Post by lapesca on Apr 28, 2016 2:11:30 GMT
Its that Time Of year again when the Tope start to arrive around the South Coast, One of My Favorite beasts to catch Wow what a fight these things give, By the end of it you end up praying to see the start of that Shock leader arriving at the surface, and any time now your gonna get your first sighting, The Bloods pumping hard through your veins and your arms feeling like they are about to be ripped off, and once or twice I think to my self god I hope all my knots dont fail on me!!
The Hardest thing I find with these beast is they love to feed in a fairly fast flowing tide add a water depth of around 130ft A 46lb Tope running with the Tide and you have got yourself into one hell of a fight.
I am not sure on the biggest tope we landed due to my very cheap scales bottoming out at 46lbs With this beast caught by Si on a 8/0 pannel rig, (I Have since invested in some descent scales.
I use Wire traces when targeting these mean machines, Big hooks and a nice big bait. We had over 20 and a couple of double figure smoothies in one session. The Power of these things is incredible, you can see in one of the pics on the end of my wire trace I lost a nice size fish has it snapped a Brand new 8/0 hook clean in half! So when targeting these I tend to make everything Big!
Bait wise I guess its down to personnal preferencebut I go for whole squid, mackerel flapper with the fillets left attached to the head but the backbone removed, or a whole small pouting or bream.
A Tope, as can be realized from its body shape, is basically a bottom dweller. Their main food supplies are dabs, whiting and gurnards, all fish that are easily outrun and caught by chasing Tope
They very rarely go for a Live Mackie bait, Most Mackies are swimming way above a Tope they wont really waste there time and effort chasing a pack of Mackerel,
Identifying tope
The Tope is a very slender shark that has a sharply pointed snout. Its first dorsal fin is very large compared to the second (which is positioned very close to the tail).
It also has an anal fin which is positioned directly underneath the secondary dorsal fin.
The coloration of the tope is as follows: grey/brown on the back and sides with a white/creamy coloured underbelly.
The tope has sharp triangular teeth within its under slung mouth. They are triangular and very typical of most predatory sharks.
The average adult tope measures 1.3m long, but tope to 2m have been captured and recorded.
Another thing I learned was Do not put your fingers in a Topes Mouth!!! I did and nearly lost it!! (School boy Error)
The bigger females appear inside the English Channel and around Cardigan Bay from mid May to mid July, and in the Thames Estuary between late April and early June. Occasional big fish can be contacted in autumn as they drop back to deeper water in all areas, but autumn fishing is much more inconsistent than the earlier part of the year.
Individual marks can differ, but as a general rule, expect Tope to come through the fishing area during the mid tide period when the tide is flowing strongly with proportionality fewer fish either side of this. Only the slack water period goes really dead though, and Tope can show at anytime So have them drags set and be ready, I Love it Lower the baits down click on the ratchet and wait! When that reel starts screaming its takes around 0.0002 seconds to fly up out the chair and grab the rod, let it run then let the fun begin!!
How to tell the Sex
Males have what they call Claspers Male sharks' pelvin fins are equipped with pairs of slender long claspers they are long and stick out fron the pelvin fins,
You can see these clearly in the photos bellow of some males we caught last time we was targeting these. Females tend to be larger in size than the male, but the only way to tell is to look for the claspers,
On a younger Tope these do not stick out but if you look you can still see them. Females do not have claspers.
UK Record Weight
Boat 82lb 8oz
Shore 58lb 2oz
Usual Size To 195cm. Within UK waters between 140/150cm
Habitat Found between depths of 2/471m
Both a coastal and offshore species, although known to come within the surf- line.
Mostly a bottom and mid-water schooling shark
Range For the UK found from Scotland to the English Channel, for most of the year, and during the summer months tending to be closer inshore, though migrations are known to include the Mediterranean Sea. Also found in South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and California; where the current IGFA record comes from, at 98lb 8oz, though most of the line class records come from New Zealand.
Food Fish eater, mostly Whiting, Pout, and other schooling species, though occasionally crustaceans plus squid and cuttlefish
Reproduction Plancentally viviparous (live bearing)
Litter size between 6/52 pups, usually 25/35, with the pups at 35cm at birth.
Females mature between 130/185cm when approximately 11 years old.
Additional Notes Has a potential weight in excess of 100lbs
References Uk shark tagging programme
British Sea fishing.
TIPS throw a bit of ground bait down regularly this attracts the smaller fish and the Tope will then home in on their vibrations they tend to fish in packs, I didn't know this at first and had 5 rods out and at one point had 5 Tope on at the same time with Simon, Hetic is not the word.
The bigger fish are often working the outside edges of the main pack. Try casting at a right angle as far away from the boat as you can to locate the quality fish.
When landing them there is no need to gaff these magnificent brutes it does more damage than good, grab it by the tail wrist and support it coming over the side :-)
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The Hardest thing I find with these beast is they love to feed in a fairly fast flowing tide add a water depth of around 130ft A 46lb Tope running with the Tide and you have got yourself into one hell of a fight.
I am not sure on the biggest tope we landed due to my very cheap scales bottoming out at 46lbs With this beast caught by Si on a 8/0 pannel rig, (I Have since invested in some descent scales.
I use Wire traces when targeting these mean machines, Big hooks and a nice big bait. We had over 20 and a couple of double figure smoothies in one session. The Power of these things is incredible, you can see in one of the pics on the end of my wire trace I lost a nice size fish has it snapped a Brand new 8/0 hook clean in half! So when targeting these I tend to make everything Big!
Bait wise I guess its down to personnal preferencebut I go for whole squid, mackerel flapper with the fillets left attached to the head but the backbone removed, or a whole small pouting or bream.
A Tope, as can be realized from its body shape, is basically a bottom dweller. Their main food supplies are dabs, whiting and gurnards, all fish that are easily outrun and caught by chasing Tope
They very rarely go for a Live Mackie bait, Most Mackies are swimming way above a Tope they wont really waste there time and effort chasing a pack of Mackerel,
Identifying tope
The Tope is a very slender shark that has a sharply pointed snout. Its first dorsal fin is very large compared to the second (which is positioned very close to the tail).
It also has an anal fin which is positioned directly underneath the secondary dorsal fin.
The coloration of the tope is as follows: grey/brown on the back and sides with a white/creamy coloured underbelly.
The tope has sharp triangular teeth within its under slung mouth. They are triangular and very typical of most predatory sharks.
The average adult tope measures 1.3m long, but tope to 2m have been captured and recorded.
Another thing I learned was Do not put your fingers in a Topes Mouth!!! I did and nearly lost it!! (School boy Error)
The bigger females appear inside the English Channel and around Cardigan Bay from mid May to mid July, and in the Thames Estuary between late April and early June. Occasional big fish can be contacted in autumn as they drop back to deeper water in all areas, but autumn fishing is much more inconsistent than the earlier part of the year.
Individual marks can differ, but as a general rule, expect Tope to come through the fishing area during the mid tide period when the tide is flowing strongly with proportionality fewer fish either side of this. Only the slack water period goes really dead though, and Tope can show at anytime So have them drags set and be ready, I Love it Lower the baits down click on the ratchet and wait! When that reel starts screaming its takes around 0.0002 seconds to fly up out the chair and grab the rod, let it run then let the fun begin!!
How to tell the Sex
Males have what they call Claspers Male sharks' pelvin fins are equipped with pairs of slender long claspers they are long and stick out fron the pelvin fins,
You can see these clearly in the photos bellow of some males we caught last time we was targeting these. Females tend to be larger in size than the male, but the only way to tell is to look for the claspers,
On a younger Tope these do not stick out but if you look you can still see them. Females do not have claspers.
UK Record Weight
Boat 82lb 8oz
Shore 58lb 2oz
Usual Size To 195cm. Within UK waters between 140/150cm
Habitat Found between depths of 2/471m
Both a coastal and offshore species, although known to come within the surf- line.
Mostly a bottom and mid-water schooling shark
Range For the UK found from Scotland to the English Channel, for most of the year, and during the summer months tending to be closer inshore, though migrations are known to include the Mediterranean Sea. Also found in South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and California; where the current IGFA record comes from, at 98lb 8oz, though most of the line class records come from New Zealand.
Food Fish eater, mostly Whiting, Pout, and other schooling species, though occasionally crustaceans plus squid and cuttlefish
Reproduction Plancentally viviparous (live bearing)
Litter size between 6/52 pups, usually 25/35, with the pups at 35cm at birth.
Females mature between 130/185cm when approximately 11 years old.
Additional Notes Has a potential weight in excess of 100lbs
References Uk shark tagging programme
British Sea fishing.
TIPS throw a bit of ground bait down regularly this attracts the smaller fish and the Tope will then home in on their vibrations they tend to fish in packs, I didn't know this at first and had 5 rods out and at one point had 5 Tope on at the same time with Simon, Hetic is not the word.
The bigger fish are often working the outside edges of the main pack. Try casting at a right angle as far away from the boat as you can to locate the quality fish.
When landing them there is no need to gaff these magnificent brutes it does more damage than good, grab it by the tail wrist and support it coming over the side :-)
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