Ireland spearing 2007

[foxfish]

Don't you guys fish for flatfish?

[paddyc23]

hey foxfish, if ones goes spearfishing does one have to stay aon the surface for ages until a flatfish moves or the sand shakes, wat does one do to spot a flatfish, ive always wanted to spot one but dont know wat to look for, any ideas

[sunfish]

Foxfish, flatties are a favourite of mine to eat, but I never see them. I'm sure I swim over lots! As Paddyc23 says, any hints would be welcome.
Finally got my zodiac launched and went for a spin round Dunnycove bay. Stupidly ran out of petrol and had to hitch a tow from a friend who was nearby. Ever felt stupid? At least I didn't have to paddle back.

[foxfish]

Well I can tell you how it works over here - I mainly look for plaice & sole but we have rays & most of the other flatfish like turbot & brill.
We always hunt on a low tide, the lower the better.
You don't always need to dive that deep usually 10 to 30' range but you do need a level of fitness & stamina.
Look for nice clean sand or gravel near the edge of a strong tide.
Dive to about 3' off the bottom & swim along for about 30 seconds prodding the sand with your spear where anything looks like a lump or outline of a fish.
Rest for a couple of mins then dive again.
Keep this up until you feel something soft under your spear, this could easily be a buried flatfish.
Sometimes you can spot unburied fish from the surface if the vis is really good.

[fcallagy]

I,ve encountered a few flounder and plaice usually by swimming over them and they usually frighten the sh 1t out of me. I have only seen pretty small ones and they usually take off at a rate of knots and far enough away so i don't see where they land. Its usually in shallow water about 3-4m. Last time i saw a good plaice was in Malin beg Donegal and he just sat there in about 10 m.

[stone_shot]

I've seen the odd plaice but I prefer hunting around the kelp so I don't expect to run into them that often. The one big one I did manage to spot I missed from about 6 inches away
Used to get great flounder back home - up to around 5 pounds, but that was blowing bubbles at about 100 ft - no way in hell I could even freedive to that depth, much less stay there long enough to shoot something

[paddyc23]

Hi all, hows da head....Ill just get into it, im heading to the gulf of leon in october november time as ive been offered a big job working on boats in martega for the yr, Has anyone been there before or know any info on spearfishing in that area or the south of france, licence, laws, types of fish, im looking into doing my advance p.a.d.i out there as i got my open water diving course here severly months ago, so any info would be a big help.

[paddyc23]

just heading out now in the dingy to my spot, this times a little different im taking my mum with me, she wants me too teach her, so hopefully we catch, weathers fine 38.c at the moment 5.45pm here wind speed is 5knts ssw, not to bad, ill let ye know how we get on, i know im not in ireland anymore but ill still post replys to keep this forum going, adious amigos

[Sea Hunter]

Paddyc23

Here in California a few of us dive for Halibut. The preferred method is to drift an incomming tide over sand bars at bay openings. Keep the safety off and your finger on the trigger, as you'll only get a second to react. It's hard to keep your concentration when looking at nothing but sand. When you see bait fish, expect to see the preditors. Since we drift with the tide, you want to hold a teather to your kayak, and connect it to your gun handle. I shot a 22 lb Halibut early this month. If you shoot a big one, expect to go for a ride. If you teather your gun handle to your kayak, you won't loose the gun if he runs and you have to surface for air.

[Huan]

Feargus
Your fish is a female Dragonet, the males are really brightly coloured blue and yellow.
Nice pics, I am going out to the shed now to try and find my camera housing!

[sunfish]

How was the double dip Feargus? Did you make good dives?

[fcallagy]

Had a great weekend Sunfish thanks for asking I got 31m cwf ( is this a national record?) and 16m cwnf but I didnt do the surface protocol properly on the no fins dive and got a red card. I dipped my mouth back under the water for a split second. I learnt a lot over the weekend and it was great meeting up with so many of the names here on db. Deepesr dive was to 60m so I have a bit to go yet.

[foxfish]

Still 31mtrs is not bad!! Well done I would say

[fcallagy]

Cheers foxfish but the mantra for the rest of the year is "must go deeper" lol. I wanted a depth I knew I could do as it was my first comp and the nerves were going to be at me a bit which they were in the final count down but the dive went fine and I dont think I was near any limits. It was still nice to see the safety divers at 15m though.

[sunfish]

Nice dives Feargus, cwf and cwnf are the disciplines I'd be interested in if I was going to try for depth. I'm not competition minded, but I'd certainly enjoy improving my personal best.
I'm just back from a diving session now. It was a bit choppy when I set off. The wind was from the S.W. and the wave tops were crumbling off in foam as I paddled out towards a headland to get some shelter and it was nice to know the wind would be behind me on the way back. I started out at the hole where I failed to catch a lobster a few days ago. It took me 13 dives to find the hole again and no lobster there this time!
I spent the rest of the session looking for big pollack. Plenty there but none looked over 5lb and I already have some fillets in the freezer so they stayed there. I twice swam through a shoal of scad. One of the shoals suddenly panicked and took off with a thunder of cavitation but no predators appeared.
Totalled 41 dives, deepest 55ft longest 1min44seconds.