Small Sharks in the Irish Sea

If there is one drawback to kayak fishing it has to be the fact that as kayak anglers we are at the mercy of Mother Nature. If she decides to kick up storm force winds we have to stay on dry land, no matter what the circumstances or skill levels possessed by the kayaker. That might not be a problem in warmer, more settled climates but here in Ireland it means that the opportunity for sport can very much be a case of “hit-or-miss”. It can be blowing hard for a week and then suddenly you might get a four hour window to hit the waves before the wind kicks up for another few days. Ireland can be talked about for the biblical proportions of rain that it is subjected to at times but it is the wind combined with the rain that has caused problems for anglers this summer.

Strong winds mean that it is never a good idea for a kayak angler to go out. It makes surf landings and launches very difficult and creates large swells out on the open sea which most times are manageable but uncomfortable to fish in at the same time. The Irish fishing scene seems to be a little slow this year and catches in general appear to be down on last year. There has been a huge amount of rain here this summer and I theorise that all the freshwater pumping into the sea along our coastline has reduced the salinity of the water through dilution. I think this in turn has pushed the fish further offshore into waters that have normal levels of salt. All this is theoretical but I think it goes some way to explaining the lower catch returns this year – I think a lot of fish have been pushed offshore and out of reach of a lot of anglers.

the obligatory dogfish

One very obvious drawback of this situation for the predator angler is the lack of baitfish present. Some anglers will fall back on frozen baits but to me these are a very poor second choice. I have no faith in a frozen bait’s ability of fooling large predators. It will catch the smaller fish all day long but for the bigger, smarter, specimen-sized fish there is no substitute for fresh baits. With this in mind I hit the high seas yesterday, launching from an area that is local to me, one of the shingle beaches in County Wicklow on the east coast of Ireland. The winds had dropped which offered the window of opportunity that I needed to get out there and try and hunt out a few nice fish. My plan was to paddle out about a mile, stopping every now and then to jig hokkais in the hope of catching some fresh mackerel – prime bait for tope. When I reached my mark I intended to drop anchor and fish full mackerel baits on the bottom in about 30ft/10m of water.

a large frozen mackerel bait

Things did not go according to plan and I reached my tope mark without catching any bait. I still had not caught any mackerel on the east coast this year and seeing as it is now late July, this is a worrying situation for me indeed. I had some frozen baits with me and I put down a full frozen mackerel for tope on one rod and a frozen sand eel on a lighter rod for a bit of fun while I waited on the bigger bait to provide some sport. Very soon a procession of dogfish came to the kayak. Classed as a shoaling nuisance species, hungry packs of dogfish will descend on almost any bait and once they have located it you will catch one after another. They are good for passing the time but an hour into the session the bigger bait had not been touched and I started to become disillusioned with it, convinced that I would need fresh bait for big fish.

fresh bait at last!!

As these thoughts ran through mind, a few gulls and gannets started to dive into the water a short distance from the kayak. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realise that the birds were hunting fish, most likely mackerel, so I relocated the kayak to where they were diving. A couple of drops with the hokkais later and I was looking at a trio of fresh mackerel. Not a huge haul by any stretch of the imagination but enough to provide me with a couple of hour’s worth of fresh bait. Off came the frozen bait that had not been touched and it was replaced with a full, fresh mackerel. This was lowered to the bottom to start what was now surely a waiting game. I fished away with the second rod and caught another few dogfish and then the small bait went quiet. I like fishing a small bait for dogfish when I am fishing for bigger species. Despite the dogfish being classed by a lot of anglers as a nuisance species, once they have found a bait they will only clear off if something far bigger moves into the area. I look at it as an early warning signal – when the dogfish stop biting there are probably tope nearby.

a big tope ‘smiles’ for the camera

Tope rarely travel on their own and when fishing for them we leave the reel in free-spool and engage the ratchet. When a tope picks up a bait it will run for up to and over 100 yards/metres to find a spot away from its shoal mates to eat its meal in peace. This is exactly what happened and being a little eager to land the first tope of the season, I struck into the fish a little early and was rewarded with a bare hook. I re-baited the 8/0 hook and lowered it down to the bottom again. Within five minutes, exactly the same thing had happened again. I now had only one bait left and as I lowered it to the bottom I asked myself if it would be a case of “third time lucky”?

It was and after a ten minute wait, the rod tip bounced twice and then the ratchet on the reel screamed. I let it run a fraction longer than the previous two and then flipped the reel into gear. The rod buckled and I knew the fish was well hooked and the fight was well and truly on. Anybody who has fished for shark of any description will know the adrenaline rush that a good fish gives you and this can be multiplied by one hundred on a kayak. After a good battle with some very powerful, surging runs the fish was drawn alongside the kayak. I let it sit there for a minute, head into the tide to allow the fish (and myself) a minute to relax and regain strength. Then, after sizing her up it was a case of grabbing a pectoral fin and the dorsal fin and easing her up onto the kayak so she could smile for the camera. With a good strong hook hold in the side of the jaw, removing the hook was easy. I held the fish in the tide for a couple of minutes and with her tail flexing it was time to let her sink back to the depths she had just come from.

It was a fantastic relief to get the first tope of the year and if the weather behaves itself for the next few weeks I have no doubt that it was the first of a few. More to come, I hope…..