Kayak shark fishing across the pond.

Hi guys, a quick kayak shark fishing trip from nwka across the pond... We call this particular species of shark "Tope" but think they are known in other parts of the world as "Soup-fin" sharks?

It's that time of the year when the pack tope starts to move within reach so a couple of us headed over to Wales, UK from the English North West in search of some early season tope action.
 
A few guys went down on Thursday and had a cracking days fishing in perfect conditions I myself only managed to get down on Friday morning but as usual the weather changed and it was a no go until Monday morning.
 
Bit limited on pics as we had a few shore sessions on the lures after some bass due to strong winds. I had a crack off and send my lure flying through the air. Since it was only a small channel I went after it. I quickly past over my cigarettes to Andy and went swimming after my lure not noticing I have my camera in my drysuit pocket... Well, thats one water logged busted camera never to see the light of day again. Did however managed to get a few screen shots of the GoPro footage...
 
With the weather finally settling Monday morning we packed up camp and loaded the car and headed off to the tope grounds getting there a bit late after running into some traffic on the way.
 
With the tide on the ebb already we paddled out a couple of miles towards our mark. Normally the flood fishes best but we are here now and we aint going home without a few tope...
 
Did not have to wait long for the first run when the reel started screaming taking a lot of line. I have switched to circle hooks for the tope so left the run a lot longer than I would normally do with j hooks. This fish was not stopping at all so tightened up on it and set the hook. Then all hell broke loose, the fish was running high in the water with very nice acrobatic displays. Unfortunately this mostly happened outside of the GoPro's view as I have it mounted on the deck...
 

 
I was very impressed with the performance of my 12 - 20 lb Daiwa Saltist Braid Special rods, such a nice action but plenty of power on demand when the tope dives down and try its best wrapping it self around the anchor warp...
 

 
Grabbing hold of the leader and flicking the reel into free spool, Nothing like an angry toothy fish going bonkers between your legs...
 

 
First tope onboard.
 

 
Time to smile for the camera or not...
 

 
We had a few more hours fishing left before the tide run out of steam but managed a few more tope. I landed 4 tope and lost 3 half way through the fight, Mike just to the side of me bagged 3 nice tope and we both had loads of bait nicking doggies and some angry huss well into double figures.
 
The Mustad 39960D circle hooks performed really well lip hooking all the tope and huss with no deep hooked fish. As mentioned I did drop 3 tope during the fight so still undecided as to their overall performance but will have to test them over many sessions to form a true and accurate opinion of them. Mike did use some Owner circles which was more prone to deep hooking. Looking at the hooks side by side the Mustad hooks have a much more progressive turn on the tip preventing deep hooking but only time will tell...
 

 

 

 



 
All in all it was a cracking weekend in some fantastic company. Not a lot of fishing due to weather but that did make for some great fun in the surf and finally a bit of settled weather on the last day with 7 tope landed in what was a very short session on the wrong side of the tide but hey, that's fishing...


Tight lines

Was running a bit low on battery power on the Gopro so only managed a few clips but good enough for a quick video. Youtube blocked my original music track so apologies for the crap tune (was a free one of youtube as I could not be bothered to upload the vid again...)

Thanks for sharing Chris! They look like good fighters! What kind if kayak are you using?

Is it just me, or do the still frames make it look like you are tickling it and it is laughing.  It is a nice fish, though.  Whatever the relationship is you two share.

Yeah it kind of has a human-like mouth. Really cool pics and it looks like alot of fun!

Looks like a blast! Thanks for sharing, Chris.

Thanks for sharing Chris! They look like good fighters! What kind if kayak are you using?

Hi there.

The kayak I am using is a Stealth Pro Fisha 575 fibreglass composite. She is 5.75m (19ft) 600mm (23.5inch) wide and weighs around 25kg (55lb) Very stable due to the length and fast, I average about 5.5mph that I can maintain over long distance but she shifts in a following sea... Here is the manufacturer video showing it a bit better... Hope that helps.

Thanks for the replies guys...

That is a dead sexy boat! The current US market it trying to figure out how to make our fishing kayaks as short, wide, heavy and slow as possible.
Though I am not sure how you would strap a halibut to the back of the boat...
Very nice boat!
You said you were on anchor. How deep do you anchor up in the ocean?
Thanks for a very cool report!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

That is a dead sexy boat! The current US market it trying to figure out how to make our fishing kayaks as short, wide, heavy and slow as possible.
Though I am not sure how you would strap a halibut to the back of the boat...
Very nice boat!
You said you were on anchor. How deep do you anchor up in the ocean?
Thanks for a very cool report!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Anchoring depth depends what we after, 30ft for shallow water species up to 400ft for common skate. The above report was around 60ft. We do a lot on the drift but here in our North West we have a 10m + tidal range with the tides pushing 3 knots + so the only way to stay in position is to anchor...

Love your avatar, how did you do that if you dont mind me asking?

Not sure how big your halibut gets but these kayaks come with a huge centre hatch, these pics are from South Africa where these kayaks are built...





Although some fish are a bit to big for the hatch 

Wow ... 400 feet is no easy task for anchoring from a power boat let alone a kayak. What kind of set up do you use? 800 feet of rope and an anchor that will stick with that much drag is not a small amount of gear!

One of the moderators put the avi up as my avatar. I have no idea what he did on the computer side of things. On the water side of things I slid my boat between the halibut and the guy who caught it. Held the handles of both kayaks to link us, grabbed the jig head an pulled the fish onto my lap.
Lots of fun!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

For most anchoring I use a divers reel with about 240ft of 2mm braided cord and pay out about 3 x depth depending on tide with a 1kg Bruce anchor (claw anchor) with about 1.5m of good size chain. that will hold in up to 3knots tide no problem in 30 - 100ft. Sometimes increase the warp up to 6 x depth if the flow is strong. When after skate in deep water I have a home made reel with about 800ft of 2mm braided cord and a 5kg anchor and chain. Best with two people and leave it there with a marker buoy so only need to pull it up after a two or three day trip. But yes it's hard work, one guy pull up the other reel in.... The 2mm braided line is low diameter so not loads of drag but thick enough not to cut your hands.

For most anchoring I use a divers reel with about 240ft of 2mm braided cord and pay out about 3 x depth depending on tide with a 1kg Bruce anchor (claw anchor) with about 1.5m of good size chain. that will hold in up to 3knots tide no problem in 30 - 100ft. Sometimes increase the warp up to 6 x depth if the flow is strong. When after skate in deep water I have a home made reel with about 800ft of 2mm braided cord and a 5kg anchor and chain. Best with two people and leave it there with a marker buoy so only need to pull it up after a two or three day trip. But yes it's hard work, one guy pull up the other reel in.... The 2mm braided line is low diameter so not loads of drag but thick enough not to cut your hands.

That is a great idea. 

I am liking this deep anchor idea. Hey what kind of fish is that from south africa? It's a freakin monster!

I am liking this deep anchor idea. Hey what kind of fish is that from south africa? It's a freakin monster!

Deep anchor for halibut sounds perfect!

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