Mackerel hookbait lures big tope off Devon
Simon Silvester shows off a 37lb 8oz tope that he beached at a local rock mark near Ilfracombe in Devon.
The 40-year-old groundworker from Barnstaple, Devon, mounted a fillet of mackerel to an 8/0 Sakuma circle hook attached to a pulley rig when the shark struck during a late night session.
“The fish put up a great fight and was quickly released after we weighed it,” said Simon.
Tope 'went off like a train'!
This is the best of two tope Neil Taylor caught from the private boat Cutty Sark, skippered by his mate Ade Pinchbeck, fishing 16 miles south of Bridlington, Yorkshire.
It weighed 37lb and his other fish weighed just a pound less. Both fell for half a mackerel fished in 50ft of water.
“The biggest fish went off like a train,” said the Selby, Yorks printer.
“It made three long runs before I could get the better of it.
Smoothie success on tope trip
A tope session off Ireland’s North Wicklow coast threw up this surprise smoothound for John Millerick from Dublin.
John and his friend Peter McGraith were fishing mackerel flapper baits for tope when they decided to switch to peeler crab to see if there were any smoothies about.
He didn’t have long to wait, with the 8lb fish taking the new offering almost instantly.
Later on in the session the two friends finally connected with their target species when they boated and then released a fine 33lb tope.
Two personal bests in one trip for Chris
Chris Knotley from Norfolk is a regular aboard the Brightlingsea, Essex charter boat Sophie Lea, skippered by Lee Bolingbroke, but has only ever really enjoyed moderate success.
But that all changed on his latest trip when he bagged a stunning 11lb bass and a huge 32lb tope on fresh mackerel baits!
It proved to be a double celebration for Chris as they were both new personal bests!
For more info about trips on the Sophie Lea, log on to:
www.charterboats-uk.co.uk/sophielea
Tope numbers continue to fall
New research has revealed that the numbers of tope off the Scottish coast could be in serious decline.
More than 50 boats and 20 kayaks took part in the recent annual Sharkatag event, fishing in the name of research in South West Scotland.
Worryingly, the catch rate of tope declined for the third year running and no rays other than thornbacks were landed.
Sharkatag is run by the Scottish Shark Tagging Programme (SSTP) and Ian Burrett, the Scottish Sea Angling Network’s Project Director, told local press that it was not known whether overfishing or a change in the tope’s northern migration route was to blame for the trend.
New record tope accepted
A new shore-caught tope record has been accepted by the British Record Fish Committee at a weight of 66lb 6oz.
Reported by Angling Times at the time of its capture last November, the huge specimen was landed by West Country angler Kevin Legg from Baggy Point in North Devon.
The fish beat the previous record weight, also held by Kevin, by 6oz.
Kevin caught his landmark fish on a flounder fillet mounted on a pair of 8/0 Sakuma hooks fished on a pulley rig with a 7ox breakaway lead on 70kg wire and 100lb mainline.
