I've fished aboard Ian Burretts boat 'Onyermarks' quite a few times over the past several years, and I have to say that on every occasion he has come up with the goods. Whether its big common skate, tope, or pollack on either the float or the fly, whatever the target, it has always been achieved. So the run up to Drummore on Luce Bay in South West Scotland was made with a quiet air of confidence when Ian offered to demonstrate a technique for teasing out a few extra tope over the slack water period when conventional tactics tend to fall silent. And to increase my confidence still further, also on board would be the Essex Boys - Paul Maris and Dave Hawkeswood, whose ability to come up smelling of roses regardless of the depth of the mire is legendary. I've fished with Paul, Dave and Ian several times, and their catch rate is incredible. Paul in particular who last year was presented with a personalized skate rod by Penn bearing the inscription 'Golden Balls'. The reality is however that sooner or later a ceiling has to be reached, after which it's all down hill. That thought crossed my mind more than once during the journey up the M6 and along the A75. Would this be the occasion when the Essex bubble would finally burst.

The weather had been poor in the run up to the trip. But as ever, the moment the Essex Boys turn up things start to improve. Not immediately mind you, even they had to put up with a couple of ropey days when they first arrived. In years gone by, Luce Bay had a well earned reputation for rays which offered a good inshore fall back for days when toping out around The Scares was a none starter. Then, as with the spurdogs, the rays in the area were wiped out through commercial greed. Ian had all the old ray marks in his navigator. But when he changed it recently, he didn't bother to swap them over. What was the point he thought, there aren't any rays to go for. That should actually read, there weren't any rays to go for. Maris and Hawkeswood turn up, the toping forecast on day one is ify, so they potter around inshore and what do they end up with, 14 rays, a good two thirds of which were spotties. Ian's now trying to retrieve those old ray mark numbers before its too late. Day two was a little kinder to them. They braved a bit of a pounding and were rewarded with 12 tope. Day three when I joined up with them looked to be heading the same way. Then suddenly, out came the sun, the wind died away, and everywhere in the bay was on the cards.

Luce Bay and nearby Port Logan combine to make the Mull of Galloway area the tope capital of Scotland, and are probably a good match for anything on offer south of the border too. Throughout the main summer months Luce Bay is home to vast numbers of pack tope up to around 50 pounds. Then as autumn starts to make its presence felt, the Port Logan marks take over. Not so much in terms of volume of fish. Six to eight tope a day would not be a bad catch. But what they lack in numbers, these fish make up for in individual bulk. This is the time when the big female fish are caught. And big here means 60 pounds plus. 'Onyermarks' clients have already caught and released fish reliably estimated to be in excess of the current 82½ pound British record, the best of which went 106 pounds taken in August 2007. But, as Scottish Regional Coordinator for the Sea Anglers Conservation Network, and chairman of SOS (Save Our Sharks), you wouldn't really expect Ian to bring such a fish back to the quay simply to make an official record claim. Back out in the bay predictability is the key. But things were a little less predictable this time around. The unusually warm spring weather had put the tope a good month ahead of their 'normal' breeding routine. In fact, our trip dropped right in the middle of their amorous stint.

Think about it. You wouldn't be too impressed if someone slapped a meal on the pillow while you were otherwise engaged, and neither were many of these tope. There were a lot of dropped baits; a lot of little plucks and half hearted attempts at feeding that were not simply troublesome dogfish, and a lot of fish coming up with love bites and scrapes on their bodies resulting from mating. In fact, on more than one occasion, fish came up to the surface in two's and three's following hooked mates right to the boat. Sometimes this was the result of double, and even triple hook ups. But there were a lot of free swimming fish tracking the baits; tracking hooked dogfish, and tracking presumably their partners right up to the surface. For every take that resulted in a fish we probably had two others which for various reasons came to nothing. It was hectic. And it started right from the first drop going on through to the last. In all we either boated and tagged, or did an in water release on 28 tope to 44 pounds, which for two anglers fishing a 19 foot Orkney Strikeliner is pretty good going. A new personal Luce Bay record for 'Golden Balls' and Dave. So the answer to the question raised in the first paragraph is no, the Essex bubble has not burst yet. But that 28 fish could have been so many more if only the fish had not had other things on their minds.

Predictably, as the tide died right away to barely a trickle, interest in the baits took a nose dive as well. There was still the odd half hearted attempt here and there. But to all intents and purposes, those fish that had been interested in feeding had lost their appetites. Perhaps appetite is the wrong word here as they soon resumed the feeding when the tide started running again. Stimuli is probably a more accurate description. Most fish are triggered in to feeding when there is some movement in the water, and movement in their prey probably plays an even bigger roll in active fast moving predators such as sharks. Time then for Ian to put on the show he had brought me all the way up to Scotland to witness and film. To add a bit of movement back into the bait, he put it out under a float with the spool on free run allowing any tide remaining, or the breeze, to trundle is out well clear of the boat. A simple proposition in theory, but one which in my experience is rarely used for bottom feeding sharks such as tope. There's no need to when they are feeding hard in the run. But it's a very different matter when you need to create some run in order to get a run.

The float is a big slider capable to taking a couple of ounces of lead to cock it threaded on to the main line with a bead also on the line above it. Drilled bullet leads are then threaded onto the line beneath it with a swivel at the very end of the line to prevent everything from slipping off. A standard tope trace is then attached to the swivel. In Ian's case, this was around six feet of 200 lbs bs mono to protect his hands from cutting when guiding a hooked fish in, and around 12 inches of wire carrying an 6/0 hook with the barb flattened down for ease of disgorging. Bait is a personal thing. Some people like mackerel flappers; others like a head and shoulders cut. Live mackerel also works well under a float if you have no hangups about fishing live baits. But first things first. The rig needs to be set to its controlling depth. To do this, a lead is hung from the hook and allowed to take the gear to the bottom. The sliding float of course stays put at the surface. When the depth has been plumbed, around six feet of line is retrieved through the float, then a stopper is tied onto the main line above the bead. If you fish with braid, then a piece of fine mono tightly knotted around it will stop the bead and float. If mono is your preferred reel line, then use a piece of an elastic band.

The gear is then retrieved. Obviously the stopper goes onto the reel as the bead and float slide down the line and butt up against the drilled bullets at the trace swivel. Now the bait can go on. When the reel is knocked out of gear, the leads take the trace towards the bottom. But the stopper when it reaches the bead above the float allows the bait to hang just clear of the sea bed. Having the reel out of gear means that the terminal tackle can slowly cover ground. Like all sharks, tope are able to track down baits by the scent they emit. The visual stimuli of a potential meal washing over head can be the icing on the cake. The difference between takes and no takes when feeding interest starts to wane. And so it was on the day with a few extra bonus fish which would otherwise not have been caught. But, this only works when the tide has almost gone. In a strong run, the drilled bullets would not be sufficient to keep the bait in position and it would quickly lift clear of the feeding zone. It would also quickly drift too far away from the boat as the float needs to be on the move to prevent bait lift even in a light run of tide. To help keep the bait down, a large float is required that can support a couple of ounces of lead.

Takes can be detected in one of two ways. You can watch the float if you wish which can be heart in the mouth stuff when it starts to bob or takes a bit of a dip. If you are holding the rod when this happens, it takes a lot of self control not to strike at the fish. But this would be a waste of time. The best time to hit a tope is when its running with the bait. And if you can resist the urge to prematurely strike for long enough, a run against the ratchet in the usual way counting to six first will tell you when to set the hook. So if you do float fish and you want to let the tide or breeze sneak the line out and cover ground for you, leave the reel out of gear with the ratchet on. This will help control any overruns. It will also tell you when a fish shows interest. Being a slider, the float will in no way interfere with the playing of the fish as the reel line will pass through it on the retrieve leaving the float, the drilled bullets, and the bead all bunched up at the trace swivel.

SEE THE VIDEO VAULT – Tope On The Float