County Wicklow is attracting the attention of tope anglers far and wide and has produced another beauty in the shape of this beast that captor Stephen Hanway and crew put at ‘well over 70lb’. Things were too rough to come to shore to weigh her properly and she was safely returned. 

The Dubliner was fishing out of Greystones, where he boated the current Irish record for the species at 34.02kg (75lb) back in 2018, beating the old best that had stood for 39 years by 4kg. This one was almost certainly of new record proportions had it been weighed in accordance with the rules.

Greystones AC is hosting a two-day tope festival out of the harbour  on August 20th and 21st, 2022, on a strict catch-and-release basis.