When you can start the New Year by shore gathering for ormers then that bodes well. Ed was right about New Years day, it was poor conditions with a strong west wind. Those who braved the west coast surf caught well but those of us who sensibly went east caught little. In fact I had 2, which was average. However, on Monday the weather was great and I went west with "The Ormer king", the famous "Bip" Bichard. There were big crowds on the beaches and everyone caught. I had 20 which was average, but Bip had 45. They don't call him "King" for nothing.
For all you none locals "ormers" are a type of abalone and diving for them is now banned. You can only gather them on a maximum of 24 nominated days a year between January and April. They are only found at extreme low water, stuck under rocks, in areas of heavy reef. Because of this, in practice, only a handful of days produce catches.
Diving for ormers and the subsequent reduction in their numbers was one of the biggest public relation disasters for local spearo's. I know, 30 years ago, I was one of the divers working the ormers. It was hard cold work for small reward but it really alienated the general public who saw the divers actions in taking ormers as little short of satanic. The banning of diving for ormers was a cause for sighs of relief all round. However, many land lubbers have long memories and divers still have a very bad reputation in some quaters even if some of those divers weren't even born when the "Ormer Wars" took place.
Anyway back to reality. Couldn't let Ed and Pete catch all the fish, so went for a quick solo night dive last night. Rather eerie on your own but still quite a thrill. The boys had obviously murdered all the bass and red mullet but they had missed a 3lb sole. The Old Man doesn't miss flatfish - period - so that sole met its maker and came home with me.
Didn't realise that Ed had started the new thread so gave the fish to my brother as a New Year present without taking a pic' for posterity. Next time.
Happy New Year
Dave.
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