tope from the shore in cork

hi lads going to try for theses at the weekend never realy had any luck with them but god loves a tryer.it would b great if any one has any good spots or would like to come with us for the craic

Not a chance of tope around the Cork have'nt heard of one been caught in over 30 years. The East coast is you best bet a few spots in Kerry also.

Its amazing, you would think with the run of tide, depth and the feeding available they dont show out towards the mouth of the harbour. Crying shame.

I have a very old fishermans chart of Cork Harbour. It has handwritten info on it. Apparently the mouth of East Ferry was a great tope mark years ago. Many think it was pollution. It wasn't, it was overfishing. I remember talking to a guy who had skate 100lb+ out by the Cork Buoy on a regular basis. They're not there now. Overfishing, overfishing, overfishing. :(

I thought I read an good while back in one of the tope articles in Irish angler it said the tried writer fishing off a cork rock mark for them after getting a tip off. I'd respect what has been said on the forum over it though.

Any of the old anglers I've talked to have said many of the tope marks from shore on the west coast are no longer producing. I was told the marks in Galway bay used to produce 3 or 4 tope on an average session years ago.

Donagh

not that this is probably relevant, but a couple of years back in May we were out on ling rock and my friend twice had 8lbish ling grabbed and dragged (reel was screaming) away from him and eventually bitten in half. No idea what it was though that was doing the damage. Of course the rest of us dropped macks and pennel rigs hoping to catch it, but nothing - whatever it was liked live ling. Any ideas - we assumed some kind of shark (no sign of seals etc around) - it was warm and calm and there were basking sharks around but obviously wasn't them....

The Central Fisheries Board have a discussion the results of the Tope tagging programme at

http://www.cfb.ie/fisheries_research/tagging/tope.htm

One tope travelled over 2,000 mile. I think its just that corkmen are not nearly as skilled fishermen as folks in the capital city :lol:

JW...my uncle Johnny told me that Cork was the capital.

As to marks changing over the years, that is bound to happen, is it not. As far as pollution goes though, I remember an old guy telling me years ago...."when there was sewage directly into the River Tyne we were catching Cod over 10lb regular, but now that they have cleaned the river up that much you can drink it....nothing!!" I have always thought he made a good point...what do crabs and shrimp/prawns thrive on....waste! and what thrives on them.....all part of lifes food chain :)

Tom.

JW sounds like hes lining up for an ass kicking in the next boat comp at Kilmore from the Cork Contingent.... :twisted:

Interesting point you make there Tom, edibility aside..... :D I've heard of numerous cases whereby clean up operations have resulted in the demise of worm beds etc. I can't comment on the state of the Harbour pollution wise but it does stand to some reason when you take into account the knock on effect on a food chain in a localised area this may have.

pete, only a little joke. they're obviously not in cork. eventually someone would catch one foul hooked on feathers as per bigkevs recent report

I wonder could it be due to the prevalence of very small fish on the east coast, which might be the suitable food item for them?

there was one caught in a trawl off one of the beaches down this way a few years back, pete will know the one i'm on about,and we had a run a few years ago on a mack flapper not far off sandscove in clonakilty.fish picked up the bait, ran 15 yards, dropped it and picked it up again but alas we missed it on the strike....seemed typical of a tope but who knows.

I dont know John TBH, its not like there is a shortage of fish, small and otherwise around the harbour. Its a strange one alright. Now you mention it though, dont small flats play a large part in Topes diet? As mentioned on other threads, there seems to be somewhat of a shortage of flats on Cork beaches as opposed to other areas around the country....for whatever reason I dont know but maybe that plays a part?

You could be right Peter, a top charter skipper once showed me how to present a live flattie onto a Tope trace and told me it would out performe other baits everytime...everytime I've seen it used it has done just that.

The guys I know in the US prefer Flounder for Shark bait to most other species too.

Tom.

Last edited by Rockhopper on Fri Jun 15, 2007 1:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

i always taught they were around cork no wonder i never caught 1. so would there be smooth hounds around

Off to Wexford with you Marty for a crack at both :wink: . I'm not aware of Smuts showing in this area either TBH;

Peter the Tope my son caught on Tuesday must have been from Dublin, after putting it back he noticed his watch was missing :lol: :lol: :lol:

Tom. :twisted: :lol: :lol: :lol:

nice 1 pete its a excuse to get away for a weekend anyway any names of good spots up around there

Take a read through some of the more recent shore reports, in particular from SteveCrow who has been fishing that area most of the week with some success. Rosslare might be a better bet for tope but one of the local lads better informed than I will surely advise. Might be an idea to create a seperate thread for info on the area to attract more interest..... :wink: