Cornwall 2009

[gutshot]

Spearo dave can get all you need! I got my Rob Allen from dave and he can get all the spares!

 

[gutshot]

Took advantage for the good weather today and dragged spearflap out on our kayaks off shore. Had my GoPro camera on my speargun but after a while i noticed a slight leak so took it off. 2 Min later i nailed a big mullet!:head I did get some footage which i will post later. The water is warming up and the bloom is kicking off well. The viz was up to 8m at times and we saw a few bass around but nothing close or big enough. We did get surrounded by the biggest school of mullet though at the same place i saw the monster school of bass last year (shame the camera was off by then), so i now have my new favourite part of the reef! As we were paddling spearflap noticed something splashing and then the fishfinder on my kayak went nuts. We couldn't get anchored up and back in the water quick enough. So many fish. The main problem was trying to pick out a fish from the hundreds there! I also checked out another section of reef where i shot a 6-7lb pollock but my reel didn't release and the flopper didnt catch him and he pulled off.:rcard

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULK55F9ty-o"]YouTube - Spearfishing 19/04/09[/ame]

 

[badlander]

Headed for the south coast today bright and early.Found there was too much swell breaking where i'd wanted to go in so kept driving to another spot which by rights should have been sheltered from the swell but......no!
A couple of feet of swell getting in at the second spot too.Got in there anyway and dodged the waves to get out back (took one in the face and got dehooded and icecream headached)
Vis was pretty good considering at about 5m.Too much swell though and maintaining position was tricky.Headed down the coast a tad to seek more shelter and ran into a very large group of mullet and picked one off.Got into all kinds of trouble trying to subdue it as it was a terrible shot through the tail.Got tied up by my shooting line,rubbers unattached themselves (Gabbi -luckily i noticed them on the bottom) all the while getting battered by waves.Bit of a laugh really though.Continued on and discovered a very large net in close...couldn't see any fish in it though.Then i got buzzed by a seal and pretty much lost hope after that.
Still,lovley day for it!

 

[Gaz D]

Headed for the south coast today bright and early.Found there was too much swell breaking where i'd wanted to go in so kept driving to another spot which by rights should have been sheltered from the swell but......no!
A couple of feet of swell getting in at the second spot too.Got in there anyway and dodged the waves to get out back (took one in the face and got dehooded and icecream headached)
Vis was pretty good considering at about 5m.Too much swell though and maintaining position was tricky.Headed down the coast a tad to seek more shelter and ran into a very large group of mullet and picked one off.Got into all kinds of trouble trying to subdue it as it was a terrible shot through the tail.Got tied up by my shooting line,rubbers unattached themselves (Gabbi -luckily i noticed them on the bottom) all the while getting battered by waves.Bit of a laugh really though.Continued on and discovered a very large net in close...couldn't see any fish in it though.Then i got buzzed by a seal and pretty much lost hope after that.
Still,lovley day for it!

The swell seemed to be getting in everywhere today mate. I had similar problems, but he girlfriend wasn't happy to keep moving , so made the best of a bad situation.

Nothing seen or speared yesterday. One half decent bass and one half decent pollock seen today, but slightly out of range (plus a couple of very small turbot/brill - will check id later).

But as you said, lovely day for it.

 

[nickever]

Took advantage for the good weather today and dragged spearflap out on our kayaks off shore. Had my GoPro camera on my speargun but after a while i noticed a slight leak so took it off.

Got in at my local North Coast spot on sunday armed with my new Gopro camera and new speargun mount. Vis was excellent in places but a bit murky where the weed was blooming.

Got a few minutes of footage of nothing much on the surface, then went for a shallow dive of about 3-4metres. Then I noticed a leak in my housing as well (Gutshot). As I was a little offshore and without the safety of a kayak it took a while to get it out of the water!

By then the camera had stopped working completely - obviously due to water in it. Got it home, took it apart, put it somewhere warm for a few hours - still not looking healthy.

Got up this morning and it was magically working again! Must have fully dried overnight. Very lucky I think but a warning to all about these cameras - I am not convinced by the 'watertight' housings. Gonna have a good look at mine to see where it could be leaking and what I could do to improve the housing. I carefully checked the seal before leaving home to go for the dive and was convinced I had it sealed perfectly though.

Anyway the few minutes footage I did get looked of a pretty good quality. Didn't catch ought either - just saw a few smallish mullet who I left to fatten up for next year...

 

[Lazuli]

Evening all,
Strange day really. After work the girlfriend and I raced down to Prussia Cove only to find milky water and crappy looking sea. Saw a spearo with a fluorescent technisub SMB (anyone on here???) looking like they were having a miserable one so we went on to Falmouth area. Got suited up and realised that we had forgotten our masks:head. Went home, grabbed them, back to Falmouth. Finally got in and had a really chilled dive on the ebb just hanging out with the wrasse and the baby pollack. Aspettos came good today as I managed to take a brace of larger pollack for the table (curry:friday).

Glad you're ok badlander. One of my Pollack was a tail(ish) shot and it also went haywire on me.

 

[foxfish]

Pollack have very small flakes of flesh so not sure how they will stand up to curry?
Small pollock have a loverly delicate flavour & soft flesh, I would descale the fish before you fillet by using the back of a knife then pan fry till golden.
Pollock decomposes very quickly, even one day in the fridge will change the flavour, two day old pollock is "pot bait"!

 

[Lazuli]

Pollack have very small flakes of flesh so not sure how they will stand up to curry?
Small pollock have a loverly delicate flavour & soft flesh, I would descale the fish before you fillet by using the back of a knife then pan fry till golden.
Pollock decomposes very quickly, even one day in the fridge will change the flavour, two day old pollock is "pot bait"!

Hi Foxfish, I have a method for currying Pollack which keeps the fillets intact. I make the curry with chick peas and other veg then just lay the fillets on top of the sauce at the very last minute, cover for 5-8mins then serve. I've heard about Pollack spoiling so I gutted them, J-cut the fillets off, and peeled off the skin as soon as I got home. They were very tasty and no worms in the flesh either!

 

[foxfish]

Sounds good mate
In Guernsey Pollock is sold as "Guernsey Whiting" & is much favoured by a lot of folk.
I like the skin on & fried skin down in olive oil with a little butter added at the end, my mum used to serve it to me on a sandwich straight from the pan.
Some folk prefer stronger flavoured fish than I do & two day old (fillets in the fridge) pollock satisfies their needs:yack

 

[Gaz D]

Evening all,
Strange day really. After work the girlfriend and I raced down to Prussia Cove only to find milky water and crappy looking sea. Saw a spearo with a fluorescent technisub SMB (anyone on here???) looking like they were having a miserable one so we went on to Falmouth area. Got suited up and realised that we had forgotten our masks:head. Went home, grabbed them, back to Falmouth. Finally got in and had a really chilled dive on the ebb just hanging out with the wrasse and the baby pollack. Aspettos came good today as I managed to take a brace of larger pollack for the table (curry:friday).

Glad you're ok badlander. One of my Pollack was a tail(ish) shot and it also went haywire on me.

Laz,

That was me with the bright float mate! I'm down here on holiday for a week. I wish you had stopped to say hello, it would have been really nice to meet you - you did the right thing moving on though, the viz was lousy.

I moved over to the Falmouth side myself today - much better viz, and plenty more fish. Took a few small pollock myself, and a cuttlefish, but narrowly missed a smallish bass. Dropped down to the bottom to take a look at a possible flattie, and bumped head long into a red mullet that was about half a meter from the spot I was checking out. Slowly turned the gun towards him but he bolted - too close, gutted!

Still, a good day out in better viz.

Anyone know how to clean and cook cuttlefish?

Probably going surfing for the rest of the week on the north coast.


P.S: That wasn't you wandering around Keneggy Cove a bit later on, was it Laz, stark ******* naked?

 

[Lazuli]

Laz,

That was me with the bright float mate! I'm down here on holiday for a week. I wish you had stopped to say hello, it would have been really nice to meet you - you did the right thing moving on though, the viz was lousy.

I moved over to the Falmouth side myself today - much better viz, and plenty more fish. Took a few small pollock myself, and a cuttlefish, but narrowly missed a smallish bass. Dropped down to the bottom to take a look at a possible flattie, and bumped head long into a red mullet that was about half a meter from the spot I was checking out. Slowly turned the gun towards him but he bolted - too close, gutted!

Still, a good day out in better viz.

Anyone know how to clean and cook cuttlefish?

Probably going surfing for the rest of the week on the north coast.


P.S: That wasn't you wandering around Keneggy Cove a bit later on, was it Laz, stark ******* naked?

Bad vis does a lot of things to me mate, but it would'nt make me wander starkers round these parts with spearos lurking in the kelp!!rofl

Yeah, it would have been good to chat and put a face to a name. How long are you down for?? Glad you found another spot and had some luck.

Laz

 

[Padaxes]

Ive got to be honest Id never kill a cuttlefish i just find them too amazing!

Had my cast off yesterday and amazingly can already walk two miles, unfortunately the surgical wound hasn't healed properly so i cant go in the water for 2-3 weeks even though i reckon i could flipper already

 

[badlander]

That's the only problem with the beach between Maenporth and Swanpool....naked old chaps with their naked old chaps out.Had hoped to get in today but got seriously side tracked by my mates multihull and ended up sailing at Falmouth and not diving....not complaing though as it was a blast.Wind seemed to be straight off shore pretty much so conditions would have been great for a dive.
I've only ever seen one cuttle fish and like Padaxes just couldn't seem to pull the trigger because i was amazed by it.Maybe next time will be different as i am rather keen to try it.

 

[Lazuli]

One of my girlfriend's mates was saying that the spearfishing prohibition at Lamorna Cove has something to do with Telecommunications cables on the seabed. They dont want folks connecting flatties to the network with a toasting fork. One theory at least ....

 

[Padaxes]

Interesting but Porthcurno and Sennen both have cables and there arnt any prohibitions there ?

 

[gutshot]

One of my girlfriend's mates was saying that the spearfishing prohibition at Lamorna Cove has something to do with Telecommunications cables on the seabed. They dont want folks connecting flatties to the network with a toasting fork. One theory at least ....

I launched my kayak from lamorna last year and a guy told me he spears there a lot. They try to ban it as it is a private each and because they are worried about the amount of bubble blowers they get there. I don't understand thought! They seem happy to let fishermen throw lead ad divers ut not let us shoot spears at them. It's just not fair!! Oh,and they also try to ban it because they are up their own *&^%$

 

[REddie]

People fear what they do not understand!


Anyhoo,

had a v enjoyable dive at Portwrinkle on my way home from work today. The shallow reef there is always productive in one form or another - it was heaving with pollack today but most were too small. However, there are often a few bigger (3-5lb) fish further out on the edge of the reef. One of these badgers found its way onto my spear along with another smaller fish which fooled me into thinking it was much bigger in a patch of dodgey vis. Also took a largish wrasse - I want to try a recipe for green thai curry. I have tried them before but took my eye off the pan after dropping the fish into a precooked sauce and ended up with fishy mush. I have got a different plan this time to v lightly cook the fillets first and then add the sauce to the fish.

After dispatching the larger pollock, I was reloading the gun and was surrounded by a large (50+) flock of bass. Nice to see but none worth spoiling the view for.

Water was quite warm inshore but the vis was pretty poor. Best vis I had was about 7m. Conditions were great with the sun shining but low in the sky, so I swam uptide and then drifted back with the sun on my back. This really does make a difference - they seam to come in much closer. I reckon it must be to do with the fact that your face (and mask / eyes) are in the shadow making it more difficult for the fish to see your eye movements. Then again they were mostly pollock, probably the most inquisitive fish.

Off to re-rig my guns now - ready for when opportunity knocks.

Ed

 

[diver9]

Hi guys,

Wont go into details, but had a bit of a cock up while out with a friend last evening and the result of which was that I lost my heavy duty mesh crab bag. It is made of either scallop dredge net or lobster pot mesh which is made into a purse bag with a collar rope and a rubber collar that is moved up and down the rope to keep the bag closed.

I remember I bought it from one of the spearos in Cornwall about 5 years ago but cannot remember who and wondered if anyone knew of someone who has these bags. I checked with Dave @ Spearo and it was not him.

Any help greatly appreciated

Stay Safe

Diver9 (although it shoul be diver8 as one of my lives went last evening!!!)

 

[Gaz D]

Hi guys,

Wont go into details, but had a bit of a cock up while out with a friend last evening and the result of which was that I lost my heavy duty mesh crab bag. It is made of either scallop dredge net or lobster pot mesh which is made into a purse bag with a collar rope and a rubber collar that is moved up and down the rope to keep the bag closed.

I remember I bought it from one of the spearos in Cornwall about 5 years ago but cannot remember who and wondered if anyone knew of someone who has these bags. I checked with Dave @ Spearo and it was not him.

Any help greatly appreciated

Stay Safe

Diver9 (although it shoul be diver8 as one of my lives went last evening!!!)

Go on, tell us the story

 

[Trelawney]

Yeah, tell us. Sounds interesting!