Tope wheres the closest from the north east

[MT]

Wondering if anyone knows wheres the closest and best ground to catch shore tope ??

Also whats the best time of year ??

[Ian_D]

I\'d imagine the closest would be SW Scotland, but I\'ve never fished for tope there although I have heard of them being caught.
I think there\'s more chance of a tope from the South Yorkshire beaches than most anglers realise, but I\'ve only had the odd small one. Never targeted them specially though.
Dave Brown (topecatcher) would be the best to advise you on this. He runs a charter boat out of Bridlington, but I think he\'s had decent shore caught fish from that area as well. He posts here occasionally.
My own favourite spots are in N Wales, especially the western end of the Menai Straits, from about June onwards, but that would be a bit of a trek from the N East.

[peter.m]

Ninga I know they sometimes get them across west around Auchmithie Caravan Park area. Definately going to try to get down Lincolnshire for a bash at Smoothies this year, vowed to last year and didn\'t make it. If we can get the lads together could take one of the buses.

[john/r]

nearest place i know is approx 4hr drive steady driving west coast

[codthumper]

port logan/drummore on the mull of galloway
thats about 4hrs to the west
check the sites for --onyermarks--skipper ian burret last time i was there he had 3 boats
if theres no tope you,ll get plenty of pollack

ray

[john/r]

hi codthumper, yes u right plenty of tope over there caught loads myself out of drumore, but i believe the lad is after them off the shore i believe there is marks over there but not far over as drumore my friend goes after the smoothounds every year, the tope marks on the shoreline i dont actualy know but could prob find out thro time like a lot of marks they tend to be keep quite

[codthumper]

sorry did,nt read it properly ---do,nt kn ow about shore caught tope
the boats do,nt fish that far off the point of the mull so it may be possible

[john/r]

ne bother mate, great over there is,nt it , one of my friends harry barker had a porbeagle shark on one day over there while tope fishing off whithorn he saw the shark, we have had bull huss , big spurdogs, large thornbacks, whiting, tope, pollack, off drumore years ago never been over there for a while now wunder what its like now, seaham lad does go over there every year and catches loads of pollack fly fishing must be great wish i had more time john

[MikeR]

Hartlepool is worth a shot from the boat.

[MT]

sorry did,nt read it properly ---do,nt kn ow about shore caught tope
the boats do,nt fish that far off the point of the mull so it may be possible

how far off do they fish????

[MT]

hi codthumper, yes u right plenty of tope over there caught loads myself out of drumore, but i believe the lad is after them off the shore i believe there is marks over there but not far over as drumore my friend goes after the smoothounds every year, the tope marks on the shoreline i dont actualy know but could prob find out thro time like a lot of marks they tend to be keep quite

if you find out john pm me with the rough area and time of year
thanks

[codthumper]

about 2/3 hundred yds ---at times you have a rod out for tope and fish for pollack on the float
fishing for the pollack breaks the boredom of sitting doing nothing
it can take a while to get the tope to home in on your bait

[macky]

the holderness coast can throw up tope from the beaches in july/august

topecatcher has had them to 40lb ish from the shore

gonna put some hours in myself this year and get me self one

[john/r]

hi what bait would you use off the shore for tope ,would of thought it would have to be a good size bait and put out a good way cant be easy to do, we used to use whole mackerel in luce bait to keep smaller fish off but you cant use whole mackerel off the shore can you , in my local fishmongers a few years ago he had two small thresher sharks on his slab i asked him were they came from and was told about 30miles off hartlepool, how many porbeagle sharks are caught in the gill nets during the summer off our coasts loads i was told

[macky]

a small 6\" length of fresh eel section

[Edited on 11/3/2006 by macky]