Smoothounds...

certainly doable.

There are some good soft crabs out there but don't ignore craw or other creature baits.

I'd suggest a jig head weigh that enables said softie to work itself around in the tide.
Maybe a creature or crab on a carolina rig using a squashed drilled bullet so it doesn't
come around so fast and, the squashed weight will add non symmetrical movement as your
SP travels in the run.

We are going to try this year too given time.

Ive just ordered 1 of these
http://www.rokmax.com/product.php?prodi ... bber+Squid
and 1 of these to try the same thing
http://www.rokmax.com/product.php?prodi ... bber+Squid

Did look at thses but urmmm not sure
http://www.berkley-fishing.com/prod.php ... 57&u=GSPC2
i have`nt tried any berkley product`s so im unsure, cant really say ive tried the squid from rox max either try out once

yeah i was thinking of lures along those lines... going to take some balls to sacrifice a session when everyone will be catching them on bait and theres you trying with a lure but i reckon it will be well worth it. if it is possible then its another great species to catch on the lures!

Ill try it for the shore and yak should be fun

We get quite a few local to here in the Summer but it depends on the weather being settled. Most, if not all of them are caught after dark so very likely they are predominantly scent feeding so the Gulp crabs might have the edge.
Somebody I know (and trust) told me that on a certain local mark, fishing mackerel when the smuts are around has produced the odd tope. Not small ones either. Food for thought......

yeah, the only tope me and my mates have had, bar one, have come from our top two hound marks... i had one of 23lb 5oz in 09, yet to find anything more fun than that...

I remember seeing you with that at the "other" place Ben, biggest tope i've had is about a pound in weight..

my mate had one of 33lb just before christmas!!! fishing for congers/huss lol....

hopefully be plenty more where that came from this summer.... :twisted:

Me and Gary (Akita) were going to try for them at a mark that the other Gary (Rockling) knows,, but now i'm thinking of trying for them using a 75g spinning / bass rod and 525, instead of a beachcaster :rollineyes: ...

This obsession is never ending.. : :badlol: :badlol: :badlol:

Marc D... said:

Me and Gary (Akita) were going to try for them at a mark that the other Gary (Rockling) knows,, but now i'm thinking of trying for them using a 75g spinning / bass rod and 525, instead of a beachcaster :rollineyes: ...

This obsession is never ending.. : :badlol: :badlol: :badlol:

Click to expand...

hmm i really wouldnt advise that lol. one reason is, where we fish you need at least a 6oz gripper becuase the baits are so big they catch the tide which is strong anyway... and becuase tope aren't friendly...

maybe doable with a 4-6oz rod though... but i dont see how you would get a bait out on a bass rod lol. be a hell of a fight... one of my mates ones last year broke an sl30, and that was only about 20lb... they are extremely powerful fish. i think i know the mark rockling fishes. is it stackpole? he thinks we had our fish there but hes wrong lol :twisted:

:lol: You had to go and burst my bubble didn't you.. :aarrg:

Marc D... said:

:lol: You had to go and burst my bubble didn't you.. :aarrg:

Click to expand...

sorry mate lol... seriously though, they are a huge handful on 'proper' gear...


hounds on the bushwhacker on the other hand... should be epic. frothin for may now lol

LOL,, i know you're right Ben, it is a bit optimistic hoping to catch a tope on a spinning rod.. but it would be fun.. :horsesword:

Marc D... said:

LOL,, i know you're right Ben, it is a bit optimistic hoping to catch a tope on a spinning rod.. but it would be fun.. :horsesword:

Click to expand...

The only tope I have ever caught weighed 23lbs odd and was caught on an ABU403S, ABU ambassadeaur 6500C and 14lb Bayer perlon from a mate's boat about 25+years ago out from Brighton Marina. I know it is different on a boat but the rods are powerful enough.

Tope on a spin rod,
Definately doable, lets be straight here. If you can catch Black tip, Bull and Lemon sharks on light tackle gear, then tope is a given (if you can get the hook up's).
I have done Silky Sharks on baitcaster gear (7' rated 1 3/4oz) to almost 200lb, from a flats skiff. Done Bulls to 50lb wading (releasing them is fun!!)
In some ways I think getting a take from a tope, might be easier than a smoothy (unless your prepared to soak softies in liquidised hermit crab). If I was going to try and do seriously, shallow water off the Norfolk coast, lots of chum and lots of time.

A nice link in to this thread....

http://www.thelureforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=534#p7030

Re: Smoothounds...& Tope

They catch loads of Smoothounds and Tope where I live (usually from July-October). Big tope as well, as a guy I use to fish with a little has got the shore record from around here of 66lb. That would take some plugging rod to stop them. Another mate I fish with a little now has landed smoothound on spinning rods (with bait though not lures). They fight like hell !

Dave Irving said:

Tope on a spin rod,
Definately doable, lets be straight here. If you can catch Black tip, Bull and Lemon sharks on light tackle gear, then tope is a given (if you can get the hook up's).
I have done Silky Sharks on baitcaster gear (7' rated 1 3/4oz) to almost 200lb, from a flats skiff. Done Bulls to 50lb wading (releasing them is fun!!)
In some ways I think getting a take from a tope, might be easier than a smoothy (unless your prepared to soak softies in liquidised hermit crab). If I was going to try and do seriously, shallow water off the Norfolk coast, lots of chum and lots of time.

Click to expand...

probably doable to reel one in... not doable to be able to cast a bait out with a spin rod, you also have all the ground to take into account. if you hooked one on a beach or in flats as you said, shouldnt be too much of a problem. but around here you can only really target tope from deep, rocky, tidal marks. not really doable i would say... there arent the numbers to be able to use the same methods you can 'play around with' in places like florida etc...

Ben,
Some places would be more suitable than others, but the point of my post was that the gear is more than powerful enough to handle the fish. I have done sharks on fly gear. Worth remembering drags stop fish not rods. You are I am sure quite right that to present a lure to a tope in your area with a spin rod, might be close to impossible. But the reason I mentioned fishing of Norfolk in my post, is that tope are targetted from boats, in relatively shallow water, and if your lucky they can be there in numbers (pack tope up to 25lb/30lb). Therefore if someone wanted to target them, they would have a pretty good chance of successfully landing any they hook up.
Having grown up fishing for warm water sharks (amoungst other more interesting species), while they might take some time to land, they tend to be clean fighters (ie they don't try and dive into the nearest reef). As for PLAYING AROUND WITH fish, that is the idea, as long as no harm comes to the fish, having fun is the idea.