Oldies ..................

Hunting around on the old computer backup and found some pics which brought me back in time a few years ........ If nothing else they have shown my how little fishing i have done in the past few years. I used to alot with my dad but the past few years the weather in the summer has just made it a little tricky to get out we boat in etc!

Apex Predator!

The might Tope is perhaps one of my all time favorite fish - why you may ask? To hook a Tope and feel that initial surge of power as it runs deep in the water is something else .... And any fisherman will agree, put the ratchet on the reel and the sound is enough to get your hairs standing on edge!

This one above was taken out of our little 8ft inflatable boat, we took it out for a quick 'hit and run' style bit of fishing ..... It was on the second drift that the reel began to scream and we had a fish on ..... we notices the fish was running for a sandbank, we both wondered what would happen next - however nothing had prepared us for it!

The Tope, having nowhere else to go, simply jumped, not fully out of the water but enough to see atleast half of it and then smash back into the water and storm on into the deeper channel.

After our amazement and awe we got it up to the boat, put the tape measure on him and worked out it was around the 40lb mark ... which for us - is a monster .... with our average usually in around the 20lb!!!

Look at the mouth on it ..... the hook is probably around a 6/0 or so .... can't quite remember....

We set it back on its way to fight another day ... and with that we headed for home.

Using a method which dad brought back from his trip to Canada ..... they use this foam ball with blades that made it spin and add life to the dead bait ..... tested it out and nailed a nice little doggy....

One species which we used to try for all the time was the mighty Conger Eel - one little pier is where we took refuge on many a rough winter night trying to entice these fish out of their cracks in the wall . . . .

Whilst fishing the same mark for Conger we kept getting taps and no takes so we down sized the bait and landed ourselves a few rockling ...... first we had ever caught and still never landed another ....

The most typical fishing done for us in the summer is the Salmon, and this influence comes from my dad ......

not a giant, but scale perfect