Galeorhinus galeus - Tope
Phylum: Chordata - Class: Elasmobrachii - Order: Carcharhiniformes - Family: Triakidae
The tope is a member of the shark family and can grow to over 50 lb in weight. They are a popular sporting quarry around the coast of Wales, and they often come very close in during the summer months.
The Welsh rod-caught tope record stands at 74 lb 11 oz. This superb fish was caught off Caldy Island in 1964.
The storm beaches of Pembrokeshire provide the opportunity to catch tope from the shore; however, in most places you are likely to do better from an offshore mark. Charter boat skippers are very knowledgeable about suitable locations and times.
Tope eat mainly fish, and pout and whiting feature high up on their menu. Squid and crab are also effective fishing baits to use.
Excited at the prospect of flyfishing? So are we, and we're pretty sure you would find the Winding River Mystery trilogy of action-packed thrillers gripping reading too. Dead Drift, Dead Cert, and Dead End are Pat O'Reilly's latest river-and-flyfishing based novels, and now they are available in ebook format. Full details on our website here...
Buy each book for just £4.96 on Amazon...
Please Help Us: If you have found this information interesting and useful, please consider helping to keep First Nature online by making a small donation towards the web hosting and internet costs.
Any donations over and above the essential running costs will help support the conservation work of Plantlife, the Rivers Trust and charitable botanic gardens - as do author royalties and publisher proceeds from books by Pat and Sue.