Ireland spearing 2008

[donnachad]

there are no forbidden zones in the sea, only in rivers. no licence needed for a band gun

[baldyfish]

who here uses a stringer?? what kind of stringers do ye use? usually use a net bag hung from my buoy. i want to get a stringer but they look awkward. whats the best way of using one??

[donnachad]

Originally Posted by baldyfish

who here uses a stringer?? what kind of stringers do ye use? usually use a net bag hung from my buoy. i want to get a stringer but they look awkward. whats the best way of using one??

Johnny a stringer is a very fast way to deal with a speared fish, necessary if the shoal is still close by. Attached to your weightbelt its quickly released if its snagged on something.

[baldyfish]

cheers denis. ill have to invest in one. still using the mesh bag. gonna try and get out this sat from the boat after lunch hopefully. got a job in the morning. ill be in touch anyway.

[abusingelves]

hey! got out surfing last weekend. but the exams are close at hand, so i'm going underground for the next few weeks. if i get out, i'll let you guys know, but otherwise i'll be keeping quiet.

fish of the month has opened as well, but looks unlikely that i'll have an entry.

talk to you guys soon.

[stone_shot]

Don't hang your stringer from a float in seal country though - lesson learned the hard way when I came back to find only lips left on the string!

[foxfish]

We would like your input guys http://forums.deeperblue.net/spearo-...tml#post703121

[Oak]

A very easy stringer that i have used in a pinch is a length of heavy power cable, the type that is not to soft or pliable. You can attach it to your weight belt and it is pretty flexible in use. Plus, its cheap, and you can carry a couple of lengths in case of overflow

On the other hand, it might become a tenuous thingy when you have just caught a 14 Kg conger eel. Happened to me once, and cost me a pair of gloves and some seriously chewed up hands, and a harpoon shaft (the eel was not happy and , a lot...) and a lot of splashy antics...managed to bring it ashore, however, and it gave some serious dinners for the whole family and friends for a couple of days.

[baldyfish]

well being an electrician im sure i can find some cable somewhere! thanks for the advice guys. I tether my gun to the buoy and hang the mesh bag from the buoy so its never too far behind. had to ditch the gun a few times and was glad of it!

[Oak]

Hi,

I usually attach the buoy trailer cable to a small anchor (Picasso has some of these) or, in a pinch, to a 500 g weight. I then stick that into my weight belt. Whenever passing over an interesting zone, I tend to drop the anchoring device and go out exploring. I never, NEVER, go out without a reel attached to my lead belt - whenever i have to let go of my speargun, i attach it to the reel and play out. Usually this is because when diving under low visibility, whenever one leaves the speargun at the bottom for some reason, it proves somewaht difficult to find it again afterwards. Before that, I attached the gun to the trailing rope, but that proved too cumbersome in tigh situations or with heavy swell. It can always be an option, though, if something is running away with it

Best,

Oak

[fcallagy]

heading for malinbeg tomorrow morning so hope the weather holds for a while will hopefully put up a few pics if they prove worthwhile.

[baldyfish]

cheers oak. any good spots up your way?? i always imagine dublish water to be manky?

[fcallagy]

We had a good if cold weekend and got all our trainnees through their skills on scuba. Very little fish about I saw one Blenny and one flounder very small and that was it. A small congor way into a hole and not coming out. Some pics attached.

[fearthespear]

Nice photos. Do you have a filter for colour correction or are the pics adjusted on the computer?

[fcallagy]

Hi fearthespear cheers, no filter on the camera its set to u/w mode and the three close ups on macro setting on the camera but i haven,t done anything else with the pics. they were taken in shallow water appx 4-8m and in pretty good vis. I was wondering about a filters but am hoping to get a wide angle lense and mount at some point but its pretty much the same price as the camera and housing again so it will have to wait a while. Flash on the shrimp and crab because they were tucked into a crevice but no flash on the others.