Well it's getting close to that time of year when those hard fighting sharp toothed torpedo's will be hitting our coast line. Yes those feisty rope will be coming very soon to devour what ever swims and fits in there mouth and at times things that won't fit in there mouth. I had one try and eat a spurdog I was reeling in one day, and another day one tried to eat a string of 3 large coalies that one lad had along side the angling boat.
Well it won't be long now until they are in range again and I'll be waiting for them.
Here's a little piece on what I like to use and where I find the tope in my area. Not all areas are the same and there favoured food will determine where they are.
When should we be seeing them.
We should be seeing them at the end of April or the beginning of may. Weather dependant, very heavy rain and cold weather can hold them back by a few weeks but they should be well on there way by mid may. But for the larger tope on open ground at sea they can be as late as mid July.
The last few years have been quiet good for tope and they have been the highlight of my season the last few years.
Where to find them.
Loughs and some large estuaries,
Early in the year tope generally turn up in loughs and large estuaries, generally mud and sandy areas.
I like to try for them along the edges of shelves where channels rise quickly on to shallower sand beds/bars.
Tope will easily enter water less then 15ft but seem to be more nervous the shallower they go.
But I generally fish a spot that is 30ft deep and they have no problem snatching a bait from directly underneath me.
I have even had a double hook up at times like this.
Later in the year from mid to late june the tope will be on the more open ground. Depth really isn't an issue once they are out there they can turn up almost any where from 30ft and more. Also later in the year they can be found on almost any type of ground, from rock to sand. But all areas that hold tope have there hot spots, be it a feature the holds small fish, a ledge or even a head land and at times even near strings of crab pots can hold tope. It can take a lot of effort to find them but when you do it will be well worth it.
What they are eating.
For years believed tope came in after the standard bait fish. Mackerel, herring and sandeel.
But the last good few years the tope where around long before the bait fish show up in any number and they are really on the feed.
So what is there at that time of year?
Well, Whiting and dabs. They just love them.
Here's one a tope devoured earlier.
Dab are not my favourite bait to use to be honest but if there's nothing else they will catch.
I am not mad about them as the tope can be hard to hook using them.
The one in the pic above I find a good size to use, any bigger my hook up rate goes down badly and any smaller the take rate goes down also.
This size dab I simply hook the dab trough the head just behind the eyes.
Baits, fresh and frozen.
As above whiting and dabs are top of the early topes menu.
But with the lower hook up rate I find using flat fish I like to use whiting a lot more. But I also use mackerel fresh or frozen. As they give off a strong scent. Even if they are not the best put at least one down and a couple of fresh whiting near by will be the ideal set up.
With tope the fresher the better so much so I stopped taking the baits out of the freezer the night before to defrost them.
Your mackerel will defrost in a short time in a small amount of sea water so no worries there.
Also most white fish will take tope, even coalies have worked for me in the past.
Saying that I have yet to catch a tope on Pollock.
Baits, whole, fillet and flapper.
As above with whiting and dabs I generally fish them whole, but bigger whiting half flappered can be very good.
Mackerel I generally like to fish them as a fillet bait. I find a filet bait has an excellent hook up rate, and you get between 2 and 3 baits per mackerel. As when bait is short keep the head as it can also be used as well.
But when dog fish, large gurnard and whiting are about you may have to change to a half mackerel or whole mackerel. As dogfish can be a real pain when your low on bait.
Flapper baits can be excellent for getting a good scent going, but where I fish I get tortured with dogfish and a decent gurnard will tear the side off a flapper bait.
Here is a video on how to hook each bait.
Rigs,
Pulley rig,
For me I find the pulley rig the ultimate rig. It has great action in the water and superb hook up rate and I very rarely get a deep hooked tope.
My rig consists of 5ft of 150lb mono onto 18" of 100lb wire with a 7/0 O'shaugassey hook. Here is the rig I like to have it so the hook is off the bottom as the tide slackens.
Here is the way I tie the swivel to the wire. I like to use a stopper knot to stop the trace spinning around the main line. I also use a wind on leader which the pulley rig is attached to. My wind on leader is 15ft of 100lb to 150lb mono. This ideal for a tough day at the tope. I have used 65lb mono before but it needs to be changed as the tope are very sore on it.
Flowing trace.
Personally I am not a fan of the flowing trace, I know a lot of lads on the east coast use the flowing trace to great effect, but between the huge numbers of dogfish and rocky ground it is not worth the hassle here in the area I fish in Donegal.
But again your flowing trace can be made the same way as your pulley rig but with out the running swivel. So you will have an over all length of 7ft. this is to stop the tope rubbing trough the trace.
Float fishing/ballooning.
Last year was the first time I deliberately tried this method and dam it was exciting but I found it difficult to connect with the tope on the end but I will be trying it again this year.
There are lads Like Alain Storey whole sell float rigs for tope and I hear of good reports about this method and I can see it being done more often in the future.
Jigs
Yes jigs, last year I was hoping to give them a go. But it is hard to change from what is working.
But I put a small whiting on a jig head as a flapper gave it 2 turns of the handle off the bottom and let it sit as I fished.
I was hooked into one tope when the jig head got slammed. The fight was epic. A light rod and fixed spool reel, It was that good I will definitely be doing it again this year.
Here is a vid of it below.
The fly.
I am not aware of any tope being caught on the fly in Ireland but I am more than confident there will be some caught this year on the fly. I gave it a try last year but my line just didn't get down and stay down deep enough. If you want tope flies http://www.chasingsilver.org/ tie some amazing patterns for tope and shark.
I will be trying a 10wt salt fly rod and a 10wt reel and super sink 10wt fly line.
Set up,
Rods, reels and main line.
Unless you are after monster tope say 50lb plus, a 12lb to 20lb class rod will do nicely. I have had tope to over 40lb on 12lb class rod, It was a battle and a half but great fun. I do quiet regularly fish a 12lb to20lb rod with bigger baits in hope of a bigger tope but bigger baits don't mean bigger tope unfortunately.
My normal rods at the tope is a 12lb to 20lb SK3 7'6. This rod is very nice and can comfortably handle the bigger tope in my area.
My other rod is a 12lb Abu Garcia. I also use an Alcedo 180-200g rod with a fixed spool reel for maximum fun in the deeper water.
Reels
Again reels don't have to be huge but tope can destroy cheaper reels, I have a Shimano tld15 multiplier an ideal size for tope it may even be a bit big but a lovely reel for the job and the lever drag is excellent to keep up with fast moving tope, and I have an Okuma multiplier reel on the other.
The fixed spool reel I use for the tope is a Fin-Nor fs60. It is meant to be salt proof and I have mine about 4 years and apart from it need cleaning twice a year it is well up to the job.
Main lines.
Braids or mono.
Braid
I only use braid for all my fishing and I find it a lot better in the strong tide. The braid catches less tide so I can use less lead which is a big bonus with the tope as you don't want them felling any resistant's when they lift your bait.
I generally use 30lb and 50lb braid. 50lb braid seems a lot but when your in the shallows it is nerve racking to hear the 30lb braid coming out of the top eye on under big pressure.
I like to have at the very least 200yards of line on the reel as they can run a lot of line off in the shallows. Not so much in the deeper water.
Mono
Mono can be used and you generally can get away with 30lb or 40lb mono.
You will need more lead to get you down in a tide but with the mono being less prone to abrasion a wind on leader is no really needed.
Also I would stick as much mono on the reel as you can get on it.
Good luck
So good luck to all and I hope this piece you get into your first tope and I would be delighted to see a pic of your catch should this piece help you catch one.
So tight lines until the next time and be safe out there.
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