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Jaws . . .


Sutton Warrior

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. . . I have posed these pics on 'AN Photo site' . . . then thought :g: relevant to the Sea Angling forum as well. Old pics 2006, but we are coming into the Tope season within a few weeks, hole bunch of small tides off Suffolk/Essex which will bring the heavily pregnant females in to pup, followed closely by fit, rampant males!!! You want a record breaker, then its the females, but they are like a sack of potatoes to bring in. The males on the other hand are fit a raring to go, they will pull your string as did the male in the picture.

 

At the same time, or just a tad sooner, like now! Smoothounds will be about, they fight like the devil . . . can come up fairly easily first time, see the boat, bang!!!!!!!!!!! dive, dive, dive. Make sure the clutch is set light, any Hound in double figures will test you, believe me, and once you get to the high teens its 'jaws'!!! :thumbs: Smoothound fight twice as hard as Tope pound for pound IMHO, and they dont have teeth, catch them on green hardback crabs, keeps the doggies away. I like tope fishing, but prefer Smoothounds.

 

So for the fun of it . . .

 

Here is a sequence that as anglers you might like. I was fishing on a friends boat as a guest, we had a group of guys who had chartered the boat for the day to go Tope fishing in June 2006. It was to be my last feature article for the fishing magazine media. For those that are not sure, Tope is a shark, teeth and all!!! native to UK waters, rod caught record is about 80 something pounds, 82lbs I think. Bigger have been taken in the past couple of years but were released . . . 90 something? :thumbs:

 

These pictures were taken by John Hanks on his mobile phone . . . it might have been a compact? I was otherwise occupied with the fishing rod :D

 

1topejiohnhanks2.jpg

 

The head appearing on the right . . . see next picture

 

2topejohnhanks1.jpg

 

We had not got a net big enough to land it! So this brave soul, hung over the side, 4 guys hanging on to his legs :headhurt:

 

3topejohnhanks3.jpg

 

The Tope went 38lbs . . . the fat lump wearing the silly hat goes considerably more than that . . . !!! That was 2006 . . .

 

4topetoperw.jpg

 

Just to prove the point, this is the same, not so fat lump, same smock, but hat less, last year . . . I have lost a lot of weight! The fish is a 7-8lb Thorn Back Ray, 'Roka' in these parts and 'skate wing' in the chippy.

 

1RokaIMG_1165.jpg

 

I am very grateful to John Hanks for the watery Tope shots, far from perfect photographically, but give me pleasure every time I look at them, they are in my 'special memories' category. Non of these are master pieces, but in my book there is more to picture taking than perfection? You may have a view . . . :mellow:

 

Please enjoy them with me, for what they are . . . :thumbs:

 

SW OFC

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i am going out next month on only my third boat trip ever so these pics have certainly got my jucies flowing. i too will be fishing off the essex coast and really want to catch my first smoothhound.

I'm off after tope (for the first time) next friday in Cardigan Bay. To say I'm excited is a bit of an understatement especially after seeing those pictures :thumbs:

Eating wild caught fish is good for my health, reduces food miles and keeps me fit trying to catch them........it's my choice to do it, not yours to stop me!

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good luck worms hope you get your string pulled.

Cheers, I'll post a report............it'll be interesting to see how my left hand wind converted reels work at least!

Eating wild caught fish is good for my health, reduces food miles and keeps me fit trying to catch them........it's my choice to do it, not yours to stop me!

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  • 2 weeks later...
Cheers, I'll post a report............it'll be interesting to see how my left hand wind converted reels work at least!

Ar5e! It ended up too windy, 20 knot winds and 5 ft seas so re-booked for July :(

Eating wild caught fish is good for my health, reduces food miles and keeps me fit trying to catch them........it's my choice to do it, not yours to stop me!

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