salt!...worth it though

[spanner]

You guys make me sick

 

Congratulations, sounds like a belter of a trip, wish I could have been there

 

Seems we missed the tope at Mull of Galloway by a week as they bu**ered off before we got there .... none being caught by the boats either, except the odd one way offshore on the deeper reefs.

 

But I did have lots of good fun and learnt a lot more about fishing and handling the kayak. Also found some good shore marks

 

From the kayak I managed to catch mackerel (way too many of them as I could't get baits down quite often), pollack (to about 3lb), doggies, and two beautifully marked tub gurnard about 1-1/2lb.

 

More impressive was seeing a garfish skitter away across the surface from just off the bow ... thats the first I've ever seen in Scotland and I think the stealth aspect helped there.

 

Lesson's learned:

 

carry WD40 to dry out the fishsinder and GPS connectors

 

and silcon to seal them (I'd get half a day fine and then the GPS would get intermittent)

 

carry less fishing tackle....

 

get my rodholders mounted ASAP.....

 

DON'T forget the suncream

[Artfulfisher]

Shame you missed the Tope there Spanner, although it sounds like you had a damn good time anyway

 

The lessons learned will certainly increase the pleasure next time out...and may even lead to a few more fish

 

As for the stealth sneaking up on a Garfish, you're spot on there...I'd never seen one until I got the yak, now I regularly see them blast off across the surface as they suddenly realise I'm there!

 

Sounds like you had some good fishing time and those Gurnard are great...makes my day when I see one...gives me the same joy as a perch in fresh water, brilliant creatures and a joy to behold...not to tightly though with those spines!!!

 

All the Best and hope to meet up some time, Tightlines, Art

[SpeciMan]

Excellent writeup Artful I enjoyed the awards ceremony

 

I'd completely forgotten about that huge swell I went over until Simon mentioned it afterwards. The wave was just about to break when I went over & I was surprised I'd stayed on when I crashed back down on the other side. Awesome.

 

The fixed spool reel I used was the Shimano Aero Technium XT10000. A big pit reel it held enough line for the task in hand and is quite lightweight despite the large spool size. Its a great reel for beachcasting with.

 

I will have to 'get on the case' and find these tope marks down my way. The tope also run big here. Take A Look At These Beauties. Tope are taken from the Solent region and also off St Albans head a few miles west of Swanage, Dorset however the tide does run fast here so will investigate the area with caution. There are also decent ray caught down here.

 

[ 27. June 2005, 01:01 PM: Message edited by: Speciman ]

[SpeciMan]

Big thanks to Starvin for taking time out & sending over some pics today.

 

Simon Everett, Nifty and Speciman:

 

 

My first tope of day 2:

 

 

My best fish played out - caught at the end of the session:

 

 

On board and ready for lifting. Both hands can fit into her mouth... eeek!

 

 

And here she is!