60lb Tope from Greystones shore

No doubt some will have seen a photo of the above, and the angler who caught it in the latest edition of Sea Angler . .

Just wondering how much untapped knowledge there is out there - an angler like that surely has much experience and
knowledge . Kieran any leads on who this bloke is as it mentions he a contributor to Sea Angler, ones wonders would
be contribute ona forum like this too.

GILLAROO

myself and Roger Baker are planning to have a bash at a tope from the shore once the weather warms up and the fish arrive... have not seen SA yet but I suspect it is the same lads who were in the last edition of IRish Anglers Digest. Lots of SACs are not online so spread the word. Yes it would be wonderful to have that kind of expertise available to everyone...

Re the tope - I am the angler who took it and I am also a member of this group and enjoying the posts, what used to be called a lurker.
Apart from the precise location, I would be glad to share any information with you about how I targetted the fish. I have been tracking these fish for the last several years and deliberately after one in the Wicklow area for the last three years. Before landing this one, I has only experienced one dropped run and a couple of bite-offs. However, this fish more than made up for it - by far the greatest shore fish I have ever landed and more than worth the wait.
BTW I landed the fish on 15lb mainline to a 50lb leader on a Daiwa 7HT.

Apologies - wasn't logged in when I posted and came in as guest.

Brian

Cracking achievement
My huge list of questions Ive whittled down to a couple you might like to answer

AT what time of year did you land this fish (I dont regularly buy sea angler)
Bait and presentation?
Wire or mono trace from the shore?

Since I fish the shannon a lot, Im still trying to learn the movements of the tope here, but look forward to hearing your experiences.
Kevin

Hi Brian

Can't put it better: "cracking achievement". Were you the guy who used the car brake cable as a biting trace, or was that down in Wexford?

Anyhow, I think we are inaugurating an unofficial "tope from the shore" club with loads of members justing by the response and emails...

We now have a list of possible venues: in Carlingford Co Louth, Wicklow and Wexford, another in Galway and Aughris Head beach in Sligo. Once the good weather comes, it being very mild it could be early this year, I reckon an unofficial meet should be arranged. All those in favour? :?:

Brian, can you email me as I have an article you may want to read.

Thanks

I know the anglers that used the bicycle chain to land the tope. They have taken fish over the last 3 winters with a possible ceiling of close to 80lbs.
Most locations that I am aware of where shore tope have been taken are relatively snag free and do not demand heavy mainline, rather plenty of it. I am still learning about these fish and have currently evolved a trace with a main body of 100lbs commercial nylon. I crimp on a wire snood about 24 inches long to either a Cox and Rawle Uptide or Mustad O Shaughnessy ( prefer the former). I use an impact shield to provide some streamlining when casting the bulky baits. I have been using a similar trace incorporating a water knotted nylon snood about 6 inches long to a size 2 or 4 hook. THis is fished on the wire snood with half a sandeel whipped on. The theory is that a whiting will take the small bait and provide a livebait for the tope. HAs to be proved yet !.
With plenty of line, the real weak link in this set up is the casting leader. It is possible that the tope will roll on the gear and leader and 50lbs is probably the lower limit. I normally use 60 lb and would use 80 if I find a suitable line. I attach this via a Bimini Hitch to provide added security.
If casting distance is not a priority, I would happily use heavier mainline but my emphasis is still on quantity rather than strength.
Re location of tope, my experience would suggest that the following points are desirable : a channel close to shore, a back eddy where small fish are corralled and the presence of said bait fish in reasonable numbers.
The tope would seem to be seasonable and responding to certain migrations of prey fish. I think that the winter Wicklow fish are possibly taking advantge of the increase in small whiting numbers and the corresponding decrease in autumn mackerel. I know of fish taken in Wexford that reappear at almost the same time annually, taking advantage of some local phenomenon. Tope are more catholic in their tastes than most of the big sharks and I honestly believe that they are and will be more catchable than in previous times. There is scope here for some pioneering angling. Bruce Mc Millen, one of the first sea-angling journalists, was a shore tope pioneer and was the one to dub them the poor mans game fish. There is no more fitting title for this species, particularly for the shore angler and I equate them with the boat anglers tuna off our west coast.
I would be interested in compiling a database of encounters with tope and can provide a preliminary list of venues that I am aware of.
An informal fish in is a good idea, but the likely no show of the fish would have to be borne in mind. These are big fish that can take a large meal and not have to feed for days. As against this, we are still learning and these great fighters may be more widespread than anyone realised before. There has never been a country wide concentrated angling effort tried before and no recorded historyof results.

Hi Brian

Interesting rig. Anyone interested in the fish-in, add your names here. I know there are quite a few of you out there! :D

I have a couple of pulley rigs made up that have the swivel in a bimini hitch as well, but I am using 60 lb shockleader as much as a rolling or biting trace as anything. Saw a tope roll up a wire trace on a boat....

I am using 90 lb mono for the biting trace and my only concern is that the kink on it at the pulley swivel might break. Had not thought of an impact shield, given the size of the bait but rather was using a 175 gram wire grip incorporating a bait clip. What do you think? I keep the hook size to 5/0 in case a ray or other decent fish happens by as I have tried for tope from the shore before and it is a very long wait, days even on occasion.

For the record I have caught one, between 15 and 20 lbs (!) but in Mayo and using half a flounder as bait. Fluke was head hooked and would never have survived and it arrived with a neat bite out of it which was what put me up to trying for something toothier in the first place. The mark is at the mouth of a certain salmon river you may all be familiar with... where people typically fish sand eels for bass and sea-trout. A fly angler got the shock of his life when he saw what it was, especially when I told him it was a shark and a very small one - not sure he believed me but I think it put the willies up him about wading in ... :wink:

BTW, Brian, do you let your bait wander around in the back eddy/current?

Thanks

I have fished the spit at the mouth of the Moy a few times near the island that was up for sale recently. We used fish the competitions on the islands in Clew Bay and then head up Ballina way for some serious animal fishing , as we called it. It is 20 years ago now but there was dogs, huss, tope and some large monkfish taken. Fair run of tide too if I remember correctly.
Re the tope gear, I prefer to anchor the bait with a griplead. While boat fishing for tope I always prefer a long moving trace well away from the lead but I fear that from the shore, the lighter trace line will roll over the wire snood and create tangles if I let it wander. It also seems possible to me that a tope taking a mouthful of wire and nylon would succeed in biting through the latter. It the fish gets at the nylon above the snood connection, she is lost.
I like your idea of the pulley rig. A 5ft trace of heavy nylon either side would give a ten ft rolling leader. The pressure on the swivel should be minimal as you would not be casting frequently in most cases. Once the swivel wire is large enough that it does not slice into the heavier nylon, I don't see any problems. Most casters consciously take it more gently anyway when launching big bulky baits.

Kieran - I tried e-mailing you through the forum last night but had major problems

Apologies again - keep foretting to login

Brian

cooke
What time of the year did you catch the tope , was i this month.Do you ever fish for them of rock marks into deep water etc. I fish in the North and know a few places that tope have be caught from the shore but all have a fast tide and very sharp drop offs into 25-35m of water and all from the rocks. What type of tackle do you use for that.

complete admiration for Brian Cooke, for not only catching a beast of a fish but for his willingness to share in detail his hard earned knowledge with the rest of us

Now I know what they mean in Sea Angler when they say "for the patient specialist". Very impressive knowledge - Thanks for sharing it. (And well done Gilaroo for smokin' him out :wink: ).
Anybody here ever caught a tagged one and ascertained how far it had wandered?

well done that man Brain.

I am jealous < is that spell right

Tope are very common in the Dublin/ Wicklow area. I bagged me three over the last summer two of which were 45 lb. One i took on the Kish bank at night and the other two on the Muldrige bank off bray head. I hve witnessed a 40 lb fremale caught on the beach in greystones in the winter 2 years ago. The Tope in Greystones come in to feed when the Coalies arrive. During the summer they are preocupied with the large shoals of Mackeral and Dabs on the Kish and Codling banks and thus harder to target from the shore. the shore season usually starts in November in Greystones and can last through to January as the coalie run begins on the south beach. The fish i witnessed taken on the beach was caught in December. The most important factor when targeting Tope is that the bait must be fresh. Frozen will not do and in my opinion a complete waste of time. Mabe others have had sucess with it but i do not know anyone. Ideally a fresh half Mackeral cut into a four pronged flapper to release its full scent. This can be a problem for distance casting but this is the ideal sized baits. Tope will drop a bait if it is too large or worse bite it in half thus droping the hook. leaving you rattled and confused. a fresh whiting is better than a frozen mackeral and flatties are useless with virtually no scent or blood. Never strike the line until he stops his runthen arc the rod slowly but firmly to dig in the barb. tope have tough mouths and a sharp strike will simply pull the hook and bait out of their mouth.