Cahore 21st May 2014

tope2014.jpg

[attachment=0]People: Me & Moody Marlin

Duration: 7pm - 9pm

Tide: end of ebb

Weather: perfect

Bait: Mack

Rigs:

Results: Tope & Doggies

Report: Another late start to the Cahore season this year, thanks to unfavorable weather for the last few weeks. We launched this evening and made a beeline for one of my favourite Tope marks. Weather & tide were perfect, and we had to wait only about 15 minutes for the 1st run. Moody landed a male in the mid twenties. He went on to land another 2 in the mid/late twenties and 1 in the mid teens. Yours truly managed just a few dogs. Now here's the thing, Moody was using a heavy mono trace straight through, and I was using my tried & trusty mono rubbing leader with short steel trace. I've witnessed more than a few tope lost on mono traces over the years, and I have always caught lots of Tope on steel traces. There's been days when tope have been swimming just below the boat and I've literally fed a bait to them on a steel trace and they don't seem at all bothered by it. They are not a shy fish and do not easily spook. So, was this evening just one of those days, or do people think that mono traces outfish steel? I'm not going to draw conclusions based on a 2hour session, but I'd be interested to hear peoples opinions. To add insult to injury, my engine overheated on the return journey and we only just managed to limp home. Boat ownership's a pain in the ass.

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Thats a fine Tope Rob. I had a 200lb mono trace bitten through about 10 years ago and only use wire now with VMC circle hooks. Wire doesn't put them off and infact may attract them. Wire snoods on Ray traces seem to work well too.

the most widely used trace for tope in the shannon estuary is 30" of 100lb wire,
(seven strand nylon covered)
astronomical numbers of tope have been landed on this over the years, i cant
see how it could be spooking fish.
sometimes on a charter boat one rod gets all the tope, often not the one
at the center of the stern, maybe the tope sometimes swim on a fixed
path across the tide for some reason?

Well, I'm going to stick with the method that put fish on the deck for me last nite. But only time will tell! I could loose the 'big one' due to my choose of terminal tackle.

I think it was just coincidence myself. You stick to your mono MM, and I'll stick to my wire. If you outfish me the next time, I might begin to reconsider. I tried lots of different rig make ups over the years, but settled on what I use now over 10 years ago. I have caught hundreds of Tope since then, have an excellent hook up rate, and haven't had a trace fail on me since. For the record I use, 6ft 150lbs mono rubbing leader crimped with chaffing gear, American style crosslink swivel, 18" 100lbs wire, 7/0 Varivas Big Mouth Extra hook (have had success with circle hooks too). I regularly bring non fishing friends out too, and they catch Tope on the same set up.

I have used both wire and 200lb mono. The latter will definitely catch more fish.

Just started using the same for pike fishing due to the advice given to me by Mick Flanagan who is one of the top guides in the country.

My belief is that the gear that we use here for tope & shark fishing is totally unnecessary. In the States they use much lighter gear for much bigger fish.

I have caught on both as well. When the tide is slack I Nearly always switch to heavy Mono. If I'm using Mono I strike very early.. I might pull the bait on an odd fish, but you have a better chance of hitting the corner / edge of the mouth and not being bitten off. When I'm using wire I like nylon covered wire & I now use 50lb 7 strand. The 50lb kinks easier, so I have planty of traces made up and typically it's one fish per trace. There are times when you could use chain for Tope and it wouldn't make a difference, but I suppose like all fish, they have their finiky days and something more subtle will get them over the gunnels.

Kev

Superb fishing !
I was using 150lb rubbing leader and 120lb steel wire to the hook last week. The wire was destroyed after about 4 minutes of tope wrestling. I was surprised ! Steel wire for me

well done Rob great fishing I agree to what your saying about the mono seen more Tope been caught with it but wire is more safe I use the mono myself and take the risk I be down that way next week if the weather is good please god. well done again

well done Rob great fishing I agree to what your saying about the mono seen more Tope been caught with it but wire is more safe I use the mono myself and take the risk I be down that way next week if the weather is good please god. well done again