Cornwall 2007!

[Lou]

Well, just got back from Coombe. Nice dive but viz was really milky, when the sun shone at the right angle it improved to 3 to 4 meters.

Got a bass, to quote a Gentleman's periodical - it was "Barely Legal" (46cm). To be honest it was one of those snap shots, it swam straight into my gun out of the gloom and I reacted by pulling the trigger. A bit disapointed in myself for not letting get closer and taking a better look but the viz was not ideal. Still lesson learnt!

I hope the viz improves over the next couple of days - I imagine it will but its well worth getting in the water - and i'm praying for the day my suit turns up from Dave!

Lew

 

[Huw]

Hi Lou! Good to hear from you! I was out on the boat yesterday evening, we got on the water around 4.45, but had to be back on land at 6.30. We took the suits and fins mask etc, but left the guns and were hoping to go and look for some lobbys since the tide was fairly low, however by the time we had got where we wanted to be time wasn't on our side so we decided against getting in.

My boat is just a small dory with a 25hp on the back... far from good - but its fine for filling with fish and getting to the small bays around the coast. I can't remember what colour your rib was again though Lou, was it black or orange?

My buddy and I are heading out to be on the water for 5ish tonight, and taking the guns. Shaping up to be a good evening... may see you out there? I think we may do a bit of place hopping, and try a few spots, but i will keep an eye out for you.

What suit did you go for in the end?

Huw.

 

[Lou]

A dory with a 25 on it will be just what you need round here - you'll have loads of fun with that. I've got the yellow humber rib with 115 on it, has MANTA on the bow tubes.

I went for a made to measure Triton suit, looking forward to that arriving in three weeks or so.

Hope to see you guys out there. There are a few of us in the st austell/Fowey area, we should get together for a couple of beers and plan a session somewhere!:friday

 

[Huw]

Yeah that definatley sounds good! I am on 'study leave' right now, but am free as a bird from the 27th onwards, so beers and spearing are top of the agenda then! At the moment i'm just fitting dives in when i can . I'll definatley keep an eye out for you.

I got a suit from dave early in the season, well worth the wait... its strange to have sessions go up form one hour tops to 5 hours

See you around,
Huw

 

[badlander]

Dived down on the south coast today,bit of a bonus as i was supposed to be working but we were so quiet i was permitted to take some instant leave...nice.Anyway.....headed down to a spot i'd tried the other day and again the vis was lovely,10m no problem but a little short on bass.....aspetto'd my little heart out for about 2 hours when a group of small bass came in to check me out but alas....they were all pretty small so i checked them out till they didn't like what they saw and hot-tailed it out of there.....ah well i thought,head home and go for a surf.As i was walking back along the coast path i saw a little stretch that looked too good to pass up,i'd fished it a while back when there were heaps of mullet and thought how good it'd be for bass.Slid in and instantly the vis was pretty crap but only the top couple of meters so i had a little look about and suddenly spotted about 5 bass below me......hooray!.......as the tide dropped the vis got loads better and there were just heaps of bass but all small and in groups of about 10 or so.It was nice seeing them all but hideously frustrating not being able to shoot one so i played cat and mouse with them for about 2 hours till finally i got a shot on one that was doable that was just hanging out with one other.
Bloody good fun but had to crawl up the rocks i was so beat.Conditions just look like they're getting better and i'm glad i've seemed to have lost my bass repellent magnet i feel like i've had.

 

[James T]

Guys - might be time to make your voices heard...

http://forums.deeperblue.net/spearo...speafishing-ban-south-wales-3.html#post648611

see the last post from Kevin - He is asking us all to lobby against the proposed spearfishing ban in south wales.

James

 

[Huw]

Pete and I couldn't wait for a dive yesterday, especially given that it was to be the first boat dive of the year. However when we got to our spot the vis was SH#TE the vis had gone from fair to absolutely terrible. As soon as we dropped into the water we couldn't see the spear tips on the 90's.

We searched the shallow rocks for a good 40mins hoping to find some mullet offguard. No luck so I started to try some aspettos to around 5m with no real expectations. However on one dive i spotted a large wrasse and watched him for a while as he checked me out, and then glanced up to midwater and saw a shoal of silvery shapes begin to cruise in. My breath was running low, so i picked the largest shape and started to track it. It was still on the edge of the vis (2m here) so well within range, and i marked up the gill cover and took the shot and saw the glint of an awkwardly reacting fish before heading to the top. I looked down to see the fish dissapearing so fustrated beyond belief, both at the vis, and at the wounded fish, we called it a day and headed back after only an hour in the water.

The session really dampened our hopes, and we're thinking of holind off for a few weeks now.


James T... just sent of fmy eamil, cheers for reminding us.

Badlander... i'm VERY jealous of your vis!!!


Huw.

 

[badlander]

I know Huw...reading all these reports makes me feel pretty lucky.....it's like those awesome underwater garden days that i just wish i could convince my buddys to stop being so surf focused and come and check out what i do.They hate it when i drive away from 3ft surf to head off to some secret cove down the Lizard....i'm sure i'll covert some more this year though...converted 2 so far and they're loving it,apart from my main diving partner whose totally shagged his back...im so gutted for him,he was really coming on last season and had just bought a cayman hf 90 for this year and now he's even unable to work.....trying to get him to work on his breathing while he's laid up,perfect opportunity.
Anyway.....as ever....if you ever fancy some good vis diving down my way..gimme a shout.
Hoping to try and work on my boat tomorrow...engines still stuffed but just havn't had time to try and sort it out...i'm hideously crap with engines.
Anyway,waffling on again.....
May you all experience the same fortune as OMD!

 

[Pav]

Finally after a few trips past my favourite coves to see viz was poor this recent weather has cleared my local waters!

On route as it seemed so nice an evening I opted to walk into a cove I have not speared before. No way to check viz prior to the hike but felt like it would be good.

The spot although it doesnt look like it has a point, and a steady current flow across it as the tide pushes in. Saw a flash of a fish early on to persue my interests and then later took a long shot to miss my first decent view of a Bass. Reloaded wasn't long before I had my first Bass of the season. About 4lb.

After that saw 2 more Bass but both were small 1 - 2lb fish.

Not a bad first dive in my local waters. Sure beats the drive down to Cornwall.

Although the hike out of this spot was painful, made worse by dropping my car key and spending 1/2hr back tracking until I found it.

 

[badlander]

Conditions have been just about as good as they get for my favourite North coast spot,so i was pretty happy to find that the bass were there in plentifull supply.
Took the one on the left this morning and the other one last night.Also had a couple of smaller bass.

 

[Pav]

Mass of fishing line tangled with a helpless Dogfish on the line. Cut him free, felt sorry for the fella.

 

[eddie2stroke]

good man pav

 

[nickever]

Looks like there are a few good fish being taken at the mo, must be cos of the improved vis over the past few days!

Those look like nice fish badlander - what did they weigh in at? Look like 5-6 pounders at least!

Went in down Porthleven way over weekend, had a small bass and saw a few larger ones but no joy. Vis was amazing though and just enjoyed being in the water and practising my dives!


I was wondering if any of you seasoned pro's out there could let me know your thoughts on the state of the tide in relation to success of fishing? I am led to believe that a rising tide is always best and try to fish when it is in that state, but unfortunately the rising tide doesn't always fit in with the end of the working day!
Some of you guys seem to be in the water a lot at various times of the day and must be in at all times of the tide? Is it more to do with the ground you are spearing over that affects the fish you see, or does the tide play a major part in what you see/catch?

 

[nickever]

PS: Damn u ugly eddie!

 

[dave]

Different areas will hold fish on different states of the tide. As a very, very general rule bass will tend to be found off headlands and on offshore reefs at low tide, and move into bays and estuaries at high tide.
Bigger bass spend a lot of time,particularly around low tide, lying up in gullies, holes or under the kelp digesting their last meal. The big trick is finding out where these areas are!
cheers
dave
Spearguns by Spearo uk ltd finest supplier of speargun, monofins, speargun and freediving equipment

 

[nickever]

thanks dave. The past two decent sized bass i've had were both caught under the kelp lying still at just after low tide!! Definately found one of those spots!

 

[Pav]

I used to stick to regular favourite times with the tides, but then made do around work hours. I still favour low tide and the push, but get nice suprises when I try other times!

Had my first expereince of a night (last light!) dive tonight. Got too dark to see and lit up my torch. WOH! All sorts of creatures that I've been missing!, like bright light bulbs in my torch light. Also suprised by the resident flatties! , never spotted them before.

Only spotted 2 Bass before dusk. 1 good size, but inched forwards to get a better shot and it got spooked :head .

 

[badlander]

Got in tonight at St Agnes.It was more to go out with my friend in his boat and check on his lobster pot (nada).Had a quick dive and saw exactly no bass.Did see a couple of sea trout and managed to shoot my first golden grey mullet.Or at least i think so.....it was darker on top,had a smaller pointier head and the stripes were more defined.And of course golden patches on the gills.Vis was okay out deep and a bit milky in shallow.Seemed like every man woman and child was taking to the ocean tonight.

 

[jimy286]

OOOOOh

Thats intresting Badlander...so this mate does he fish for lobster comercialy or fun...does he have a licence?

Round my parts of dorset it seems you have to be very good a doging baseball bats!!!!:martial

 

[grunter]

As it states you only need if you land more than 2 and with a name like badlander he may come from the aggie area and thus knows local commercial fishermen and knows were not to put his pots and avoid the baseball bats.

Cornwall County Council - Lobster, Crawfish and Crab Fishing for Profit Permit Byelaw
p2. No person shall use, or cause, or permit or assist any other person to use, a boat of any description for fishing for lobsters (Homarus gammarus), crawfish (Palinarus elephas) and crab (Cancer pagarus or Maia squinado) within the area of the Cornwall Sea Fisheries District except under an annual permit issued to the owner of the boat by the Committee and signed by the Committee's Chief Fishery Officer and in accordance with the following conditions:-
4. This byelaw shall not apply to the use of a boat where such use has not resulted in the taking of more than 2 fish from among the species named in paragraph 2 above in any one day. The taking of more than 2 fish from among the species named in paragraph 2 above on any one day without a permit, shall be deemed as fishing for profit and will constitute a breach of the byelaw.