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JOB DONE

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PENN SEA LEAGUE

PENN SEA LEAGUE

On a mission to make sure his son catches the fi shing bug, one dad recalls a day neither of them will ever forget

Having children inspires you to share the knowledge and skills you have gained during your lifetime. With each of my four children, three girls and a boy, I have endeavoured to ignite a passion for fi shing so they can experience the joy this great sport has to off er and give me the chance to pass on my knowledge from 52 years of fi shing. is also perpetuates the next generation of sea anglers: an important task for us all during this digital age. Each of the girls expressed a brief interest – possibly just to have Dad’s undivided attention for a few hours and get out of doing their chores – but eventually they moved on to other things. is left Mikey, my youngest, who, in order to nurture a budding interest in fi shing, I always try to fi nd something to catch, even if it is an ever-obliging dogfi sh. However, last year was a washout; every time we planned a session the weather turned foul and the fi sh went on holiday. Typical!

Mickey’s fi rst tope was just shy of 30lb

BUCKET LIST

As winter loosens its grip each year, I fi nd myself planning for the warmer months ahead. I make a mental bucket list of things I must do. Many of these, like mullet fi shing, are carried forward from previous years as, even with the best intentions, life and work have a habit of getting in the way. is year one item on my ‘to do’ list was to fi nd Mikey some good fi shing and hopefully better his biggest fi sh, which as it stood was a bass of 3lb.

With the arrival of the warmer months the holiday season kicks in and my self-employed workload increases considerably. However, I’d made myself a promise so the fi rst session I planned was just to catch some fi sh and hopefully the fl ounders in the Mawddach Estuary would play their part. It didn’t go quite as planned, as although I caught a fl ounder and Mikey proudly caught his fi rst ever silver eel, he’d forgotten his coat which saw us taking 10-minute turns with my jacket to stave off the chilly onshore breeze. e second session was to a local pool where a few small tench kept us entertained, but I still needed something special to spark interest and a lifelong fi shing journey for Mikey. en, by chance, while talking to a fi shing buddy, I heard of some anglers being bitten off by tope when fi shing a nearby bass mark. e next day saw me making up a few tope rigs. I opted for a heavy-duty pulley rig as the area is quite rocky and this would cast easily whilst giving me a long rubbing trace once a fi sh was hooked. Mikey watched eagerly; he was very excited at the prospect of catching a proper shark and, as the evening session approached, his anticipation increased ever higher.

looking pleased with himself and his 50lb tope

TOPE SESSION

Wednesday 25th August was warm, dry, with broken cloud and slight breeze. We set off after I’d finished work, fully equipped for tope but also taking a spinning outfit just in case the tope failed to show. It was late afternoon and we arrived at the beach an hour into the flooding tide. Soon both rods were baited up with Bluey and cast out. I explained to Mikey that our baits were setting up a scent trail being carried along with the tidal flow and any tope down tide would pick up this scent and hopefully follow it back to our baits. With children I find it best if they know something is happening, even if it is something they cannot see; it helps keep their attention focused, well most of the time!

Every 20 minutes fresh baits were cast out to keep the scent trail strong. Having just cast out Mikey’s rod I walked back towards the tripod only to see my rod arch over violently, followed by a couple of heavy thumps before it sprang back straight. I covered the 20m like Usain Bolt but I still wasn’t quick enough. e next rod to go was Mikey’s and he was hooked up to his first ever tope. Unfortunately, it took him around a rock and it was stalemate for a minute or two before the tope’s teeth finally cut through the 130lb mono trace.

We changed our baits frequently and any old baits were mashed up and thrown into the surf to help the scent trail. We had a couple of other missed opportunities before my rod went again and this time I was beside it to react immediately. Once the tope was hooked it seared off on its initial run and my reel sang such joyous music to any fisherman’s ears. When fishing shallow water marks like this powerful fish usually run hard away from you as they don’t have the option of going deep. e fish fought valiantly but I had the measure of it and a little later a fine tope of 35lb was beached successfully.

Although I was delighted in catching such a magnificent fish my task was to see Mikey catch one. I re-baited and now Mikey was fishing two rods while I took a back seat. As the sultry red orb of the sun sank into the sea, darkness soon descended and stars spangled the sky. Suddenly, one of the rods keeled over – game on. An 11-year-old of slight build had his work cut out when playing a powerful tope on a 14ft surf rod. e battle see-sawed; gain a little line, lose a little line. Mikey dug his heels in and, with an expression of grim determination, there was no way this one was getting the better of him. I saw Mikey struggling to turn the handle of the reel and felt torn between helping him to ensure the catch or leaving him to claim all the glory. I ended up just offering advice and encouragement. Eventually the tope gave up, was guided ashore and I had the happiest son imaginable; high-fives all around. Mikey’s tope, at a little shy of 30lb, had just made his largest fish 10 times bigger and set the benchmark much higher for future achievements. A very happy but tired boy looked up at me and exclaimed that his arms were sore and he didn’t think he could reel in another tope, so it was time for home. In the car I mentioned that, in all likelihood, it would be quite some time, possibly years, before he caught a bigger fish.

BITTEN BY THE BUG

e next day, feeling elated, Mikey wanted to try again and, as the tides were still at a respectable time for an 11-year-old, I agreed. After the previous night’s success little changed: only a few small improvements to the rigs, a larger bait clip to cope with the oversized bait, and slightly heavier 150lb hard mono. It’s not just the breaking strain of line you are looking at, always go for hard mono like Rovex 10X or Mason hard line when targeting toothy fish as supple rig mono is not designed for abrasion resistance and is no match for a tope’s teeth.

Once again, we cast to the same spot letting the tide take the scent of our bait to any hungry tope. It wasn’t long before I heard an exclamation and turned to see Mikey gripping tightly to his bucking rod, taking a few involuntary steps towards the sea due to the heavy drag setting. He didn’t have the upper body strength to pump the fish, so I advised him to push back with his legs and gain ground up the beach, then step forwards while getting a couple of turns on the reel handle. To my surprise, Mikey said that this was a much bigger tope and this quickly became evident as the fish showed little regard for the pressure young Mikey was applying. It headed right towards some rocky ground and, where it went, we followed, in order to keep the shortest straight line to the fish and hopefully avoid the rocks. My son’s tenacity inched the tope ever closer to shore until, finally, I grabbed the leader and guided his prize up the beach. is was a whole different stamp of fish both in length and girth. It had a beautiful blue and bronze tint which was less obvious on the other tope we’d caught. It came in at an impressive 50lb. As an 11-yearold, or a proud father, it doesn’t get much better than this. Job done!

A couple of days later, Garry, a fishing friend of mine, was staying close by so we planned to target the tope once again. Unfortunately, the tides were now too late for Mikey to join us, especially with the school summer holiday almost at and end. We fished two consecutive nights, with Garry catching three tope and me another six. ese ranged from 26lb 7oz to 35lb, but nothing came close to Mikey’s magnificent 50lb fish. Every one of these fish fought hard and it is an experience I will cherish for many years to come. I highly recommend this type of fishing, so keep an ear open for any shore anglers getting bitten off by tope, as this could be your cue for some unforgettable fishing. n

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