As our main tope season draws to a close I is about time I bought you up to date with our some of our tope trips this year. As with many things the tope were a little behind in places this year. Our first few trips produced some lost fish and small fish as well as a late pack of spurdogs. Denis managed the first decent tope of the season for us. it was his first ever tope and a fine male fish of 43lbs. we then missed a set of tides while I was away on holiday but I returned to a busy run of trips and improving tides. As ever with tope fishing things were hit and miss but we expect that. Some days saw only small tope, one or two roker or the occasional big bass amongst the dogfish. this is why I am selective with who I take tope fishing. everybody understands that we may be fishing for just one or two decent fish or none at all! Luckily it isn’t often that we blank totally on the tope and we can see some decent numbers.
Mick had the next decent tope, a new PB for him after several trips and seeing plenty of others landed he finally boated a 44lb female tope. I was very pleased to see his efforts rewarded as I am sure was Mick.
Tony Dunn and the lads had a good day on the tope. By all accounts the lads have seen some very decent fish in the past with Kev holding the record for the group. He must do something right as he got our trip started with a cracking brace of fish. firstly a 44lb fish then a 43lber. Graham wasn’t to be left out matching Kev’s 44lber him self and Tony had another decent fish of 35lbs. we had a few smaller tope too.
Our best day this saw 14 tope bought to the Galloper which is a good day by any standards but the stamp of fish really made it. the fishing was pretty steady and uncle Steve got things started for us with a couple of nice fish. Barry and Charlie had two decent fish both 41lbs. I was particularly happy to see Charlie catch a decent tope after adapting his tackle and technique to better suit our style of fishing and I paid off! When a decent fish is hooked we Normally tend to reel in any lines that may be in the way but towards the end of the day Charlie was playing a small tope and said there was no need for everybody to reel in. sure enough Rolf’s line got bitten off by Charlies fish as it neared the boat. With Rolf being a competition angler he lowered a spare rod down while he re-tackled his up-tider. The second rod happened to be a tubertini telescopic continental rod with a very light quiver tip on it. Uncle Steve hooked into a better tope and Charlie lent a hand trying to keep Rolf’s line out of the way while Steve played his fish. while he was holding the rod Charlie said ‘Rolf, you’ve got a bite here’ we dismissed it as uncle Steve’s fish had probably caught it. Charlie became more insistent that Rolf’s rod was going out of time with Steve’s. so Rolf took his rod back and sure enough we now had two decent fish on. Steve’s was to the boat first while we could just see colour from Rolf’s fish. we sorted Steve’s fish out while Rolf’s crept closer to the boat. As it did so I could see that this fish had far more girth to it as it held in the tide. it has to be said that the tubertini rod was performing as well as you might expect. however the lack of strength in the tip meant every time the fish neared the boat it only took one flick of the tail and it was back down again. There were several stressful minutes before I could finally get the net under her. She was a great fish and the best of the year at 49.8lbs. no mean feat on such a light rod. There are anglers and dangers though and after all you don’t fish for your country if you are a Dangler!
A special mention has to go to Ian too. He put some serious effort in once again this year. His best trip was when he hired the boat on his own. Thankfully the expense was justified with 4 decent fish and another lost. Two 30’s and two 40’s but these weren’t the biggest catch of his day oddly enough. Ian’s tackle was put to the test when he hauled several stone of rubbish up from the bottom! There was all sorts tangled together in what looked like some kind of modern art exhibition. This took a bit of lifting once on the boat so it really is testament to his tackle and knots.
All in all it was fun while it lasted but the tope will have to wait until next year for our attention now. We may pick a stay big fish up accidently but for now our attention will be turned to the offshore bass fishing until the end of November as well as a few other different trips with any luck. If you would like to join us for bass in the coming months, spurs through the winter and spring or next years tope trips then please get in touch.
For regular updates, availability and more information please visit www.essexseafishing.co.uk find us on social media or call Scott on 07956411528
I have availability mid-week throughout the summer so please get in touch if you want to get booked in. its also worth keeping an eye out for last minute spaces with groups or where people drop out. I will list my current list of spaces but there are likely to be other dates so its always worth giving me a call. If I am out of signal range I will get back to you asap.
Spaces as follows
06/08/22- offshore trip 3 spaces @ £100pp max 7 anglers
09/08-whole boat available for general trip
11/08- whole boat available for general trip
15th-19th Whole boat availability for offshore bass trips call for info
25/08/22 Clacton air show trip fish while they fly 10 spaces @ £60pp
26/08/22- Clacton air show trip fish while they fly 2 spaces @ £60pp
28/08/22-2 spaces @ £70pp max 7 anglers
30th-02nd– Whole boat availability for offshore bass trips call for info
Not all dates advertised, other spaces available for full boat bookings upon request please call 07956411528 for more information
