Ireland spearing 2007

[fcallagy]

Thats a long dive sunfish well done my longest dive would probably 1.15 hoping to get out this weekend and it seems a bit calmer this morning but it was blowing a gale here last night forecast aint so hot though.

[sunfish]

Feargus, last night I was reading a thread on pipe masks. Do you use one of these for cwnf ? They must be a help as you can equalize your mask while wearing a noseclip, so your arms are free to swim. The thread has several designs for making these, and is in the freediving section.

[fcallagy]

I didnt use one myself sunfish bennyb had one and used it to great effect along with a nose clip for equalisation. There are also fluid goggles that dont need to be equalised but do obviously restrict your sight a bit. Benny made his own from a swim mask similar to whats in the threads but I better try and get a nose clip first.
I was out this morning but the sea was more suited to tow in surfing than diving but am hoping to hit st johns in donegal tomorow theres a bay there thats nearly always sheltered.

[fcallagy]

well sheltered bay it was but the vis was crapola about 1ft I guess. You knew your where on the bottom when you hit it an hour and a half away for nought but i did get a go on one of the lads seadoo scooters which was cool enough.Hope the vis is better down south lads

[sunfish]

All power to you for trying Feargus. I must admit, I didn't have the heart for it. I had a couple of ideas for places to, try but in the end I decided to wait 'til Tuesday. Magic seaweed says it'll be better conditions then. My wife is taking the kids to England for two weeks this Wednesday so I'm hoping the summer will start soon!

[sunfish]

Back in the water at last! Paddled out to Carraigdubh reef this morning. Saw pollack right from first dive and some pretty big wrasse too. Soon a shoal of mullet also appeared. I was surprised to spot a bass among the mullet. I know they shoal together inshore, but this is the first time I've managed to find any bass offshore. I shot a small bass which weighed in at 2.1lb only, but I did spot a bigger one later.
I was short of time today, so made 26 dives only, ending up with the bass and a small pollack of 3.1lbs. I enjoyed the session, in spite of poor vis, because of all the fish activity on the reef. I even saw a large pollack [maybe 8 or 9lbs] but couldn't get a shot off as it appeared beneath me and left immediatly.

[sunfish]

Weather has discouraged me from diving for a couple of days but I went back to Carraigdubh today to look for bass again. The tide was pretty low when I got there a SW sea was breaking hard onto the reef. I anchored at the NE corner for safety. Small silver baitfish were dimpling the water like heavy rain as I got off the kayak, and bigger fish were breaking the surface among them. Lots of mullet were cruising about and soon I spotted bass but I managed to miss both chances I got to bag one. I also missed a good shot at a pollack, and saw the spear go over its head as I moved the gun involuntarily.
Hope to get out again tomorrow. Its looking like I need the practise!
Has anyone else been out? Whats the vis and sea conditions like in the rest of Eire?

[fcallagy]

HI Sunfish am just back from Teelin in Donegal with my brother and two greek spearos who I met on here and went up to meet today. Vis was bad to start but really cleared after a few metres or so. I speared my first fish (pollock) and had an arguement with a fisherman about spearing so I must really be a spearo now. Another fisherman was genuinely impressed with the catch and the way they guys were fishing staying down so long etc. There was no explaining to the other guy who saw it as illegal immoral disgusting and robing local fishermen of their livlyhood. He threatened to call the cops until we spoke a little clearer about not using scuba anyway he was only a fly in the oinment on a very enjoyable day I will post some pics later and also some video I shot if I can manage to upload it. Vis was pretty good further out and the sea was flat calm.

[foxfish]

Did your Greek friends catch anything, what did they think of the dive?

[Huan]

Thats a shame about that dickhead fisherman, especially as it was your first!
I guess theres no talking to some people....

[fcallagy]

They had a great time foxfish caught mainly pollock and a few big wrasse which they like along with crab and a scallop. We were in 2 1/2 hours about and they really want to shoot bass but I have never seen one around here. We visted Sliabh Liag afterwards the highest sea cliffs in Europe which are pretty spectacular. Pics to follow. We saw a few large prawn and one small lobster which we left along with a good size congor that was left as no one wanted it for dinner.

[fcallagy]

I should have been a bit more prepared Huan knowing definitively the regs but I dont think we hit any fishermens livlyhood with pollock and wrasse. I did shoot a couple of small ones that to my untrained eye seemed bigger down there as usual but its a lesson learnt.

[fcallagy]

Couple of pics will try the video at a later stage.

[sunfish]

Sounds like a great trip Feargus. I'm looking forward to the video.The sea cliffs look stunning. I like looking off high places but find it a bit scary too!
Spearing pollack is definately not against the law and as far as I know, no fisherman makes much money from pollack. Even if they did, morally, that gives them no more right to the fish than you have to eat them.I've never understood why some people think that catching fish to sell is more important than catching them to eat.
I believe the law on shellfish and crustacians is that it's illegal to take them using scuba gear. Huan probably knows about this.

[abusingelves]

well done on the fish feargus!! also well done on the dive. 31 metres was it you said? savage!

haven't been out in a while now myself, was working at the galway races with the crew of lads responsible for making sure the place didn't run dry!

we were putting in up to 600 kegs every morning, and managed to clock up just over 110 hours for the 7 days.

have never seen so much alcohol in one place.

doesn't look like i'll get out any time in the next few weeks. flat out studying for a big momma exam i have at the end of august. didn't even know until recently that it was legal to make exams 8 hours long!

on the fisherman who thought it was illegal note:

two friends of mine, both bsac and padi instructors, comercial divers and marine biologists were taking some of the top guys in BIM on a dive back in conemara. when they surfaced after the dive, this fisherman dude in an open boat came really close to them, shouting abuse about divers taing all the lobsters and that such nonsense. jim(not his real name) who is a v- big man picked them up in the dive boat they were using. yer man came in close to them and continued on his rant. lisa (also not her real name ) stopped him and said ''well i'm sorry, maybe you'd like to take this up with BIM, here we hav xyz the ceo, and abc, their local area guy etc etc (she listed off the guys in the boat! ) yer man was gobsmacked. one of the BIM lads then proceded to produce a large camera with one of those telephoto lenses and went click click click as he photo'd yer man, before calmly asking him what exactly it was he was fishing for?

the lads said he took off as fast as he could go, not looking back!

that's a few years ago now, and i wasn't there that day myself, but i did hear it told more than once!