Ireland spearing 2007

[sunfish]

Abusingelves, I've posted the mackeral pate recipe in recipe section.
No diving today due to weather, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the weekend. If the sea calms down a bit I'll be looking for some vis.
Huan, do you ever dive Dunmanus bay or Bantry bay? I go there sometimes looking for visibility when the winds been South for a while, though Southwesterlies ruin vis there too. I got a 12lb greater spotted dogfish in Bantry bay a couple of years ago. Don't think I'd shoot another though.

[seamunki]

Howya Lads!

Sorry to join this thread so late, Its great to see it up and running!

I havn't been out spearing in about a month- shot 2 pollack of the local pier, ill try and get photos up soon.

Stoney, Huan great to hear from ye. I'm in Louisburgh now, so if anybody is out west, just let me know if you need a buddy.

Sunfish- those pollack are awesome!

All the Best,
Pat

[stone_shot]

Hiya Pat - Good to hear from you. I'm only dying to get wet - I suppose with junior due to arrive next sunday the question is when will I be allowed??

Don't know if you noticed Feargus' post about the tuna - sign me up if that takes off!!!

[abusingelves]

tuna! i'm sure it would be more miss than hit, but i'd say its definitely worth a try. i have seen tuna around the aran islands (i was in a boat), but i think they were albacore. meant to try for them specificaly with rod and line, but never got round to it. a friend of mine spotted albacore in galway bay at night a few years back. they were feeding on mackerel on the surface. he wouldn't have seen them, only for the great phosphorescence that night. he said it was brilliant to watch them zip through the shoal.

so the moral of the story is, that there are also albacore about, and i would reckon that they are more plentiful than the bluefin. you know anything about the relative distribution of tuna in our waters huan?

if there's tuna spearing taking place, i want in!

and if i can't make it, i want to know what is going on.!


cavan AL, i've been working up to heading to lahinch or there abouts myself to sample their bass, but haven't made the plunge yet. i'd be interested in accompanying you one of these days. (would prob have to be mid sept, as i've taken on enough work to count out taking off an entire day between now and then)

[paddyc23]

hello anybody been out recently?

[paddyc23]

hello everybody anyboby been out lately,me 2moro wind died down to 3knts so viz is very good now as its been blowing a gale 4 da last wk 15-25knts water was a dark green sandy mist for as far as i could see, waves crashing over the breaker wall which is where i go, theres alot of big bass and mullet and a couple of darado, i saw a shole of garfish swimming on the surface last wk that was a nice site watching them gracefully swim, man are they fast, got myself a new weight belt with an extra 2 weights so 4 total now hopefully be easier to stay down while ruiting out those octopus lars, anyway ill let ye know how i get on, im doing 2 trips 2moro one from 8am - 12am and again 4pm - 8pm, they seem 2 be da best times here as im living in spain now and its 35'c during 1-5pm way to hot for me and the fish, never anything around then they all migrate into the deeper water where i cant go, need to practise my breath holding, im ok to 10m anything else is no no for now, much improvement needed, but thats another day,,, good night all, keep the posts coming in id love to hear your stories

[sunfish]

Went in today from a small cove, west of Clonakilty. Small silver baitfish were swarming round reef and rocks in vast shoals. Some greater sandeel came through the baitfish every few minutes. At the mouth of the cove, in a slight tidal current, I dived to the rocks. There seemed to be pollack everywhere, and mackeral shoals too. The pollack were in the small to medium range and I took two which weighed in at 3.9 and 4.7 lbs. I'd hoped for bigger! I could probably have shot a hundredweight of medium sized fish, but two was enough. If it's calm tomorrow, I've a spot in mind where the baitfish should have the bass feeding.

[stone_shot]

Getting back to the tuna - do any of you lads have the gear to tackle them? I don't think anybody will be bringing one home with a 90cm gun unless you're an incredible shot and very lucky.
So who out there in Ireland owns a tuna cannon?

[abusingelves]

well i'd fancy myself ready to take on the smaller tuna species
with my 120 . although i'd have to rig up some sort of a breakaway system and some float/s. 30 mins work perhaps.

don't think i'd ever take a shot at any of those bluefin, could see myself getting seriously injured!

got out yesterday evening just after high tide. couldn't see the end of my gun in places! but when i got out to a depth of 10m, it seemed that it was only the surface that was murky. on the bottom the viz was good! so it was really cool diving into a soup , and after about 5 metres it would just clear and hey presto viz!

there seemed to be a fair amount of pollock around, but didn't shoot any. the place was absolutely swarming with those brown jellyfish. spotted many small jellyfish also which were absolutely tiny. they had an orange star in the body and were very very small., and yes i spent ages just looking!

[Huan]

I thought about Bluefin for a while and even made enquiries into guns, budget at least €1500 for a gun capable of taking mr Thunnus Thunnus, add another €500 for a float system and another €200 for a bungie system.
It ain't cheap and TBH for the moment with two young kids I can't afford to kill myself just yet
Make no mistake the bluefin we get here are some of the biggest in the atlantic, I was tagging them a few years ago in Clifden and Donegal and we caught one that was around 350+ these fish will test your gear to the limit, after all who builds off the shelf gear for 1000lb fish?
The problem with them is that there has been very few sightings and fewer caught for the past 2 years, whether this is due to them all being caught or some other factor I cannot say but it is a fact.
I would love to give Albacore a go but they are so far offshore it is hard to get out in a small boat, you really need a 60ft + boat and they don't come cheap.
I am currently helping a small boat to rig up to go trolling for them commercially and he will likely have some info on whether they are there or not.

[PUDD]

hello abusingelves went with Cavan AL to lahinch was V.good vis and water temp was warm! if your both going in sep i will ring him and come along it will be intresting to here what other people have to say about where to go in Ireland! and what kit they use!

[sunfish]

In a change of plan on Sunday I took my 10 year old daughter instead of a speargun. As I expected, there were bass around. We spotted 5 in the 3 to5 lb range in half an hour. I'm sure if I'd been alone and swum the whole mile or so of shore I'd have found some bigger ones too. Sandeel were everywhere.

[fcallagy]

Hi Lads was out yesterday afternoon with the sun shining the vis was okish. Spotted this little fella on his own but dont know what he is any one know ? Along with a few more pics.

Attachment 14648

[stone_shot]

Nice pics Feargus! That's a little sea scorpion or bull rout I think.

[paddyc23]

Hi all, internets been down for the last severel days, ship wreck spearfishing was a disaster as when we went out the wind picked up on are big boat and instead of facing the wind it was coming in at a bad direction, gusting high waves aon the side, serious roll, so that was a know go, 8 of us went out and 3 were seriously sick, so we moved spot where it was calmer, no fish there plenty of sand, that day was a disaster, especially when i was training breath holding all wk b4 that, but as they say one door shuts another one opens, with that i went spearfishing by the breakerwall, my usual spot i have one place in perticular, so i went around in the dingy with my bud, it was 6ish pm wen i got there, viz was brillant a bit too brillant, 300ft or so from the shore, it was good but the fish are too aware in water like that, so anyway i was swimming around looking as you do, saw alot but not dinner size, and the ones who were are to clever for me especially in very clear water, they were gone wen they saw me, so in the end i was like ok im not going to get anything saw bk to the dingy where my mate was he gave atleast an hr for me as ive got more patience, headed to the dingy for a cig, sat there for bout ten mins, and thought id give it one more chance, so i did and by fluke i swam directly to the rocks and by the off chance infront of my was a big mullet, very big for here, there not large here, he saw me nd i saw him, he was old slow mover, he saw to my starberd side circled to port and swam underneath me and with that i shot direct shot to the gill plate, wat a fish i thought, swam to the surface and was asmazed with wat i got, so was my mate, wen i tock it to the boat, i brought it home, my mum was chuffed, i weighed it it weighed 2.75lbs, my best yet in mullet, we had garlic and spring onion potatoes with asian garlic etc sauce and salad wat a feist... Today i went out again same spot viz was crap misty green, was in about 3 hrs got a new waist coat for underneath my wet suit which my mum made, she can make anything, i saw a shoul of garfish which was nice, shimmering away speeding away, a few bass were around, 4 total, one solidary, 3 in a family, one i shot, nice size nothing massive, could do with another tomorrow, i saw one mullet it was huge twice the size as the big one i caught but unfortunly it was outta my range as i was swimming up tide, wen i get my new trident for my 105 gun then ill be baggin them, the power and distace is so much better with the big'en, i gotta wait 2 wks until it gets here as ive ordered one few days ago....... Were going to anchor tomorrow in a different location, so that should be cool, new teritory to explore, were going 2moro or thursday if so ill go again 2moro, 7 days for me...Im mad!!!!!..............Ill try to keep in touch as much as i can, wen im anchored and go inland ill have a browse....