The Fishermans Net

trickshot55 wrote:wonder if the old balloon attached to a paper clip (so can strike out of it) would deposit your bait far enough out / in the best place? Used to do this piking on massive lakes....
Or go all techno and use a drone / carp bait boat..!!
I have tried sliding a bait out before now and it is bloody hard work..

Nice post all ingenious and well thought out ideas you will get a lot of Tope anglers going OHHHH yer .

For myself its just the fact I can work out and target a particular fish no matter the size / I would just be self satisfied in getting a larger fish that a young pup from a Wirral beach ??? Might happen might not happen either way I would still enjoy the challenge .

Thanks for the post Brian.

Local/Brian wrote:TIM spot on you know your stuff.
That sort of understanding of the movement of water helps at other places like .Talacre .entrance of stratis at Dinas and Trevor . And the rips like the west side at Rangrs.

Cheers Brian

wonder if the old balloon attached to a paper clip (so can strike out of it) would deposit your bait far enough out / in the best place?

Used to do this piking on massive lakes....

Or go all techno and use a drone / carp bait boat..!!

I reckon to get that balloon idea to go right would take a lot of goes to get it to put your bait where you wanted it but if anyone nails it, good on them as I think that would be very challenging, not to mention the risks of boats and jet skis crossing your line as well as floating debris affecting things.

As for using the tide to take your rig out, you are limited by how much line you need left on your reel to play the tope with should you hook into one, especially with the mighty Mersey current behind it and reeling in huge lumps of weed is bad enough on the Mersey as it is, never mind with another hundred or so meters of line out. So yeah you could go a bit further out with it I suppose but unless you up your reel size a fair bit then it's not going to be a huge extra distance.

I think if I ever have a go at it then it will be "normally" using my current rod and reel set up, i.e. standing there and casting it out with a good old wallop but good luck to all those who want to do it differently or use gizmos, etc to get their baits out further

They do sell pike floats with a little sail on them... but when using the current i don t know how much use they would be...?

Just gotta play around i suppose and see if anything pans out... Not really viable for me as i live too far away... but good luck to any pioneers out there.

Local/Brian wrote:

trickshot55 wrote:wonder if the old balloon attached to a paper clip (so can strike out of it) would deposit your bait far enough out / in the best place? Used to do this piking on massive lakes....
Or go all techno and use a drone / carp bait boat..!!
I have tried sliding a bait out before now and it is bloody hard work..

Nice post all ingenious and well thought out ideas you will get a lot of Tope anglers going OHHHH yer .

For myself its just the fact I can work out and target a particular fish no matter the size / I would just be self satisfied in getting a larger fish that a young pup from a Wirral beach ??? Might happen might not happen either way I would still enjoy the challenge .

Thanks for the post Brian.

Thanks Brian..

This post was just to encourage members to read this post / and then post replies / In a way job done.

Fishing for Tope for me would just be a bit of fun and trying do do something I understand has not be done yet / which is a Tope of any size BIGGER than a Tope pup from a Wirral beach.

Using the Tide as a fishing tool can be very rewarding in this case for myself and other's you could cast a large size bait out and let the tide take it out a bit further than you could cast ?/ you can then hold it back and let the tide push the baited rig to one side of the flow leaving it to settle .
I have done this on many occasions when fishing for other types of fish.

LIKE I HAVE SAID if posts like this get others posting reply's and doing post them selves then its all good

I NEVER GET CARRIED AWAY WITH MY FISHING its just my past time that I enjoy very much / when I am out fishing am just in my own peaceful world
and always go home relaxed no matter what the outcome of the fishing session was .

Cheers Brian

The bigger fish are starting to show from the west side of Anglesey
it will be like a gold rush soon.

For me it's the Dee or Mersey Tope that really gets the imagination going as it's beach fishing for them unlike of rocks in 60ft of water.
If you use a gripless lead and let it run for as long as it takes that would be the best way I've had my biggest smoothhound doing this

If you can get a big fish bait out there, there is also the chance of a big Conger. I had a big one spit out a big whiting that I had hooked last year. The eel was virtually on the beach when it decided to open its mouth and spit the fish out. I was gutted
I'll definitely have another go when the wind is blowing from behind to help get the bait out there

Fishamaniac wrote:If you can get a big fish bait out there, there is also the chance of a big Conger. I had a big one spit out a big whiting that I had hooked last year. The eel was virtually on the beach when it decided to open its mouth and spit the fish out. I was gutted
I'll definitely have another go when the wind is blowing from behind to help get the bait out there

Sorry Don't know your first name.
But yes the likes of perch is capable of throwing up all sorts of different fish up at various times of the year and in all honesty ? I think we are all ignorant on venues such as Perch and the rest of Mersey low water venues as we never get to see exactly what we are all fishing over so don't have any understanding of the ground and makeup of the sea bed ?????

Their is defiantly more fish than we all think possible at such venues? and you don't always need to cast a million miles out either .
Tope and ray's other than thornbacks / I myself have been bitten off on a few occasions because I was not fishing with heavy line or wire as I was not expecting to hook into anything other than thornbacks/dogfish/whiting .
Richard steel had a very good sized conger from perch during the Autumn period when he was fishing for thornback rays ? others have also had good size bull huss / Autumn also sees a big influx of dogfish presumably following the whiting and sprat sholes in. but the cod are thin from that area compared to the likes of Seaforth and further down river
shoals of decent bass if you know where and when is just another example??? / Mullet around the ends of the groynes
I don't know if others have seen them but the seals always visit the Perch rock area at times when we get the influx of changing species coming in .
Just like they follow the plaice in the old rock channel during February and march
So they are very tuned into different fish movements

Another thing is ?
Just like we all experience the snags that suddenly seem to appear at venues with people saying could be lost rigs / carpets or building materials /
lost or discarded fishing nets ??? But I would think the likes of Perch must have some sort of natural bed rock material that keeps all that sand built up and prevents it from just getting washed away with the tides coming in and out .
Or at some time many years ago when the fort was built they used large sandstone to keep that channel open and clear / They built the training wall to keep the many sandbanks from blocking or clogging up the shipping channel ??? Who knows we don't get the luxury of seeing anything.
But I do know the likes of that training wall made from sandstone and the vast sandbanks support big shoals of bass just like the wind turbines do now and in the future any structure will hold and build up fish stocks well.

Fish behaviour is another big part of our fishing knowledge / this would seem to be all over the place along with the weather and SO CALLED SEASONS our years are made up of.
Especially the likes of smooth hounds haven't got a clue as why they just seem to disappear from one tide and are gone for a day or weeks ???
The likes of Bass and Ray's which are probably our main beach target fish we can better our chances by judging the best days to fish by looking at the tides and weather conditions.

Cheers Brian.

It's Dayne by the way
Totally agree Brian.
I think Perch is a fantastic venue. My most fished mark over the last couple of years. I don't recall ever fishing there and not catching. Even had my biggest cod of the season from there earlier this year.