Ireland spearing 2007

[Huan]

Sorry guys been kind of busy lately and all over the country, Waterford, Galway, etc etc.
Anyway I have done no diving as usual as I have had a nasty throat infection and have not made any contact with anyone about a prospective albacore trip either, it shouldn't be too hard to organise really and the potential is quite good.
The latest info I have from down here is that there is a lot of Big 10lb+ pollack around in shallow water 6-7 fathoms or less. They are well west around Dursey Island.
If you are interested that is....

[sunfish]

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baby pollack.JPG

baby coalfish.JPG

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seal.JPGHi Huan, I'm definately interested but due to school runs I can only make Dursey on weekends. If the weather holds I'll be there this weekend. Unfortunately, the weathers supposed to go rough. Is there calm water inside the island when the main sea's too rough to dive safely I wonder?
Yesterday I went out to Carraigdubh and took only photos. Nothing competition standard but it's all practise. Does anyone know what the thing in the first picture is?

[donnachad]

Hey sunfish, It's a chain of jellyfish with a long name. More explained here Chain of Jellyfish « Cork SAC Weblog it's great your still getting out. I haven't been in weeks. What kind of viz are you getting?

[sunfish]

Vis is good so far Donnachad. When the sea gets rough it muddies up but it seems to clear quicker in the winter. The forcast isn't good for the weekend though.

[foxfish]

Sunfish, keep the pics coming, I love um.
I think it is great to be able see what you see!

[fcallagy]

nice pics sunfish hope to get out in saturday just to get wet. my daughter droped my camera and the shutter aint working now so i have to try to send it back. I found this out over the weekend on a photo workshop with jamie burns doh

[Spaniard]

Originally Posted by sunfish

This morning I was intending to help a friend building a stone wall in his garden. When I checked the weather a force 8 SW wind was forcast for tonight so I rang up to postpone the wall and set off for carraigdubh again. When I unloaded the kayak and lugged it down the slip I noticed the water was the colour of hot chocolate. I'm not sure why but some swell was coming out of the south east and the wind was north east. Time for a change of venue.
After lugging the kayak back up to the car I drove to a west facing cove and was happy to find the water clear though the wind was still bitingly cold. I began by looking for lobsters. I took no sudafed so I wanted to keep the dives shallow for today. Vis was very good and I found a shallow submerged reef I hadn't known about. There was a small sheltered gulley running through the middle and on swimming up it I found a series of holes with a lobster in one of them. I'm no expert at getting them out of holes. I made a grab, scaring him back inside. Several times I managed to lure him to the entrance again, eventually going to my kayak for a wire hook. When I tried with this I scared him in for good, so gave up on it. I fail with lobsters far more than I catch them.
I then decided to go to a patch of rocks I know, to try for a late season bass. The first fish I found were mullet, small ones with fairly pointy heads and yellow spots on their cheeks. Don't know if they were golden greys or not as normal greys can have cheek spots. Next I found a shoal of larger greys, some few of these upwards of 5lb. As they swam by, some bass joined them and I got one of 5.6lbs. I swam on and into an even bigger shoal and was about to shoot a second bass when I changed my mind and just enjoyed the sight of them swimming by me.
Water temperature varied between 50 and 52 farenheight. It felt warmer in the water than on the kayak though!
I must have made record time back to the cove trying to get warm again.
Made 24 dives, from 11.19 to 12.17. Deepest 29ft longest 58 seconds.Attachment 16268

Nice fat bass mate! Good to see them about this time of year, great photos too!

[sunfish]

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2007_11260028.JPGA couple more photos from Monday.

[Robbo66]

Good shots sunfish...nice healthy looking Bass there

[garett]

Originally Posted by fcallagy

Comhairle Fo-Thuinn - Irish Underwater Council

Just thought you guys should be aware of the photo comp run by cft the irish underwater council closing date is 31st Jan 2008. Sunfish and garrett I am looking in your direction. some nice prizes in it too.

Thanks for the information Feargus.
I'll try, will see what they say.

[sunfish]

Set off this morning, and after seeing the surf at Redstrand, I decided to launch in a southeast facing cove as the swell was coming from the southwest.
I took some photos of cliffs and rocks outside the cove before taking some fishy pictures inside.
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[sunfish]

Here's more.2007_11290053.JPG2007_11290056.JPG2007_11290060.JPG I've just realised how to put pics in a row instead of a column.
I love the different patterns on wrasse.
I made 28 dives from 11.32 to 13.07, deepest 39ft, longest 1min28secs.

[sunfish]

The weather's made it undiveable here for the moment so I've been doing some research on big bass taken.
When you read this Donnachad, I think I've pinpointed the big bass area that you sent me the article about. It's a bit late in the year for a raiding expedition maybe, and I need to buy the admiralty chart for that area in order to pinpoint exact coves and rock patches, but I reckon I know where they are within a mile or two!
If sea conditions calm down a bit I might go and have a look anyway.

[donnachad]

Originally Posted by sunfish

The weather's made it undiveable here for the moment so I've been doing some research on big bass taken.
When you read this Donnachad, I think I've pinpointed the big bass area that you sent me the article about. It's a bit late in the year for a raiding expedition maybe, and I need to buy the admiralty chart for that area in order to pinpoint exact coves and rock patches, but I reckon I know where they are within a mile or two!
If sea conditions calm down a bit I might go and have a look anyway.

Sunfish, let me know if you travelling, It's a bit wild at the moment, but i'd still like to find some likely marks for next season. I'm thinking about buying myself a kayak for christmas, i'm a bit limited without one. weekends have become very boring, roll on springtime!!!

[fcallagy]

yeah thinking about pulling out the surfboard just to get wet a couple of guys were doing tow in stuf in mullaghmore last weekend but that wont be me