Caught Tope or Smoothound. Safe to eat?

gonko

As above, I caught this tonight, went fishing with the intention of catching 1, max 2 fish for eating. Anyway here is said fish



I am wondering is it a tope or smoothound. I am a newbie when it comes to fishing and identifying them. I hear smoothound are nice to eat but tope can be dadgy if eaten by humans. Anyone offer advice here it would be greatly appreciated.

gumbo1

gonko wrote: »

As above, I caught this tonight, went fishing with the intention of catching 1, max 2 fish for eating. Anyway here is said fish



I am wondering is it a tope or smoothound. I am a newbie when it comes to fishing and identifying them. I hear smoothound are nice to eat but tope can be dadgy if eaten by humans. Anyone offer advice here it would be greatly appreciated.

My advice would have been to put it back but hey, whatever yer into!!

mac20v

They are supposed to taste like piss due to the uric acid in their blood the females being much worse than the males.

wexfordman2

That a dogfish?

catastrophy

Looks like a juvenile Tope from that pic. Don't think it's much of an eating fish op, perhaps next time you could practice catch and release.

gonko

By the way guys I was going to release it but the fish was pretty much gone when it was reeled in. So i killed it humanely. And I'm not into killing a fish for no reason this is why I wanted to eat it. So its a tope then by the looks of it?

paddy147

gonko wrote: »

By the way guys I was going to release it but the fish was pretty much gone when it was reeled in. So i killed it humanely. And I'm not into killing a fish for no reason this is why I wanted to eat it. So its a tope then by the looks of it?

The fish was probably just tired from being reeled in.

IMO....you could have put him back.


You could have held him in the water for a minute or 2 to let him get some strength back,and then left it swim off to live/fight another day.


Thats I would do,and what I do when out shore angling.

jimbev

agree with you paddy what a terrible waste

paddy147

jimbev wrote: »

agree with you paddy what a terrible waste

Everyone has a moral responsibilty to preserve species and fishstocks in the seas around our coastline.

Taking such a juvenille fish like that is just wrong.:(


Ive caught nice tope and smoothies before from the shoreline,and I allways put them back.

Amazing creatures to catch,and then to let go and see swim back off.:)

dbrock

if you are planning on keeping any member of the shark familly, i think but i could be wrong you should have ice with you and gut fish rapidly and put it in ice box quickly, looks like a small tope,
i have heard smoothound are nice to eat no idea about tope, best way to tell if its a tope is it will have teeth

dbrock

actually looking again its def a tope

danbrosnan

iS THERE LAWS PROTECTING TOPE OR SMOOTH HOUNDS?

If the fish was dead and the lad wanted to taste it, absolutely noting wrong with that, its the fish from tesco that people should be boycotting... They contract massive factory ships that kill everything.. Makes my stomach turn when people slate people for keeping a fish when that person put the time and effort into catching it, i but back two bass today but tomorrow i might keep two and there is noting wrong with that..

Bizzum

I didn't post in this thread earlier but the post above me provoked a response.
I have no issues with somebody taking a fish for the table if the law allows it. Clearly in this case the OP had at the time of killing the fish no idea of the law or even the species. This is what I would object to. There is no excuse with all the info available at our fingertips to be ploughing about in the dark with a kill first ask questions later attitude.

And I don't want to demonize the OP alone here. The very same thing is in the post pictures of your catch thread.

It's not good enough.

gumpy2

awful waste of such a young fish especially such a cherished little sports fish,

and yes Tope are illegal to kill but not illegal to catch hence why catch, tag and release is encouraged

danbrosnan

gumpy2 wrote: »

awful waste of such a young fish especially such a cherished little sports fish,

and yes Tope are illegal to kill but not illegal to catch hence why catch, tag and release is encouraged

Well if its illegal to kill tope then it completely wrong, I am not up on the law regarding shark tbh... That's why I asked the question before my response

dodderangler

danbrosnan wrote: »

iS THERE LAWS PROTECTING TOPE OR SMOOTH HOUNDS?

If the fish was dead and the lad wanted to taste it, absolutely noting wrong with that, its the fish from tesco that people should be boycotting... They contract massive factory ships that kill everything.. Makes my stomach turn when people slate people for keeping a fish when that person put the time and effort into catching it, i but back two bass today but tomorrow i might keep two and there is noting wrong with that..

So instead of puttin them back you'll keep them out of pure spite??

There's a difference between someone putting time and effort into catching a fish and keeping it knowing what it is than catching a fish by fluke and keeping it without knowing what it is!

Zzippy

I'm not actually aware of any legal prohibition on killing tope, I think legally you are allowed to. Morally, however, anyone who does is an idiot. Tope, in common with most shark species, are slow growing, take a long time to mature, are slow to reproduce, and as a result are very susceptible to overfishing. Shark numbers worldwide have crashed, and even if all fishing for shark species was stopped, populations would take a very long time to rebuild.

Therefore, even if there is no legal prohibition on killing tope, the onus is on the angler to decide if, morally, he can justify killing one.

I know what my choice would be.

I hope it tasted like cr@p and gave him the sh1ts

dbrock

i hope it tasted nice and might try one myself, nothing wrong with killing a fish to eat it, even though he said it was deep hooked and was on its way out, angling is a blood sport lets just live with it, if it bothers you that much dont fish , just look at a beach after any match fishing comp, im yet to go to one where fish are caught and released that i dont see a few dead fish wasted floating in the sea, esp the whiting , maybe if we all stuck together and fought as a group, we might get somewhere rather than have this catch and release againts people who like to fish and eat some, pot kettle crap everywhere all over forums,

paddy147

dbrock wrote: »

i hope it tasted nice and might try one myself, nothing wrong with killing a fish to eat it, even though he said it was deep hooked and was on its way out, angling is a blood sport lets just live with it, if it bothers you that much dont fish , just look at a beach after any match fishing comp, im yet to go to one where fish are caught and released that i dont see a few dead fish wasted floating in the sea, esp the whiting , maybe if we all stuck together and fought as a group, we might get somewhere rather than have this catch and release againts people who like to fish and eat some, pot kettle crap everywhere all over forums,

He never said or posted that at all.


Try reading the posts again.

Bizzum

dbrock wrote: »

i hope it tasted nice and might try one myself, nothing wrong with killing a fish to eat it, even though he said it was deep hooked and was on its way out, angling is a blood sport lets just live with it, if it bothers you that much dont fish , just look at a beach after any match fishing comp, im yet to go to one where fish are caught and released that i dont see a few dead fish wasted floating in the sea, esp the whiting , maybe if we all stuck together and fought as a group, we might get somewhere rather than have this catch and release againts people who like to fish and eat some, pot kettle crap everywhere all over forums,

Steady on there now. I for one have absolutely no problem with an angler lawfully taking a fish(s) for the table. BUT in this case the OP had no idea if it was a) Lawful or b) Edible. It's just indiscriminate killing for the sake of it. It's pure an utter ignorance. Like I said earlier, the info is there for everyone to read BEFORE they go off on an aimless spree.

catastrophy

I know in the uk tope is rated as vulnerable. I'm not adverse to someone taking "one for the pot" but the caveman attitude of catch and kill is a bit tiresome. As an angler you have a responsibility to educate yourself about and be respectful of your quarry. Something very few seem to bother with unfortunately.

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

catastrophy wrote: »

I know in the uk tope is rated as vulnerable. I'm not adverse to someone taking "one for the pot" but the caveman attitude of catch and kill is a bit tiresome. As an angler you have a responsibility to educate yourself about and be respectful of your quarry. Something very few seem to bother with unfortunately.

I never understand why people assume they are entitled to keep what the catch. Its not just sea anglers, I hate seeing the reports from IFI of large dead salmon with the blue tags in their reports. The dogs in the street know our salmon stocks low, but people still kill them instead of releasing them and letting them travel upstream to reproduce.

even though he said it was deep hooked and was on its way out

cut the line as close to the hook and pop it back. the hook will corrode in the salt water.

dbrock

Sorry my bad he said, it was pretty much gone when he reeled it in, I took it upon myself to read it differently,
Does it make a difference? Not in my book he went fishing caught a fish, and wanted to try it, fair play to him, I catch loads of tope every year and release every one, does it make me any worse if I kill one for the table or even to see what it taste like?
I catch plenty of fish release plenty and kill plenty, I even use mackerel and Sandeel for bait,
I guess lock me up throw away the key.

If we don't try things how do we know how to eat or prepare them.

Zzippy

dbrock wrote: »

Sorry my bad he said, it was pretty much gone when he reeled it in, I took it upon myself to read it differently,
Does it make a difference? Not in my book he went fishing caught a fish, and wanted to try it, fair play to him, I catch loads of tope every year and release every one, does it make me any worse if I kill one for the table or even to see what it taste like?
I catch plenty of fish release plenty and kill plenty, I even use mackerel and Sandeel for bait,
I guess lock me up throw away the key.

If we don't try things how do we know how to eat or prepare them.

There's a big difference between mackerel and sandeel, which are very fast-growing, available in large numbers, reproduce at a young age and produce lots of young, and can bounce back quickly from overfishing, and a shark species that is the very opposite of all that. If all anglers thought it was ok to kill tope that they caught there would very quickly be no tope left to catch. There are some species that are so vulnerable that we shouldn't "try things so we know how to eat or prepare them"

dbrock

I give up before we get going about bass next :-)

pullandbang

Zzippy wrote: »

and a shark species that is the very opposite of all that. If all anglers thought it was ok to kill tope that they caught there would very quickly be no tope left to catch.

Maybe we shouldn't target them at all. If they are that vulnerable/scarce just leave them alone. Go fish for something else that is more plentiful.

gonko

OK lads jeez, chill out. I initially thought it was a hound. I know you can eat them hence why I decided to keep it. The fish was lifeless on the line (as I previously refered to). I had no idea I had caught it, I was merely reeling in to re-bait.

Anyway when I got it home I then realised it may have been a Tope. I do not fish for sport. I do not see hurting a creature and putting it through pain (hooking etc) and taking some snaps and releasing it as a "sport". If these fish are so endangered then why fish them for "sport".

I would much prefer and aim to catch my own fish for food and kill it fast and humanely, rather than one that has died slowly on a trawler, crushed and suffocated. I also would not go catching fish after fish. I would catch enough for a few meals and stop at that. But sport in hurting a creature. Hell no.

dodderangler

The biggest problem here is you killed a fish took it home and had no clue what it was in the first place.
I kill fish. Have kept my fair share of trout over the years a couple of pike, dogfish etc but I knew what they were before bringing them home.
I've no problem with anyone keeping a fish or two but keeping a fish and not having a clue what it is is a bit idiotic.
Should be aware of your species before setting off.
I won't say anymore on this. Seems its ran its course.

Bizzum

gonko wrote: »

I would much prefer and aim to catch my own fish for food and kill it fast and humanely

Be that as it may, the onus is still on you to arm yourself with the knowledge of exactly what species you are legally allowed angle for and keep.
If a swift humane death is a priority, you might want to use a light enough set-up that you'll know you've a fish on and not be pulling in dead fish when your re-baiting.
It seems to me you've a lot to learn, but none of us are born knowing it all.

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

pullandbang wrote: »

Maybe we shouldn't target them at all. If they are that vulnerable/scarce just leave them alone. Go fish for something else that is more plentiful.

Once they are released properly, they are very few fatalities. Also, pretty much all tope and blue shark are tagged, and their size and weight are noted when released. If they are caught again, same thing happens, and we learn a bit more about these creatures and where they travel (and they really do travel!, fish of the west coast of Ireland, have been recaptured of the east cost of the US)

dmc17

gonko wrote: »

I initially thought it was a hound. I know you can eat them hence why I decided to keep it.

dodderangler wrote: »

The biggest problem here is you killed a fish took it home and had no clue what it was in the first place.
I kill fish. Have kept my fair share of trout over the years a couple of pike, dogfish etc but I knew what they were before bringing them home.
I've no problem with anyone keeping a fish or two but keeping a fish and not having a clue what it is is a bit idiotic.
Should be aware of your species before setting off.
I won't say anymore on this. Seems its ran its course.

He had and idea what it was but he got it wrong. He made a mistake and I'm sure he has learned from it. Most people make mistakes at some stage.