Tope traces

I have beeen reading with interest the tope traces people have been using in the boat angling reports.
I have been using 5 feet of 60lb rubbing leader with a sliding weight on it, to 18 inches of 200lb mono as a bite trace.
The shannon tope we have been catching have all been male pack tope in the mid twenties, and I have found a single fillet to 6/0 hooks get far more runs than the whole flapper to 8/0 's used elsewhere. The whole trace at 6 1/2 feet is still castable, although I have only recently switched to this uptiding lark, as tides in the shannon can be so strong.
One thing about the mono bite traces is that they need replacing after a couple of fish , as the mono does fray.
Interestingly, the only tope we lost through bite offs was on wire, although I am assuming it was weakened some how.
Anyone using anything radically different?
Kev

Howea Kev,

Yeah pretty similar to what we use, however we have found wire to be good too, but if you don't tie them correctly they can slip out under pressure, best thing to do is to loop it twice around the hook point and then in out and back in again of the crimp. Also, a pennel style rig with wire works very well, except the hooks are not on the same line but two separate strands of wire at different lengths, so basically you have two hooking points for a fillet or flapper bait. Rob.

Kev,
We've been using very simple 8ft traces of 200lb mono crimped to 8/0 'Meat Hook' hooks. I got the line, traces and hooks from a shop in Weymouth and made up my own traces. I do agree about the traces getting abit damaged in the vicinity of the teeth so after two tope I usually cut 4-5 inches off and re-crimp the hooks. I like to use the long trace of heavy mono as as you know tope often twist around the line as they tire and approach the boat. This happened one of my friends who was using 2ft of wire crimped to 80lb mono, as soon as the tope got wrapped in the line just off the boat the mono parted, on inspection it was really rough and frayed - i prefer the security given by the long trace of 150 or 200lb mono. I too have tried shop bought wire traces but find these often attached to 10/0 hooks which I think are too big. My too most recent brake offs came from the main line and not the traces at all - line has since been discarded and replaced!!
We found by far any away the best tope bait this season is live mackerel, caught and hooked directly and put in with very small weights allowing the fish to swim. Obviously not always possible to have live baits but it did help when we managed it. I prefer to keep dead baits quite big, at least a head and shoulders or we where getting pestered by Skate and dogs.
I am intending trying uptiding next season as have just got a new uptide rod so will have to look at some sort of shorter trace in order to cast. (any ideas appreciated).
Has anyone tried circle or semi-cirlce hooks for tope, do they always hook in the scissors of the mouth as advertised?
Tight lines
Paul

Hi paul
I took delivery of some circle hooks from veals at last order. However, we haven't tried them yet. We have been using 6/0 varivas "big mouth" hooks with mackerel fillets rather than flappers, and have now boated 9 tope all lip hooked in the lower jaw.We will be trying the circle hooks for comparison, but bait size might be the issue here. Using flappers, we sometimes hooked tope inside the mouth, cue pliers etc.
Bear in mind our tope are all male fish in the mid twenties, and we simply get more runs with the smaller bait.Also, when the tope are active in the shannnon estuary, there simply are no doggies bothering us.
The uptiding lark is new to us , but we have found no problem casting the trace. With 5 feet of 60 lb mono to 18 inches of bite trace, the weight sliding on the rubbing leader is only 18 inches from the bait, and is very castable.We switch to large fixed spool reels with braid for the uptiding though.Purely because my multiplier casting is crap. With the uptiding though, we found the tope are already hooked by the time the run is noticed
If these fish were here year round, I dont think I would ever fish for anything else
Hooked
Kev

Lads I have posted a snap on My personal Gallery of Circle hooks and traces which have worked well recently. Rob.

Been experimenting with different types of trace over the past few seasons and come to the conclusion that one type works the best. 8 ft of 200 lb mono straight through. Take a good swivel with a wide gape and pass it through the ring then pass the end through the ring again and pass it through the ring of mono to tie a knot. this will not tie a knot of course cos the mono is too tough but now comes the clever bit... you now crimp the tag end to the mainline. what this does is, when the presure is put on it it just pulls the knot tighter and does not put any pressure on the crimp so it never fails :wink: do the same on the other end but don't mind all that silly talk you hear about hook sizes. The best size hook is the biggest damn hook you can find! I like to use 10/0 the reason for this is that the wide gape of the hook sticking out of the bait causes instant hook ups and is perfect for small males who like to drop the bait. Gets them real good :wink: . They are actually easier to get out too as they are harder for them to get down any distance into their throat without that barb sticking in something. Another nice variation of mine is to use two 10/0's on the same bait. Many of the hooks we get in this country do not have eys big enough to pass 200lb mono through twice. in this case pas it through once and tie a conventional common knot and then crimp. the rigidity of 200lb mono allows this to work just as good. Also ignore talk of using mackerel 'flappers'. cut the mackerel in half. for the head end put the hook into his mouth and out his brain. this provides a good hook hold to the bait with the barb poiting well out from the bait allowing for good positive hook ups. I then slice up to the head once to release the scent better. for the tail end cut the tail fin off to stop it spinning in the tide and slice up half way then push the hook through the tail wrist. Mono is much better than wire. Wire actually frays more in my opinion and worse stil it kinks which is a bloody nightmare when the bait has been don there for a hlf hour in a big tangled mess. That never catches anything :roll: don't bother with a snap swivel to the trace this is just another weak link that can fail. Tie directly to the mainline. Having 8 ft of 200 lb line also helps big time when you have the tope beside the boat. This is when most good Tope are lost. The bright light and panic makes them thrash about for that last bid for freedom. when you grab your leader and you have 200lb mono in your hand you have good confidence it ain't gonna snap!

Happy Topeing
Luke 8)