Tope reported from N Wales

[John Mason]

Hi all,

Thought you might be interested in this posted to the NWSA forum:

"I went fishing from rhos on sea at low water yesterday with my cheapo shakespeare beachcaster and a shakespeare hurricane reel armed with twenty pound line. The rig was a running legder with a four foot trace and a 6/0 hook. Two hours in with with not as much as a sniff, the rod was dragged from its stand and as i grabbed it, line screamed off the reel at an alarming rate. The fish ran parralel to the shore for about seventy yards and then i slowly regained line and beached it after several more runs about fifteen minutes later. It was a tope that i estimated at thirty pounds. it was lucky i hooked it in the corner of the mouth as my trace body was only forty pound mono.
It was certainly a surprise as i was hoping for a rogue bass or cod, but a welcome one! The only other fish i added that day was a small dogfish. i shall defintly return to fish this venue! "

Just goes to show, you never know what might show up!

Cheers - John

[gusangus]

Two things come to mind either it's G.P.S. is well out or Global Warming and their on the way in. Hope its the latter

[natmatlew]

well done not many of them caught from the beach must have been hell of a scrap.

[doggy hater]

i bet you had one hell of a smile on your face when you seen the line pouring off that reel, i've one ever seen one tope landed on the shore and that was a 25lber off worms head, well done mate thats one too talk about in the pub

[lunkercodbendmyrod]

well done mate bet that made up for the lack of cod this year bet that smile will be there for a while,you probably got cramp in the face by now lol. Lunker

[blueskip]

Iv'e caught them in April from the shore, usually females in pup, but this is the earliest I have ever heard of one being caught off the shore, & in North Wales at that, Cornwall wouldn't have been such a suprise but Rhos is, good on that man!
blueskip

[John Mason]

I know, makes me wonder if any are lurking about along my local Cardigan Bay beaches? BTW the post to NWSA was not by me but another angler!

I know the females visit the shallows near Borth to drop their pups as I have caught a few small juvenile tope from Borth sands in summertime. These tend to be about a foot long - any guess as to how old they'd be at that size?

Cheers - John