Record results: the 2010 Stormcats Islay Tope Fishing Competition

The annual StormCats Islay Tope Fishing Competition took place on Lochindaal last weekend – in variable conditions.

Over the 21st and 22nd August there were  heavy swells to start each day but improving as the day went on; overhead conditions included most Scottish West coast weather, including rain, mist, wind and sunshine. And would we have it any different?

No fewer than 70 anglers took part on 22 boats over the 2 days featuring a mix of men, women and junior anglers.

The event donates the £20 entrance fees to charity and this year, along with a £1,000 contribution from St James’ Place Wealth Management, the total raised was £2,200. This is split between two charities that signal the uniqueness of island life: the RNLI and the wonderful local charity, Islay & Jura Sick Kids’ Fund.This pays the costs of families needing to be with sick island children hospitalised on the mainland.

The majority of anglers are local to the island but there are regular competitors who travel from different parts of the UK to fish. Islay is an island with the welcome mat always on its shores and anyone who, through this report (and the photographs)  starts to get interested in fishing this competition next year will discover this for themselves.

(There are a few other enticements, of course – the eight island single malt distilleries; some restaurants keeping pace with the competition anywhere; and the Finlaggan Centre that brings today into contact with the days when Islay was the centre of a very particular universe – the one governed by the, now almot mythical, Lords of the Isles.)

StormCats is a local boat building company, the largest GRP (glass reinforced plastic) boatbuilder in Scotland. It is owned by Gus Newman, the founder of this competition 5 years ago. Mr Newman donates a prize of £400 for the heaviest tope caught over the two days and enjoys seeing many of his boats out on the loch with keen anglers aboard.

Other prizes are donated by local distilleries and businesses and are awarded for the second and third heaviest tope as well as heaviest fish and heaviest bag, alongside prizes for winners in the female and junior section. (Aha – so the assumption is that it will be the big boys who win the other prizes? Come om girls and boys – show em.)

Altogether 11 tope were tagged and released over the two days – a new record for this competition. And of course there were many more lost beside the boat, lots of runs that got away and extended tales of close encounters. (Nothing new there but, oh, the skills of the narratives.)

The smallest tope caught was a 25 pouner and – unbelievably – the heaviest tope prize was shared between two that weighed in at 44lbs each. The next size down was 43 lbs, so a tight contest. In previous years, there have had tope to over 60 lbs.

All tope were in excellent condition and returned unharmed. The competition is catch-and-release and organisers are looking forward to receiving information about any of these tope, if they’re re-caught somewhere else.

Having made contact with the Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network through James Thorburn (the SSACN officer based in Oban), some of the Islay anglers are planning on taking part in the Sharkatag weekend next summer.

Will they do in sea kayaks though?

This is great evidence, though, that Argyll is starting to get connected up through better overall information on who’s doing what where. SSACN are an enviable well managed organisation doing serious work in research and conservation of stocks of shark, skate and ray and are now, deservedly, nationally recognised for their expertise and their efforts.

It is great to see the Islay sea angling community ging for the great Sharkatag / Tagathon events the SSACN now organise annually – the first usually in the Solway Firth and the second usually in Loch Sunart.

Success all round then: for the event, for the participants, for the charities involved, for SSACN, for the fish stocks, for better communications and collaboration, for Stormcats – and for fun.

The 2010 results

Heaviest tope

• 1st prize : shared by Gilbert MacLellan and Jason Mitchell, each with a tope of 44 lbs – and winning £400 donated by StormCats and a bottle of Lagavulin single malt whisky
• 2nd prize: Scott McGurn, wiht a tope of 43 lbs – and winning a meal voucher for the Port Charlotte Hotel and a bottle of Kilchoman new release. (Kilchoman Islay’s newest distillery and already marked for success)
• 3rd prize: Lyle Heads, with a tope of 36 lbs – and winning £40 donated by Anvil Art and a bottle of White Horse whisky.

Heaviest fish other than a tope

• 1st prize: Hugh Campbell with a lithe – and winning £50 from Islay Ales and a bottle of Bowmore single malt whisly
• 2nd prize: Annie Gredley with a dog fish – and wining a bottle of Ardbeg single malt whisky with a whisky glass
• 3rd prize: Alex Williams with a mackerel – and winning a bottle of Laphroaig single malt whisky, arguably the most unique malt n existence

Heaviest bag of five fish

• 1st prize: Hugh Campbell with a bag of 12 lb 10oz – and winning a bottle of  Bruichladdich single malt whisky – like the one that floored James May and Oz Clark on their televised round Britain tour.
• 2ne prize: Hilda Ramsa wiht a bag of 4 lb 11 oz – and winning a bottle of Isle of Jura songle mat whisky – from the sole distillery on Islay’s close sister island.
• 3rd prize: Julie Stichell (we’re not sure of her bag weight) – and winning a bottle of Bunnahabhain single malt whisky

Ladies’ Prize

• 1st prize: Annie gredley, winning £50 and tablet donated by An Gleann Tablet (we’re a fan)
• 2ne prize: Gilian McAulay, winning a bottle of Laphroaig whisky
• 3rd prize: Julie Stichell, winning £10 and a bottle of wine (what?)

Junior Prize

• 1st prize: Frazer Mathews, winning  £50 donated by Billy the Butcher
• 2nd prize: Millie Mitchell, winning a fishing rod donated by Minty Cracknell

The photographs accompanying this article are from Gus Newman and we couldn’t resist including the one above, for its moody steel palette and its cloudscape.