I went for another morning dive on Wednesday following my blank at Budleigh on Teusday at Anstey's Cove in Torquay. There was a bit more swell than usual and rafts of weed making things a bit awkward. However, I saw more fish than usual in the cove which was nice. I was approached by some school bass on only my second dive. I've never seen them in this cove so I was pleased as I've always had a hunch. I found a decent shoal of pollack which was interesting to watch circling me. I bagged a nice one just under 2lb but there were few bigger fish to be seen so I just watched the rest.
I swam around the corner of long quarry point as I've had mackerel there on a rod before. The bottom was more barren that I'd expected and not much was seen apart from a few large wrasse and the odd glimpse of a mackerel (they never seem interested in spearos). On my return around the corner, during an aspetto a small bass passed me from behind and disappeared ahead of me. I waited for it to reappear through the kelp. I knew from the bass earlier that it would come really close to my spear tip, turn sideways, realise it was too close and bolt. So I shot it on the approach. The spear went in through the eye and didn't emerge until it split the tail at the rear. Fish kebab! It also allowed a quick check against the notch on my spear that it was a few cm over the minimum size limit.
I had to land on a rock, cut my line and restring the spear. There was no way I could run the barb back through the length of the fish. I must get a decent quick release link. I've tried fishing snaps rated to 96lb but the can't take the pressure when the gun is fired.
Hoping for another dive or maybe two before going back to work next week, I need a rest!
